WIV, Wuxing Inspired Vocabulary

WIV uses the Chinese wúxìng system of associations used in their traditional medicine and metaphysics. The aim is to go beyond the randomness of phonetic shape found in their and all natlang words. WIV is meant to be a foundation for an extensive system of mnemonics that can aid in more than just the acquiring of a vocabulary. It could, perhaps, lead to an acquisition of synesthesia.

NOTE, this page will return to the standard Conlang,fandom formatting when WIV has become more definite in the choices it has to make.

Rationale
Studies say that learning by categories can make learning the members 40% more difficult. One of the best ways to learn new words and items is to make the associations odd, even surreal.

These associations are as good as random, as are the phonetic shape of words in a natlang. But what if the phonetic shape was suggestive of threads that run through the widest range of associations. They would have in-built paths constructed by millennia of observation, metaphor and intuition. The learner would have an easier path of suggestion for arriving at odd and even surreal associations that are original to themself. They would open their eyes to new observations, have their own understanding of metaphor, and develop an intuition for how the wuxing system works. The easier it is to remember by association, the more it encourages exploration and a larger vocabulary, making it an entertainment.

And, oh, yes, arguing with wuxing is also a learning device.

Phonology
WIV uses a system of triads to join members of a category while also separating them with clear, two-feature, phonetic distinctions.

triad 1: /b d k/, triad 2: /p t g/, triad 3: /f s ʒ/, triad 4: /v z ʃ/, triad 5: /w n l/, triad 6: /m r j/

The long-term advantage of a system like this is that over time, as the meanings get shuffled away from their original meaning through the various processes the change one language into daughter language(s), those that had once been similar would stay dissimilar to the casual user. But the etymology of the proto-vocabulary would be there to discovered and reused in more or less its intended form. WIV could become a '"living" dead language, like Sanskrit or Latin.

WIV prefers monophthongs. /tʃ dʒ/ are to be used before diphthongs. /ʃ ʒ/ may come to be part of this palatal set that may also, then, include /ɲ/ and /ʎ/. Then something like /x/ and/or /ɣ/ would have to replace the palatal fricatives in the triads 3 and 4. The palatal triads would be, triad 7: /ʃ dʒ ɲ/, triad 8:  /ʒ  tʃ  ʎ/

If a diphthong is used on other than infrequent words, it must be justified. Belonging to a useful system that the monophthongs cannot provide would be one. If diphthongs are utilized, then velar consonant + high front approximate should be restricted to technical terms where the users are more likely to use them more carefully. Otherwise, palatalized coronal consonants and palatalized velar-uvular consonants are likely to merge.

Phonotactics
WIV prefers monosyllables for the most frequent words, especially if they are content words that can also be used (with a low probability of mishearing or misunderstanding) as noncontent words.

Beyond this is the battle between monosyllables and bisyllables. WIV does not prefer words distinguished by tone or pitch as it wishes to reserve those for intonation and sentence structuring. A possible advantage of polysyllables is it allows fewer and easier to produce phonemes, phonemes more recognizable across languages and distinct from each other. But English and Chinese are highly monosyllabic and those are the two starting languages of WIV. Isolating/analytic languages seem to encourage simpler, less complicated morphology with content words being able to become nonconented words or more easily change their parts of speech.

WIV also resists using consonant clusters, preferring to use, if any, resonant codas. Coda or even initial resonants can be used similarly to vowels and even be syllabic without a vowel. How extensively these vowel-like qualities will be utilized is yet to be determined.

Lexicon
Assigning consonants

This is to be done by a system not yet determined. For the sake of lessening the chance of mishearing a vowel, besides the initial consonant, a coda should also be assigned under the system. If not (.), then the more frequently used words should end in a resonant / m n ŋ l r ... /, and those with lesser frequency should end in a fricative / f v s z ... / before a stop is used. This rule can be broken if they can be used to classify certain words that have only a low chance of being misheard.

Vowels that should be further differentiated from one another by different coda: triad¹: /æ e /, /i e/, /i u/, triad²:/u o/, /o a//. /a æ/. (triad¹ coda: /n/?, triad² coda: /l/?). Less frequent words could switch the coda with the other triad of vowels.

NOTE, a triad of codas can be used in a way that reflects the wuxing system beyond five vowels representing the five aspects. Yinyng is viewed as even more fundamental. /n/, nasals, would be the yīn, the female, dark, etc., semantics, while /l/, liquids, the yáng, the male, light, etc. Codas not designated as yin or yang, such as /./, nucleus only, would represent the marriage or child of them: a combination of their concepts. Comparing the middle derivative as hái, child, would metaphorically explain the DNA-like shuffling of its parents' 'genetics' and why they can seem odd when compared to their siblings. In other words, as long as a meaning can be reasonably seen as having some aspect of both the yinyang core, then it is legitimate to derive it this way.

Note! Yin words are not negative words, which are derived through the use of negative additions. Yin is meant to be yang's true opposite. Oppositions are a vital key in understanding wuxing.

To make the assignments truly systematic, the only words that cannot be reasonably fit into the yinyanghai system of derivation should have at least one unusual phoneme that indicates its system is not the standard system. Yet, wuxing is the established example and this rule of special phonemes should only be applied to those not included in it.

WIV can allow homophones as long as there is a low change of them being misunderstood as the another. The use of categorization can make determining how many contexts they may share fairly easy. If they do, avoid giving the words homophones and, even, perhaps, a phonotactic combination that is only distinguished from the other by one phonetic feature.

NOTE, (' _ ') means it is my own interpretation. [ _ ] means this is my own suggestion.

Cycles
Uncategorized

Expanded
All plural 1p pronouns are assumed exclusive unless the have been marked as inclusive. One of the ways this can be done is by adding 2p next to 1p without a separator. Whether the 2p comes before or after the 1p will effect the meaning. So, too, meaning will be effect if the 1p or 2p comes before or after one of the 3p pronouns.

The 3p pronouns - She/her, He/him/his, It/its - has three different words to make referencing more clear. This/3p is for the one that is most relevant. That/3p→4p is for one less relevant to the gist of what is being said. Yon/3p→5p is for one who is incidental. Of course the main purpose of 3p, 4p and 5p is to aid against misunderstandings.

NOTE, 1p(+)2p could possibly be put into the yinyanghai system and, so, eliminated from this five-way one. So to 3p-4p-5p. These (except 'Subject') are like cases in their functions, but in the context permits, they may be dropped. Then keeping them would have implications. They become like pronouns when their context allows their heads to be dropped.

Placeholder in its most basic form is a question-modifier. Dropping the head makes it a pronoun. Its form can be systematically changed so that it is a modifier with no implication of a question. Some/any would, then, be translation options. Another form-changes would be to indicate you do not know how to phrase something or cannot remember something or redo.

Direct Object used after the predicate to mark it as not an object complement, which does not use it. Its other use is to place it where it is not usually found. It, then, can be like a pseudo-passive voice marker. It can also be used as a pronoun in an extended sentence to track its progress without having to repeat its head. Its head is usually considered definite and, so, Direct Object can sometimes substitute for the definite article, the.

"Subject" doesn't have to be used, but it may be placed between its head and the predicate to separate them. Its primary function is to come after the predicate. There it is a pronoun in an extended sentence, keeping track of its progress without having to repeat its head.

Topic explicitly marks what the sentence is primarily about; it does not have to be repeated if established except to emphasize it, It lends itself to brevity of speech by more easily accommodating pronoun drop. And once established, dropping its head allows it to be used as a pronoun. Like Direct Object and "Subject", Topic can be used to track it in extended sentences.

Null, though usually a head, is the opposite of Placeholder in that it explicitly indicates that there is no word or phrase, the part of speech is empty. This cab be used to emphasize that the verb is intransitive rather than transitive as it is normally used as, With Direct Object used "passively", it marks that the sentence is in the middle voice, where the subject is not just dropped but shouldn't be considered at all. Its interpretation is wholly dependent on what part of speech it is eliminating. Included in its systematic form changes are "I'm don't want to talk about it", end of conversation, and undo.

These (except Genitive) are like explicit commas. They separate the sentences and phrases into their parts.

Sentence Adverbs modifies a sentence by adding background, foreground or other information that is not accommodated easily within the main clause. In SVO languages, backgrounding occurs before the main clause, foregrounding after. WIV prefers to have a more comprehensive system. A possibility is mark relevance by changes in voice registry pitch, as English does. At the speaker's usual voice level, it would be neutral relevance; a lower level is equivalent to parentheses; a higher level is given other punctuation, like, say, dashes.

Pragmatic comes before and/or after Sentence Adverb, but can be used for effect within a sentence. When used, it manages the relationship between the speaker and audience or between them and what is being said. The you pronoun, them, can become a vocative marker, while the I pronoun can be a committative, where the speaker is talking to himself (which he may know is being overheard). The 3p (4p, 5p) pronoun may also be used here to indicate a (alleged) report. Words that usually do not carry a pragmatic meaning can be brought into this verbal space and, 'derivationally', used as such. Whole sentences can be so marked, and include the use of intonation and pitch, Note, this is also a natural domain for the marking of social relationships, honorific, polite, informal, etc.

Modifier can be placed between an adjective and its head, or an adverb and its verb. It is also the relative clause marker, that. It is the adverb marker, -ly, when that function is made explicit. Systematic change(s) may be made to it to indicate that the modifier is now in a place where it is not usually found, or that it is now a Modifier of a Modifier, etc.

"Genitive" marks a noun modifying a noun. When a modifier marker is used instead, it implies that the modified noun is inalienable to the other noun. Genitive, then, explicitly states that it is an alienable relationship or claim. It could also be used for certain derivations.

Meta is about the language used when thought of as out of the context of the situation. The you pronoun, them, can become a marker of performative speech act; while the I pronoun marks the expressive. The 3p, 4p, 5p pronoun may also be used here to indicate important the speaker considers a statement to be. Again, other word or phrases may be repurposed when in this area,

These Mechanic particles

Parser is like the opposite of Modifier, but is usually a head. Not required, it avoids ambiguity by erecting a barrier between two segments that would naturally be connected in some way. So, the large boy and |parser| girl = the boy is large, but the girl isn't. It would also be a verbal ellipses, .... Derivations would include abrupt changes in topic or other matter., (It does not go forward.)

Intonation draws attention to the tones, pitches and other paralinguistic clues. It can have one or more of them, and it may be the only one of the sentence segment that has most of them or it may be share in or contrast with the intonation of the segment. This can, then, could be the usual way emphasis, contrast, attitude, etc. are expressed.

Degree can have its own intonation, but it is stricter in its application. Medial degrees (yinyanghai) do not use Degree; they are the (more or less) standard, usual, norm. Reduplication of the yinyanghai word makes it A step above or below or iffy. Degree as a modifier of one yinyanghai takes it up another step (making iffy very unstable in its value). Used with a reduplicated yinyanhai makes the word extreme. Reduplicating Degree while it modified only one yinyanghai would indicate that the degree isn't inherent with what the word represents but is an aberration. Derived from it can be markers for Homophora and Heterophora, that is, a tradition(s) and knowledge that is inside and outside of a (sub)culture, as well as Cohesive.; this can include its etiquette. Again, gradations can be made explicit by intonation or word order.