Kevin Smith | Re: [europidgin] EuroPidgin - Around 500 very basic words.

• Autor: Kevin Smith (“kevinbsmith”)
• Tema: Re: [europidgin] EuroPidgin - Around 500 very basic words.
• Data: 2002-09-16 15:24
• Mesaje: 71 (a supra, presedente, seguente)

On Sat, 2002-09-14 at 02:06, europidgin wrote:
> I have uploaded a very basic dictionary to our web site.
> It only has around 500 words.

A suggestion for reducing the word count: Eliminate all specific types
of plants and animals.

It is impossible to include all the animals and plants as words in a
core vocabulary. But if you include some and not others, you introduce
extreme cultural bias. How would you decide which species to keep, and
which to exclude?

Just because Eur-americans keep dogs and cats as pets does not make them
more important than other household animals. Animals that you may eat
may be quite different from those on the menu in other areas. Work
animals in your region may not even exist in many parts of the world.
All the same logic applies to plants as well.

It's much simpler and more fair to have the core vocabulary only have
general words for plants and animals. Otherwise, it is almost impossible
to keep the list size down near 500 words.

Just a suggestion.

Kevin