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The minimalist approach

Gary R Miller (Gary R Miller <justi.miller@...>) on October 4, 2009

I know many of you are thinking Glosa is easy. There isn’t much grammar to worry about, so all you have to do is look up words in the dictionary. I say: WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING UP SO MANY WORDS IN THE DICTIONARY FOR? Imagine this: You look in the Glosa Internet Dictionary (GID) for the word “briefcase.” There is no word there. Now you’re afraid that you can never say “briefcase” in Glosa. You cry until the tears fill your MANU-VA [GID: pail]. Hey, wait a minute! Logically MANU-VA means any “container that can be carried by hand.” You found a Glosa word for “briefcase.” And you did it not by looking it up in the dictionary but by thinking logically– aren’t you smart! Any logical way that you can form a meaning in Glosa and then be relatively sure that a reader can logically derive its meaning is the way word formation in Glosa works. Now I know some don’t like the word MANU-VA. They’re afraid that if they ask for a MANU-VA, someone might hand them a container filled with hands. Yes, it is a possible translation. What horrible mistakes could be made if you use Glosa? Wait! While I’m writing this, I suddenly hear a voice from the past! It’s saying something I have often heard before! It’s the voice of my loving father! He’s saying: WHY DON’T YOU USE THE BRAINS GOD GAVE YOU? Yes, after you have memorized the very basic vocabularies of Glosa 1000 or Core Glosa (marked with “++” in the GID) and add some thinking, you will seldom need to look up words. Glosa words have a very broad meaning. If you need to narrow the meaning, please don’t think about adding grammatical endings to the word. In Glosa ONE WORD = ONE MEANING. To narrow the meaning of a word, add more meaning; and that’s the same as adding words. The context of what you are writing– if not the context of life itself– would likely prevent you from getting a container of hands. In Glosa MANU does not just mean “hand”; being derived from words like “manual,” it can mean “by hand.” Notice the very broad meaning. Still worried about it? (My father used to work for IBM– IBM’s motto:) THINK. What meaning can you add? Would FERO-VA or FERO VASA [carry container] be a less ambiguous word for “pail”? Even longer and more obvious would be MANU AQA-VA. Getting so obvious to the point that it might make your reader feel you don’t think he has enough brains that a sponge could pick up would be UN AQA-VA, GE-FERO PER MANU; but there may actually be some contexts where being so precise would be required. It is not illegal to use a word like FERO-VA in Glosa. Some contexts, say if you work in a morgue, might require a different word for “pail.” The only concern is: Will your reader or listener be able to logically derive the meaning? USING A SMALL VOCABULARY CAN ACTUALLY FORCE YOU TO BE MORE PRECISE. Example: Consider that word “briefcase.” No Glosa word for it? What is a briefcase? No, it’s not for carrying underwear. If you have a hard, squarish briefcase, MANU TEKA [hand box] could be a good translation. If you have the baggy kind, MANU SAKA might be more accurate. If your briefcase is used strictly for containing documents, DOKUMENTA-VA would give a more accurate meaning. Does your briefcase lock up tight? MANU KAPSU might give a more accurate meaning. Look at that! Four distinct ways to say in Glosa the one English word “briefcase”. The one thing that may temper your word formation is already existing international terms. For example, MIKRO-SKOPE and MIKRO-VIDE-RU are really the same term for “microscope”; but MIKRO-SKOPE is closer to what is found in many other languages, so it would probably be the quicker word to understand. I am not denying others the right to use larger vocabularies such as Glosa 6000. Everyone occasionally will need to look for a more specialized word. Some simply prefer a more complicated vocabulary. It’s a good thing that Glosa has these levels of vocabulary planned into it. But don’t think that using a larger vocabulary always adds precision of meaning. Forming words or understanding words in Glosa requires stopping to think sometimes. The amazing thing is that you can actually exceed what is in the dictionary– or even what little you have memorized from it– by applying some logic. _ _ /. /\ Gary

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Mi ski, poli ex vi doxo, Glosa es facili. Ne es mega gramatika, de qi pe nece vexa se, ka-co pe nece simpli detekti plu lexi in lexi bibli. Mi dice: QO-KA VI TALI FREQE VIDE IN LEXI BIBLI? Sti imagi de u-ci: Tu akti u serca in Glosa Interreti Diktionari (GID) de u (England-glosa) lexi BRIEFCASE. Es zero lexi la. Tu nu gene u fobo, tu zero-kron fu pote dice u-ci per Glosa. Tu sti poli lakrima, a kron plu lakrima face ple u manu-va. Sti atende mono minuta! Logika, MANU-VA habe u semani, “u vasa, pe pote fero per manu.” Tu detekti u Glosa lexi BRIEFCASE, ne per detekti id in lexi bibli, anti-co tu pa detekti id per logika puta– sura, tu es intelige! Ali logika mode, per qi pe pote tekto u semani per Glosa, e po-co es relatio sura, u lekto-pe logika pote gene u-ci semani, es u mode, per qi lexi-tekto du funktio in Glosa. Anti-co mi ski, plu homi ne place kausa u lexi MANU-VA. Mu este u fobo, uno-pe posi dona a mu u vasa, qi tena plu manu. Ja, u-ci es u posi translati. Qe pe posi face tali fobo ero kausa Glosa? Sti atende! Tem mi grafo u-ci, mi subito audi u voka ex pa-tem! Id dice u ra, mi pre freqe audi! Id es u voka de mi filo patri! An dice: QO-KA TU NE UTI UN ENKEFA, TEO PA DON A TU? Ja, po tu gene u ple memo de plu lexi de Glosa 1000 alo u Kardia Lexi-fa (ge-sema per “++” in GID) plus adi plu puta, tu fu rari nece detekti u lexi in lexi bibli. Panto Glosa lexi habe u fo mega semani. Si tu nece sti ma exakti u semani, mi dice u petitio, ne sti puta de adi plu gramatika lexi-fini. In Glosa MONO LEXI = MONO SEMANI. Te face ma exakti u semani de u certa lexi, adi u ma mega qantita de semani; plus-co u-ci es iso adi u lexi. Plu lexi peri u ra, tu grafo– si ne plu peri-ra de reali bio– probabili sto, tu fu gene u vasa ko plu manu. In Glosa, MANU ne habe u simpli semani de u soma mero. Id es plus ex u lexi MANUAL. Sti gene u mega semani. Qe tu nu du este fobo? (Mi patri pa du ergo infra IBM– un insignia dice de IBM:) STI PUTA. Tu pote adi qo semani? Qe FERO-VA alo FERO VASA es mei bi-semani kambio u lexi “MANU-VA”? Klu ma longi e ma klari posi es MANU AQA-VA. Te sti ta klari, u-la kausa, u lekto-pe posi gene un idea, tu doxo, u spongi sio es sati te tira auto enkefa in id, es, UN AQA-VA, GE-FERO PER MANU; anti-co posi existe u kontextu, tali exakti qalita nece es. Ne es anti lega, uti un lexi homo FERO-VA in Glosa. Plu kontextu, postula, vi du ergo in morta-soma-lo, posi nece u difere lexi kambio PAIL. U solo kura es: Qe u lekto-pe alo audi-pe fu pote gene u semani per logika? UTI U MIKRO LEXI-FA POTE KAUSA, PE HABE MA MEGA EXAKTI. Exempla: Sti puta de u lexi BRIEFCASE. Zero Glosa lexi kambio id? U BRIEFCASE es qo? [England-glosa joko] Si pe habe u sklero, qadra manu-va, “manu teka” posi habe u ma exakti semani. Si pe habe u saka speci, posi “manu saka” habe u ma exakti. Si pe uti u manu-va solo te tena plu dokumenta, “dokumenta-va” dona u ma exakti semani. Qe u BRIEFCASE gene ple klude? Posi “manu kapsu” es u ma exakti lexi. Sti logi! Tetra klari mode de dice per Glosa mono England-glosa lexi BRIEFCASE. U ra, qi posi muta, vi face plu lexi, es pre-existe internatio lexi. Exempla, “mikro-skope” e “mikro-vide-ru” veri es bi lexi kambio “MICROSCOPE”; anti-co “mikro-skope” es ma proxi ad u-la, pe detekti in plu hetero glosa, ka-co pe probabili ma tako logi id. Mi ne nega, plu hetero pe lice uti u ma mega lexi-fa, exempla, Glosa

  1. Panto-pe uno-kron nece detekti u ma idio lexi. Plu hetero pe simpli volu u ma mega lexi-fa. Es u boni ra, Glosa pa habe panto-ci ge-skema libela de lexi-fa in id. Anti-co ne doxo, uti de u ma mega lexi-fa fu adi exakti a semani panto-kron. Pe uno-kron nece sti u pausa te tekto alo logi u lexi alo lexi-fa de Glosa. U mira ra es, vi veri pote puta ultra panto-ra, qi es in lexi bibli– klu ultra tu plu ge-memo lexi– per un aplika de logika. ____________________ Need Legal Advice - Click Here. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTOhQZgmCAzMMb8E1s39iM5JjcSF48qOZXEv4lWf5LsSsgjvXghdVe/

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The minimalist approach - Committee on language planning, FIAS. Coordination: Vergara & Hardy, PhDs.