LIM, Language as Integrated Mnemonics

The Start of Integrated Mnemonics
LIM is informed and constructed by its goal of cross-referencing all of its parts using in an integrated system of mnemonics.

It starts with adding the associations of Fingermath to the basic set of consonants. (Note, English is the starting point, but the following systems can be adapted to the phonology of other languages and their frequencies. Such is the intention of LIM when it becomes a conlang with its own conlang.)

0 = fist = /s/ or /f/; 1 = index = /t/ or /j/; 2 = middle = /n/ or /ð/ or /þ/; 4 = ring = /z/ or /ʃ/ or /ʒ/; 4 = little = /d/ or /tʃ/ or /dʒ/; 5 = thumb = /w/ or /r/; 6 = thumb+index = /p/ or /k/; 7 = thumb+(index+)middle = /m/ or /h/ or /ŋ/; 8 = thumb+(index+middle+)ring = /v/ or /l/; 9 = thumb+(index+middle+ring+)little = /b/ or /g/.

Which category the same shapes refer to can be indicated by where they are in relation to the rest of the body.

In the case of the consonants, they are placed next to the lips as the finger = phonemes is a system of cued lipreading. In this system, the number of fingers is associated with how frequent a phoneme is used. The caveat is that, for the sake of lipreading, no phoneme with the same place of articulation are to have the same number of fingers.

Vowels are indicated by where near the lips the consonant fingers are placed.

As Mitch Halley, a.k.a. jan Misali, has English only needs five vowels to be understood in most of the time, and the first set of the above vowels / ɪ / ə, ʌ / ɛ / æ / ɔ, ɑ, ɒ / are the most frequently heard, with / i : / being the 6th. But the others can be distinguished from them by various modifications:

 Of fingers :


 * Knuckles: down, sideways or upwards
 * Thumb: down, sideways, up
 * Fingers: straight, spread or curled (partially or fully)
 * Motion: still, wiggling, etc.

 Of placement : Standard, distance from standard (touching, not touching)

 Different from standard location:  Other hand,; torso, leg, mask, etc.

Other uses for modification:


 * 1) knuckle = vowel without a consonant
 * 2) loop = consonant without a vowel
 * 3) finger moved to the right = cons.+/r/
 * 4) finger moved to the left = cons.+/l/
 * 5) finger moved forward = /s/+cons.

Different from standard area: Other hand, etc.Like everything else in this system, LIM and other languages find other uses for the modifications.

But why go to the bother of learning cued lipreading? Because of motor-memory. It is said that just the act of writing helps in its memory. Fingerwriting is like that, but more handy. And by using different references for the vowels means that it can be used without drawing too much attention to the act.

Like everything else in this system, LIM and other languages find other uses for the modifications

Phonology
Though LIM starts from English, it is intended to be a fully developed conlang separate from any natlang but still "natural" in feeling and preferably intuitive once a speaker is familiar with its systems. At its heart is the association of numbers and other items with its phonemes. That means there must be at least ten separate, easily distinguishable consonants. And there are natlangs with ten or less consonants.

Consonants
The letters in parentheses are to provide a wider range of options for when LIM sorts out how it is to present a unified system of content words. The letters in square brackets are to provide ways of presenting strictly nonconent words, morphemes.

Vowels
Three vowels could be enough if a goal of LIM was to have the lowest inventory of the most common vowel phonemes. But this admittedly unusual set is to work with sets of consonants to provide a means for a unified system of derivation.

But another system of derivation may be decided on, then the set of vowels would be 5: i, e, o, u and [a]

Phonotactics
The most frequently used words should be the simplest, CV. The next most frequently used words should be CVCV. Then there could be a phonal feature that marks the word as bisyllabic, such as voiced consonants (only) being found in the middle of a word, not at the beginning or end.

But LIM may decide to prefer monosyllables. Then the less frequent a word do not have a resonant at their coda.

Writing System
The Latin alphabet is used for transliterating LIM until the time the conlang can keyboard map its own system. Like how LIM starts with English and evolves away from it, so its writing system starts with strokes of the Gregg Shorthand. Until ten, handwrtten fonts can be developed that make it elaborate enough to aid in reading when speed of writing is not an issue. This will likely involve different parts of the "strokes" being thicker than similar strokes. It could be made into a simpler form of "Morse Code" with its dashes and dots.

Lexicon
Here is where mnemonics are truly brought in and prove its usefulness. Now LIM begins to construct its vocabulary by matching the members of word categories to its number/phonemes. That of color is based mainly on how common there is a word specifically for a color across languages, and the usual order they develop according to many studies.