Modules

Modular Language Architecture

This section will explore how a language could be broken down into modules.

Module Breakdown

Phonology

Different sets of phonemes which can be used.

Phonotactics

Different rules for how a phonology can be assembled into words.

Writing System

Structure, Syntax, and Semantics

Vocabulary

• Provides set of non-core/non-syntactic/non-structural words with defined meanings
• Not attached to specific phonological forms
• Different vocabulary module instances could incorporate different philosophies

• e.g. world view for constructing composites:

  Have a word for 'tooth', or have a compound like 'mouth-stone'?

Module Hierarchy

• Morphology
  • Written
    • Writing System
  • Verbal
    • Phonotactics
      • Phonology
• Vocabulary
• Structure, syntax, semantics

The contents

This part of the document is a draft. -- Uakci (talk)

Morphology

• Self-segmentation strategies

  Continuation marker

  certain feature or features of a syllable is used to determine if it is a continuation of the previous word

  • Toaq uses the first tone for this; Gua\spi — the high-even tone

  Word length marker

  the first syllable of each word determines how long the word is

  • X-1

  Initial consonant cluster

  • Lojban

Syntax

Numbers and counting

• Representation

  Numerals as a part of speech

  numbers constitute a separate grammatical class

  • Lojban (the selma'o (grammatical class) PA)

  Numbers as predicates

  numbers are cardinality predicates (‘x₁ is three in number’ etc.)

  • Toaq

• Composition

  Concatenation

  values are expressed as a sequence of digits in positional notation

  • Lojban: pa re ci vo mu (lit. ‘1 2 3 4 5’) denotes the number 12,345

• Usage

  As quantifiers

  numbers attach to terms and scope over the sentence, signifying how many values of the term satisfy the sentence

  • Lojban: pa da (lit. ‘one something’) = ‘there exists exactly one thing that…’