The rational way to name rivers

PhilGoetz

I just read this in the Wikipedia article on the Mattaponi River and it really tickled me. If only all language were so rational!

The Mat River and the Ta River join in Spotsylvania County to form the Matta River;

The Po River and the Ni River join in Caroline County to form the Poni River;

The Matta River and the Poni River join in Caroline County to form the Mattaponi River.

I just read this in the Wikipedia article on the Mattaponi River and it really tickled me. If only all language were so rational!

The Mat River and the Ta River join in Spotsylvania County to form the Matta River;

The Po River and the Ni River join in Caroline County to form the Poni River;

The Matta River and the Poni River join in Caroline County to form the Mattaponi River.

If you want that kind of language learn Esperanto. The problem is that it takes up much more space than English. You need more letters to express the same idea.

Or even better: Learn E-minimal. <300 word (-stems) in total. But indeed usual concepts require quite long expressions.

The above translated into E-min:

Dime mohaam: Kluen ex E-minimal ex. Pre traanono klaa (-tretoz) maam. Tru: Dibra krem praaz shaaen mopum luklaaz.

7garabik12y

That's not how Esperanto works - it is not a philosophical language. While in theory it is 100% agglutinative, it is not used in that way, and the wordbuilding affixes serve more like a mnemotechnical device when learning the language (and it is very cleverly designed and very helpful). As for the size, Esperanto is not longer or shorter than any particular other language - it is English that is somewhat shorter than the others, due to many mono- and disyllabic words. Also consider the fact that translations are usually longer than originals.

0[anonymous]12y

I think Lojban is a more likely comparison...