Notes/Blog

I'll use this page to talk about updates and ideas, and respond to suggestions.

Future Phonology Ideas

I have two plans for changing the phonology a bit. I won't do them right now, but probably will eventually.

The first is to combine x and c. The sounds are not all that common, and seem easily confusable. Plus, combining them will only lead to four or five "collisions" that need to be avoided.

The second is to eliminate h. In many cases the h could simply be dropped, and in others could be changed to something else, like f. One problem is the word for "good", "hau."

Simplifying Vocabulary

Many suggestions have been made that the vocabulary be tightened. Ultimately, I'd like to be able to have a core vocabulary of about 400 words, that could easily be printed.

There are some words I plan to combine. Just a heads up.
Win + profit
White + bright
Black + dark
Sharp + sour (and maybe bitter as well) - into kali from Swahili. But this means changing kali (time)

Some New Questions

I've received some questions about some aspects of Neo Patwa, and perhaps answering them here would be beneficial as an explanation.

Q: Why does "lalu-din" mean yesterday?

A: "Lalu" means pass or past, so "past day" means yesterday. It could mean "days of past", so this is slightly difficult. Tomorrow is "pili-din", which means "next day."

Q: Why is "nume-wan" used to mean both "best" and "worst"?

A: Actually, "nume-wan" simply means "most". So "number one good" is "best" but "number one bad" is worst. It means something like "the first item in a list starting from X."

Q: What is the meaning of reduplicated words? Some words like "mama" and "papa" are just the same sound repeated, but others like "bye-bye" and "wela-wela" seem to be compounds?

A: There is no precise meaning for all reduplicated words. In general, however, they indicate either a plural or a strengthening of the meaning. So "wela-wela" (time-time") is like a plural, since it means "from time to time." "Bye-bye" (other-other) means "various." In many cases, like "yan-yan," I use reduplication to mean the plural (when it is unclear from the context). One doesn't have to say "do-pela yan-yan" for "two people." "Do-pela yan" is perfectly understandable.

Q: Why does "fika" mean both "arrive" and "until"? What is the connection?

A: This actually comes from the preposition of coverb "dao" in Mandarin. Thinking logically, "this trains starts in Beijing and arrives in Shanghai" means the same as "this train goes from Beijing until Shanghai." "Fika" denotes the idea of completion or arrival. Hence, "until." There are many ideas in Neo Patwa, derived from Chinese or Japanese, that seem confusing to English speakers.

Q: What is the point of the word "pela" after numbers?

A: Pela is essentially a counter word, like "two pairs of pants" in English. But what is the point of using just one like this? Well, it helps to show when a number is being used for actually counting and then it is being used as a label. So for example, "do-luna" is "February," whereas "do-pela luna" is "two months."

Q: The idea of the preposition "po" seems hard to understand. Why doesn't "Yu kata mjaso po caku" translate as "You cut meat-of-knife"?

A: Actually, it could, if you put it like this, "You cut meat of knife." The "po" is ambiguous, and can generally be thought of meaning "for". So "you cut meat for knife." It could mean that you are cutting the meat to give it to the knife, or cutting the meat that belongs to the knife, but in this case it is fairly clear that the knife is being used. In fact, the term "po" is inherently ambiguous, and intentionally so. If there is a need for precisions, there are other words (really coverbs) that can be used to specify. So for example, "pakai" means "use." So if you say "Yu kata myaso pakai caku" it would unambiguously mean "you use knife to cut meat."

In fact, this kind of grammar is based on creole languages, principally on the use of the prepositions "long" and "blong" in Tok Pisin. There is also "kopa" in Chinook, and "ah" in Jamaican Patois, for example. Of course, none of these natural languages have anything as "all-purpose" as Neo Patwa, but they are not designed in the same way.

Q: What about "di"? Doesn't this have the same problem?

A: Yes, "di" is also ambiguous by nature.