Conlang lexicon match-them-up thread

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Khemehekis
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Conlang lexicon match-them-up thread

Post by Khemehekis »

Here's a game thread in which a conlanger will post a bunch of words from her/his conlang and a bunch of English equivalents/translations, and the other players each try to match them up. Whichever player has done the best job will get her/his own turn to post some words from her/his conlang.

For example, Joey will post:
Komgithrian colors

guro
kako
krano
liho
muxo
nudo
pilo
puvo
soko
viro

black
blue
brown
green
grey
pink
purple
red
white
yellow
And then Jacqlyn would guess:
guro - red
kako - black
krano - green
liho - yellow
muxo - brown
nudo - blue
pilo - pink
puvo - purple
soko - white
viro - grey
To start the game off, here are some words for beverages in Kankonian, and their English equivalents. Let's see who can do the best job of guessing which words means which drink. All of these words are supposed to "sound like" what they mean (although the word for tea is a borrowing from a language of Schaza), so use your best phonaesthetic powers to figure them out!

The Kankonian words:

bozhupam
foyeth
fumis
khour
swesi
tzeimoa
tzin
vropuwa
wana
welt

The English equivalents:

beer
coffee
gin
hot chocolate
juice
milk
soda, soft drink
tea
water
wine
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Squirrels chase koi . . . chase squirrels

My Kankonian-English dictionary: 86,336 words and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!
Salmoneus
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Re: Conlang lexicon match-them-up thread

Post by Salmoneus »

"Best" seems a strange word to use - since the "answer" is entirely random (assuming from what you've said that these words are a priori), any guess will likewise be random. A random guess can be "lucky", but it can never really be "good"...


[although how a conlang could end up with an a priori word for "gin", a drink that's unlikely to exist in any culture that hasn't borrowed it from modern Europe, I don't know...]
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elemtilas
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Re: Conlang lexicon match-them-up thread

Post by elemtilas »

bozhupam - gin
foyeth -- hot chocolate
fumis -- soda, pop, soft drink
khour -- beer
swesi -- water
tzeimoa -- coffee
tzin -- tea
vropuwa -- juice
wana -- wine
welt -- milk
foyeth sounds frothy to me and fumis sounds gassy and fizzy; vropuwa sounds tropical and fruity and swesi sounds rushing over stonesy; khour sounds alcoholic, but primitively so
jimydog000
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Re: Conlang lexicon match-them-up thread

Post by jimydog000 »

bozhupam - coffee
foyeth - juice
fumis - hot chocolate
khour - milk
swesi - tea
tzeimoa - water
tzin - gin
vropuwa - soda, soft drink
wana - wine
welt - beer
Khemehekis
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Re: Conlang lexicon match-them-up thread

Post by Khemehekis »

Salmoneus wrote: 28 Aug 2020 23:57 "Best" seems a strange word to use - since the "answer" is entirely random (assuming from what you've said that these words are a priori), any guess will likewise be random. A random guess can be "lucky", but it can never really be "good"...
Perhaps a better word would be "closest" -- who makes the closest guess, and whose phonaesthetic senses are closest to mine. The words are not totally random (as, say, computer-generated words would be), but based on what beverage the word sounds like.

Elemtilas has really been thinking phonaesthetically, and he leads so far with four correct guesses. Jimydog000 has one correct guess so far, but he got one that Elemtilas missed.
[although how a conlang could end up with an a priori word for "gin", a drink that's unlikely to exist in any culture that hasn't borrowed it from modern Europe, I don't know...]
The Kankonians, to whose planet the juniper is native, invented gin independently. On the other hand, the Kankonians borrowed their words for cappuccino, Frappuccino, pizza, and quiche.
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Squirrels chase koi . . . chase squirrels

My Kankonian-English dictionary: 86,336 words and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!
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Pabappa
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Re: Conlang lexicon match-them-up thread

Post by Pabappa »

Well this is more what *i* feel like they would be, so i might be way off, but i might as well give it a try:

bozhupam hot chocolate, because its the longest word on the list
foyeth soda
fumis milk .... because its the only bare word with /m/
khour coffee
swesi water .... the one most likely encountered in large quantities where you can splash around with your hands
tzeimoa gin
tzin beer
vropuwa fruit juice .... long but not necessarily a compound. Sounds sweet, like hot chocolate
wana wine
welt tea .... the only one ending in 2 consonants


I have never tasted gin, or even smelled it, so that was simply the one I left out. Wine to me is a very sweet drink, but most people go for "dry" wines.

i should add that I didnt look at any of the other posters' guesses when i posted mine, although now that i do, it looks like wana=wine is popular
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Khemehekis
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Re: Conlang lexicon match-them-up thread

Post by Khemehekis »

Pabappa got one right. Elemtilas is still in the lead.

I'll give until September 30, the end of the month, for people to guess, then I'll reveal the correct answers. If Elemtilas is still in the lead, he shall begin the next round.
♂♥♂♀

Squirrels chase koi . . . chase squirrels

My Kankonian-English dictionary: 86,336 words and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!
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