Crazy people want to change English
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 6:50 pm
So I keep reading all these people discouraging people from making relexes. I get their point that a relex isn't a new language, but sometimes, I think, a creative project calls for an relex, not another unspeakable Elvish. For example, the con-dialects (whole sci fi books have been written in a Scottish con-dialect), they nearly are relexes. And Mand'oa, the Star Wars language is an English relex and that is appropriate for the audience of 7 year old boys.
I wrote a machine relex maker, here is the word list (at the end, just some of the A's) and my methodology.
I started with a simple list of 50,000 English words, a list that probably was compiled for use in a spell checker app.
It uses toki pona phonotactics. Length of generated words is scaled to match the length of the English word so that common short words don't turn into long words. Initially, it assigned random words to singular and plural making all plural lexical, like German. So I fixed that and fixed past tense, -ing, and a few more, in other words, the relex has relexed bound morphemes. I still need to deal with internal morphology- e.g. all the ology words should relex to a similar word. Figuring out a quick way to do this programmatically will be a challenge. I can't tell verbs with s from nouns with s, but since it's a relex, maybe it's okay that they are isomorophic.
When complete I hope to maybe remove all the toki pona cognates and maybe remove minimal pairs.
aardvark pupoke
aardwolf jowato
aaron newi
aback kiju
abacus kanpi
abaft naje
abalone kanu
abandon wila
abandons wilamu
abandon wila
abandoned wilaku
abandonment kalepawin
abase papu
abased saja
abasement nawiku
abash puke
abashed pukeku
abate kujun
abates kujunmu
abated sopin
abatement kajelu
abattoir monjawi
abattoirs monjawimu
abbe wapi
abbess wapimu
abbey munu
abbeys munumu
abbot sami
abbots samimu
abbreviate kimela
abbreviates kimelamu
abbreviated makensisen
abbreviating sakokike
abbreviation jakonwepo
abbreviations jakonwepomu
abdicate sanuse
abdicates sanusemu
abdicated pilenan
abdicating lejusi
abdication semala
abdomen nija
abdomens nijamu
abdominal mimesu
abduct semi
abducts semimu
abduct semi
abducted semiku
abduct semi
abducting semilo
abduct semi
abductor semiwilo
abduction tunlonu
abductions tunlonumu
abductors mekumu
abe tetun
abeam pasen
abel lanso
abele jowen
aberdeen sakamu
aberrant simajo
aberration kemowi
aberrations kemowimu
abet kelo
abets kelomu
abetted keloku
abetting kelolo
abeyance josune
abhor jamu
abhors jamumu
abhorred jamuku
abhorrence wilota
abhorrent tosalu
abide juna
abides junamu
abided pesa
abiding note
abidjan monin
abies kenin
abilities pekewa
ability sakun
abject napo
abjectly jajumu
abjure pije
abjured lese
ablate mame
ablates mamemu
ablating posima
ablation tenepe
ablative jipujo
ablaze nino
able wili
ablebodied jujejo
abler jamin
ablest sepi
abloom nase
ablution kolosa
ablutions kolosamu
ably jiso
abnegation katoka
abnormal wemupan
abnormalities nopamoku
abnormality wetejeka
I wrote a machine relex maker, here is the word list (at the end, just some of the A's) and my methodology.
I started with a simple list of 50,000 English words, a list that probably was compiled for use in a spell checker app.
It uses toki pona phonotactics. Length of generated words is scaled to match the length of the English word so that common short words don't turn into long words. Initially, it assigned random words to singular and plural making all plural lexical, like German. So I fixed that and fixed past tense, -ing, and a few more, in other words, the relex has relexed bound morphemes. I still need to deal with internal morphology- e.g. all the ology words should relex to a similar word. Figuring out a quick way to do this programmatically will be a challenge. I can't tell verbs with s from nouns with s, but since it's a relex, maybe it's okay that they are isomorophic.
When complete I hope to maybe remove all the toki pona cognates and maybe remove minimal pairs.
aardvark pupoke
aardwolf jowato
aaron newi
aback kiju
abacus kanpi
abaft naje
abalone kanu
abandon wila
abandons wilamu
abandon wila
abandoned wilaku
abandonment kalepawin
abase papu
abased saja
abasement nawiku
abash puke
abashed pukeku
abate kujun
abates kujunmu
abated sopin
abatement kajelu
abattoir monjawi
abattoirs monjawimu
abbe wapi
abbess wapimu
abbey munu
abbeys munumu
abbot sami
abbots samimu
abbreviate kimela
abbreviates kimelamu
abbreviated makensisen
abbreviating sakokike
abbreviation jakonwepo
abbreviations jakonwepomu
abdicate sanuse
abdicates sanusemu
abdicated pilenan
abdicating lejusi
abdication semala
abdomen nija
abdomens nijamu
abdominal mimesu
abduct semi
abducts semimu
abduct semi
abducted semiku
abduct semi
abducting semilo
abduct semi
abductor semiwilo
abduction tunlonu
abductions tunlonumu
abductors mekumu
abe tetun
abeam pasen
abel lanso
abele jowen
aberdeen sakamu
aberrant simajo
aberration kemowi
aberrations kemowimu
abet kelo
abets kelomu
abetted keloku
abetting kelolo
abeyance josune
abhor jamu
abhors jamumu
abhorred jamuku
abhorrence wilota
abhorrent tosalu
abide juna
abides junamu
abided pesa
abiding note
abidjan monin
abies kenin
abilities pekewa
ability sakun
abject napo
abjectly jajumu
abjure pije
abjured lese
ablate mame
ablates mamemu
ablating posima
ablation tenepe
ablative jipujo
ablaze nino
able wili
ablebodied jujejo
abler jamin
ablest sepi
abloom nase
ablution kolosa
ablutions kolosamu
ably jiso
abnegation katoka
abnormal wemupan
abnormalities nopamoku
abnormality wetejeka