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Comment by amarant | Hacker News Reader

Wow kiksht sounds like a pretty cool language! Are there any resources you'd recommend for the language itself? I'm mostly curious about the whole "a verb with prefix structure can be a whole sentence" thing, that sounds like a pretty cool language feature!

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> I'm mostly curious about the whole "a verb with prefix structure can be a whole sentence" thing, that sounds like a pretty cool language feature!

That's a fairly common language feature; such languages are generally called "agglutinating".

Prominent examples of agglutinating languages are the Eskimo languages, Turkic languages, and Finnish.

https://archive.is/QQnB6

There should be no shortage of resources available if you want to learn Turkish or Finnish.

And many more: https://linguisticmaps.tumblr.com/post/120857875008/morpholo...

So, bad news. Culturally, the Wasq'u consider Kiksht something that is for the community rather than outsiders. So unfortunately I think it will be extremely challenging to find someone to teach you, or resources to teach yourself.

How do you combine that feeling/observation together with what you're working on now, which I'm guessing you'll eventually want to publish/make available somehow? Or maybe I misunderstand what the "it will eventually be of help" part of your first comment.

I myself am very conflicted. I will always do what the elders say but opening things up greatly enhances the chance of survival.

Yeah, I understand, somewhat of an dilemma. Still, I wish you luck and hope that you manage to find a way that is acceptable to everyone involved.

Does that present philosophical questions on if an AI is part of the community or an outsider?

I’m not sure that the AI itself has many ethical complications. Many terms of service grant AI companies ownership of the data you supply to them though and that very problematic for many tribes which consider the language sacred and not to be shared.

I wonder why their language is dying. /s

Having a language that only your in group can speak is a good survival strategy

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