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.

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.