--- MacLeod Dave <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Another possible result is the creation of an
> Esperanto-like
> derivational system, which could work quite well but
> is going to
> result in 'all the people of the world having to to
> adjust to one
> system', the system created by the creator of the
> worldlang, or IOW a
> system known by only a handful of people. How is a
> wordlang supposed
> to avoid that?

To be honest, in Neo Patwa I've done whatever I can to
choose the second alternative. I agree with you that
having one word for "international" and another for
"domestic" (like we have in English!) is not a good
idea. I much prefer the "kokunai" and "kokusai" type
of system. But I think the creator can endeavor to
make it as logical or neutral as possible. For me, the
"kokunai" (something like "inside country") makes a
lot of sense. The alternative should be "kokugai". If
in Japanese you say "kokugai ryoukou", it sounds
strange to people but it is definitely understandable.
That is the standard I try to use. 
> 
> So just to get back to my first sentence, there
> doesn't seem to be
> much benefit in trying to be fair as it's actually
> fairer to have a
> clear derivational system than to try to take words
> from sources that
> have completely different ways of forming words. 

Actually, Neo Patwa does try to do that. I consistenly
use "xxx-yan" to mean a person with a certain
attribute. 

> Imagine if kokunai was the same,
> but for some reason
> kokusai was inta-nashonaru, that hikouki was still
> airplane but
> instead of the verb hikou suru it's now been
> replaced with furai suru
> for fly. That doesn't help at all, does it? Wouldn't
> you just prefer
> there be no English words at all?

Allow me to agree with you again. I don't like the
idea of adopting words at random for various concepts.
Say "prison" from Indonesian and "prisoner" from
Swahili. I think that a prison should be a
"punish-place" or something like that. In other words,
there should be radicals from a number of languages,
but there should be a lot of compounding. 

Jens Wilkinson
Neo Patwa language: http://patwa.pbwiki.com

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