I was wondering if there exist layered languages, either natlang or conlang. What I mean is that the basis of the language is quite simple (simply mashing vocabulary together creates correct sentences), but then more complex structures can be used to add more meaning/nuance and such. One example of what I mean is the idea of inbetween words which can be left out seemingly without changing the meaning but they do change some subtle nuances. The idea would be that the language is very simple to get conversational in (safe for vocabulary of course for which there is no shortcut), but has a lot of depth to beyond that point which can be ignored at first. I am sorry if this isn't very clear, I am not very experienced in conlangs.
1 Answer
OK, here's some food for thoughts.
Arguably, natural languages are layered in this sense. There are some simple registers like Baby talk and Foreigner talk, there are registers like Elaborated and restricted code used by adult native speakers of different social classes.
More on the side of constructed languages, there is BASIC English, a simplified version of English with the purpose of easy learnability for foreigners, and there is Leichte Sprache, a special version of German to be understandable for people with cognitive challenges.
answered Jul 24, 2023 at 16:04
