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Re: What defines a conlang?

From:<veritosproject@...>
Date:Tuesday, December 27, 2005, 18:02
Watch my reply-to!

Another consideration would be how the language is used.  Natlangs are
mostly (obviously) used for real world uses--business, conversation,
and the like.  But the grey area emerges when Trekkies have
conversations in Klingon, and Esperantists speak Esperanto for just
about anything.

On 12/27/05, Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> wrote:
> Hallo! > > Paul Bennett wrote: > > > On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 15:07:05 -0500, Jörg Rhiemeier > > <joerg_rhiemeier@...> wrote: > > > > > I'd say that a conlang is a language deliberately designed by > > > an individual or a (small) group; a natlang is a language that > > > evolved from another language during centuries of usage by a > > > community. > > > > This overlooks the pidgin/creole situation, where a complete language can > > emerge more or less fully formed in a matter of a couple of generations > > over a reasonably small (depending on your domain) group of people, > > without much if any planning. > > > > Also, there are natlangs that consist of a very diverse set of dialects > > that are deliberately engineered, codified and koinized. Koine being the > > obvious example, but if my brain isn't playing tricks on me, I seem to > > recall Bahasa Indonesia kinda fits the bill, too. > > > > It's a hard set to define. I'm tempted to go with the "second-generation > > L1 speakers" thing, but that I suspect locks out dying or dead languages > > going through a resurgence. > > You are right, there are borderline cases and a "gray area" between > natlangs and conlangs. It's rather like a spectrum than like a > black-and-white binary. The extremes are vernacular dialects on > one end and a priori conlangs on the other; many languages fall > somewhere between. > > Greetings, > > Jörg. >