--- In
cybalist@egroups.com, "Christopher Straughn" <cstraughn@...>
wrote:
> Melanaq is most definitely constructed.
> First of all, you'd expect some European language or dialect to
have
picked
> up on a few of its phonetic properties, but this is clearly not the
case.
> Secondly, a lack of borrowed words in a European language is
absurd.
The
> only European language that I know of with very few loans is
Icelandic: the
> creator of the language had probably heard about Icelandic and
wanted to
> emulate it.
> Thirdly, it is doubtful that Melanaq could have survived up until
the 1990's
> in America, where languages tend to disappear very quickly without
a
steady
> influx of new immigrants.
> Finally, Melanaq is not listed anywhere in the Ethnologue
> (http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/), and I have found that resource to
be very
> reliable so far.
> Chris
> http://www.christopherstraughn.com
> Home to Chris's constructed language, Arawyay.
>
__
Thanks! I also believe that Melanaq is constructed, but I don't agree
with all your arguments. The strongest argument towards constructed,
I
believe is its absence in all historic sources (and hence in
Ethnologue). I've searched for clues for a long time and haven't
found
anything.
I agree that the exotic phonetics almost excludes it as a European
language, but the lack of borrowed words may have several causes.
First of all, borrowed words are usually used with particles (na, ne,
no, nae... depending on casus). It was said that the Melanian words
were written down into the lists, so maybe words than were obviously
non-Melanian were not. But still, there should be more ancient loans.
Remember also that I'm no linguist, so I wouldn't be able to
recognize
all the borrowed words.
There are also some Germanic words, such as vanunga = appartment and
mavra = wall (f.ex. city wall). The way to express nationality also
reminds of Germanic: Melanska tlama = the Melanian people
PS: All phonemes in Melanaq is found in some European language, but
never all at once.
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