ADD INCHES TO YOUR DICTIONARY OVERNIGHT
ADD INCHES TO YOUR DICTIONARY OVERNIGHT
Anthologica Universe Atlas / Forums / Department of Creativity / ADD INCHES TO YOUR DICTIONARY OVERNIGHT / ADD INCHES TO YOUR DICTIONARY OVERNIGHT

? Rhetorica Your Writing System Sucks
posts: 1292
, Kelatetía, Canada
message
Because the only true widely-accepted measures of a conlang's quality are "how Asian is your phonology" and "how big is your dictionary," and I loathe tones, it's time for a thread about my all-time favourite topic: lexicon padding.

There are two reliable sources of words: deriving stuff by gluing affixes onto pre-existing words and trawling through mountains of technical vocabulary to tease out neat things. For example, in Lilitika, I added an almost completely regular list of chemical element names based on atomic number. This should have been an unforgivable nooblang cop-out, but atomic force microscopy is one of the few reliable benefits of the wonky magic system that the Lilitai have access to, so that particular bacteriophage plaque1 has actual worldbuilding importance. Other sources of fabulous dictionary growth I've explored include rhetorical vocabulary and place names.

What vocabulary padding goals do you have? How do you scratch your lexicographer's itch when it strikes?

_________________________
1. gloss as "cavity"