Prescript to the Lexicon

While watching another talk by David J. Peterson, the creator of many popular fictional languages such as the ones from Game of Thrones, this quote stuck out to me:
"What the Lexicon tells you about is... where the people live, what level of technology they are at, and what their daily interactions are."
So far I have gotten away with choices of convenience. And some amount of conveniences are a good thing. I want to speak my own language comfortably and fluently, for all. This is a test run, so I want to explore many different linguistic areas. But I think it is especially important to define more about the fictional race that speaks my language. That's what this is for.

Let's start with location. My speakers are live in a temperate grassland/steppe region. On the other side of a tall mountain range is a collection of tropical islands, where other humans have a vibrant culture of maritime trade. (I may borrow words from this other culture later.) Traders and guides help those who wish to travel through the mountains.

As for technology, I will say pre-printing press. As a rough estimate, about where humanity was at in the 1300s.

I wanted to get this part out this week. Next week we will start creating our lexicon! (fancy linguistics speak for a dictionary) After that, we will define noun/verb inflections and then go on to sentence building. See ya!

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