From: CryptoMatt@aol.com
Date: Tue 07 Jun 1994 - 03:07:47 EEST
David Gadbois says in X-RQ-ID: 4385...
>For example, New Pelorian should break all the linguistic rules we
>know of. Have the language be highly inflectional (fewer words that
>way) and make inflectional morphology be context-sensitive. To effect
>this, have all the inflections be pairs of prefixes and suffixes that
>are combined cross-serially. For example:
> be- * -tan = sister of
> na- * -stal = female
> tapa- * -tar = Loyal to the Empire
> lun = The Red Goddes
>So: Tapanabeluntarstaltan is the New Pelorian name for the Great
>Sister.
Well... um... I think that if the Lunars tried to make this New Pelorian the required language of the state, they'd have a mass uprising. Not only would the subjugated people rise up in righteous anger against their linguistically twisted conquerors, but the Lunars wouldn't be able to
respond because they would be so busy trying to inform their central
authorities of the rebellion!
The simple message, "Send reinforcements, the hill barbarians have
revolted!", would take several pages of text to convey. <g>
On the other hand, New Pelorian New Speak does add certain twists to the
nightmare of Lunar bureaucracy. You've got to have lots of people to push
that much paper. ;-)
-Matt Thale
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