(I’m creating a language for communicating with orcas, so the phonemes will be relatively unpractical for humans. Otherwise the main criteria are simple parsing structure and easy learnability. (It doesn’t need to be super perfect—the perhaps bigger challenge is to figure out how to teach abstract concepts without being able to bootstrap from an existing language.) Maybe I’ll eventually create a great rationalist language for thinking effectively, but not right now.)
Is there some resource where I can quickly learn the basics of the Esperanto composition system? Somewhere I can see the main base dimensions/concepts?
I’d also be interested in anything you think was implemented particularly well in a (con)language.
In Esperanto, all nouns end with “-o”, adjectives end with “-a”, adverbs end with “-e”, verbs in infinitive end with “-i”, verbs in past/present/future tense end with “-is/-as/-os”, etc. This system allows you take almost any word and make a noun / adjective / adverb / verb out of it. And conversely, you can take a word, remove the ending, and use it as a prefix or suffix for something. So you have e.g. “-aĵ-” listed as a suffix, but “aĵo” (“a thing”) is a normal word, it is just used very often in a suffix-like way, for example “trinki” (“to drink”) - “trinkaĵo” (“a beverage”, that is a-thing-to-drink).
You can generally take two words and glue them together, like peanut butter = arakidbutero (which I just made up, but it is a valid word and every Esperanto speaker would recognize what is means), only with long words it is somewhat clumsy and with short ones which are frequently used it comes naturally.
You will probably like the “table words” (ironically, the page does not show them arranged in a table, which is what every Esperanto textbook would do). They consist of the first part, which in English would be something like “wh-”, “th-”, “some-”, “all-”, “no-”, and the second part, which is English would be something like “-person”, “-thing”, “-location”, “-time”, “-cause”, etc; and by combining you get “wh+person = who”, “wh+thing = what”, “wh+cause = why”; “some+person = someone”, “some+thing = something”, “some+cause = for some reason”, etc., only in Esperanto this is fully regular.
Uhm, one more thing which may or may not be obvious depending on which languages you speak: It makes things a lot easier if one written character always corresponds to one sound and vice versa.
Cool, thanks, that was useful.
(I’m creating a language for communicating with orcas, so the phonemes will be relatively unpractical for humans. Otherwise the main criteria are simple parsing structure and easy learnability. (It doesn’t need to be super perfect—the perhaps bigger challenge is to figure out how to teach abstract concepts without being able to bootstrap from an existing language.) Maybe I’ll eventually create a great rationalist language for thinking effectively, but not right now.)
Is there some resource where I can quickly learn the basics of the Esperanto composition system? Somewhere I can see the main base dimensions/concepts?
I’d also be interested in anything you think was implemented particularly well in a (con)language.
(Also happy to learn from you rambling. Feel free to book a call: https://calendly.com/simon-skade/30min )
There is a website for learning Esperanto, lernu.net; it has a section for grammar; the relevant chapters are: prepositions (spatial, temporal), “table words”, word class endings, suffixes, prefixes, affixes. The division feels somewhat artificial, because most of the prefixes/affixes/suffixes are also words on their own.
In Esperanto, all nouns end with “-o”, adjectives end with “-a”, adverbs end with “-e”, verbs in infinitive end with “-i”, verbs in past/present/future tense end with “-is/-as/-os”, etc. This system allows you take almost any word and make a noun / adjective / adverb / verb out of it. And conversely, you can take a word, remove the ending, and use it as a prefix or suffix for something. So you have e.g. “-aĵ-” listed as a suffix, but “aĵo” (“a thing”) is a normal word, it is just used very often in a suffix-like way, for example “trinki” (“to drink”) - “trinkaĵo” (“a beverage”, that is a-thing-to-drink).
You can generally take two words and glue them together, like peanut butter = arakidbutero (which I just made up, but it is a valid word and every Esperanto speaker would recognize what is means), only with long words it is somewhat clumsy and with short ones which are frequently used it comes naturally.
You will probably like the “table words” (ironically, the page does not show them arranged in a table, which is what every Esperanto textbook would do). They consist of the first part, which in English would be something like “wh-”, “th-”, “some-”, “all-”, “no-”, and the second part, which is English would be something like “-person”, “-thing”, “-location”, “-time”, “-cause”, etc; and by combining you get “wh+person = who”, “wh+thing = what”, “wh+cause = why”; “some+person = someone”, “some+thing = something”, “some+cause = for some reason”, etc., only in Esperanto this is fully regular.
Also, see Wikipedia. More sources: Reta Vortaro (index of English words); some music to listen.
Uhm, one more thing which may or may not be obvious depending on which languages you speak: It makes things a lot easier if one written character always corresponds to one sound and vice versa.
Cool, thanks!