Words with built-in error correction

From: Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> Date: Monday, December 5, 2005, 21:47

Expanding on an idea that occured to me in relation to Elomi... A conlang design that is accent-proof: Begin with a set of word templates which have only consonants and places indicated for vowels, but no specific vowels in them: B- D- F- G- H- J- K- L- M- .... -B- -D- -F- -G- -H- -J- -K- -L- -M- .... -LB- -LD- -LF- -LG- -LJ- -LK- -LM- .... -NB- -ND- -NF- -NG- -NJ- -NK- -NL- -NM- .... -RB- -RD- -RF- -RG- -RJ- -RK- -RL- -RM- .... -SB- -SD- -SF- -SG- -SH- -SK- -SL- -SM- .... ... B-B- B-D- B-F- B-G- B-H- B-J- B-K- B-L- B-M- .... B-LB- B-LD- B-LF- B-LG- B-LJ- B-LK- B-LM- .... B-NB- B-ND- B-NF- B-NG- B-NJ- B-NK- B-NL- B-NM- .... B-RB- B-RD- B-RF- B-RG- B-RJ- B-RK- B-RL- B-RM- .... B-SB- B-SD- B-SF- B-SG- B-SH- B-SK- B-SL- B-SM- .... ... -B-B- -B-D- -B-F- -B-G- -B-H- -B-J- -B-K- -B-L- -B-M- .... -B-LB- -B-LD- -B-LF- -B-LG- -B-LJ- -B-LK- -B-LM- .... -B-NB- -B-ND- -B-NF- -B-NG- -B-NJ- -B-NK- -B-NL- -B-NM- .... -B-RB- -B-RD- -B-RF- -B-RG- -B-RJ- -B-RK- -B-RL- -B-RM- .... -B-SB- -B-SD- -B-SF- -B-SG- -B-SH- -B-SK- -B-SL- -B-SM- .... ... ... T-LK-M-S- T-LK-M-T- T-LK-M-V- ... When a new word is coined a template is selected and whatever vowels you like are inserted. T-LK-M-T- can become talkamata, or tolkimato, or tulkometi, or any one of 625 different words with that consonant pattern. Once the word is selected and added to the lexicon the template is discarded, never to be used again. Thus every core word in the lexicon has a unique consonant pattern, and no matter how the pronunciation of the vowels change with accent, the identity of the word remains the same, because there is only one possible word with that template. Thus the lexicon has a built-in tolerance for different accents, and a sort of checksum error correcting feature that preserves the meaning of the word even under extreme distortions of the vowel sounds within it. It is, therefore, indifferent to, or at least very tolerant of accents. Using a conservative set of 30 intial consonants and consonant clusters, 30 final consonants or clusters, and 30 medial consonants or clusters, the number of templates for words of three syllables or less exceeds a hundred thousand, with over three million words of four or fewer syllables. A hundred thousand core words of three or fewer syllables (each with a completely unique consonant pattern) seems adequate. --gary

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