How are Globasa's words selected?
Preliminary Step: Before rushing to expand Globasa's dictionary with a new root word, determine if the desired word can potentially be expressed through an already established root word or through a word formation method (affixing or compounding). Based on that determination, decide whether or not to introduce a new root word.
Two-Part Methodology:
(1) Establishing the etymological source for the word
(2) Determining the exact lettering of the word
Establishing the Etymological Source
Caveats: The following caveats must be kept in mind during the source selection process.
Never adopt minimal pairs with v and w, or s and z, m and n (in word-final position only).
Whenever possible, avoid minimal pairs with l and r, b and p, f and p, c and j, c and x, h and r: Whenever there is more than one option, regardless of number of language families represented, choose the one that does not create one such minimal pair.
Whenever possible, avoid any minimal pairs: Whenever there is more than one more or less equal option, choose the one that does not create a minimal pair.
Never adopt root words that are identical to already established roots plus/minus a consonant at the beginning or at the end of the word.
Whenever possible, avoid one-syllable words and words longer than three syllables: Whenever there is more than one more or less equal option, choose the one with two or three syllables.
Whenever possible, avoid words that appear to be affixed.
Source Selection:
Check the following languages on Google Translate, Wiktionary and Wikipedia as well as use print dictionaries as support when in doubt: English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Hindi, Telugu, Arabic, Swahili, Persian, Turkish, Indonesian, Filipino. You may also want to try the the Globasa Etymology Helper app.
Select the source with the most language families represented.
If there is a tie in number of families represented, the order of priority for source selection is as follows:
If there is no consensus, do a more thorough search with other parts of speech or with synonyms.
If there is still no consensus, choose the most appropriate word based on the following order of priority.
Keep in mind that the caveats above always trump the source selection guidelines.
Apply the caveats above.
Try finding a middle ground when creating a blend between the words in the various languages.
Select consonants and vowels that are the least common in Globasa.
Root words in Globasa tend to end in a vowel, preferably an a posteriori vowel found in at least one of the major languages or language families.
An a priori vowel should only be added if the last consonant is one which phonotactic rules do not allow in word-final position (b, c, d, g, h, j, k, p, t, v, z) or to create a two-syllable word if the source word consists of one syllable. To select an a priori vowel, use the following guidelines: