Re: Hello...

On Sun, 12 Nov 2000 15:25:50 -0500, H. S. Teoh <hsteoh@...>
wrote:

>On Sun, Nov 12, 2000 at 02:25:49AM -0500, David Stokes wrote:
>[snip]
>
>> One thing I found when working on Diom is that I was too close to it. I
>> repeatedly found myself paralyzed when I'd come up with something, then
>> say "No, thats not right." and erase it. I was making it up so it would
>> seem like I could do anything I wanted. But it felt like there was an
>> already existing correct language out there and I was just trying to
>> find out what it was. Does this happen to the rest of you?
I've had that feeling a couple of times.

>Hmm. I find that when something similar happens to me, it's mostly because
>of the level of internal consistency that I wish to have in my conlang. I
>don't want it to be an arbitrary hodgepodge of divergent linguistic ideas;
>I want to have a deep inner consistency. Which *could* be a reason why
>I've been stuck at a dead-end for the past few weeks... :-P
I haven't made progress lately either, but only because I've been trying to
improve my understanding of phonology and lexical semantics first. I think
....

>> So now I have decided to set Diom aside for a while and work on some
>> other projects. These will give me chance to try out some other ideas.
>> Then maybe when I go back to Diom I can progress a little more easily. I
>> will discuss these other projects in future posts.
>
>Hmm, good idea. Maybe I should do that too. :-)  You only see trees until
>you look at the forest from outside.
>
>> A short biographical note -- I was born and raised in Austin, Texas. I
>> currently live in Bloomington, Indiana. I studied astronomy as an
>> undergrad, philosophy as a grad student, then ran out of money and now
>> work as unix sys admin/digital map maker. I speak Russian, German, and
>> have just started teaching myself Japanese (haven't gotten very far with
>> that yet). I had one intro linguistics class as an undergrad, and so may
>> be a bit naive about some points of linguistic theory.
>[snip]
>
> Don't worry. The only thing close to a linguistics class I've ever had is
> a 1st-year course on introductory classical Greek. I'm not a linguist, not
> even by a long shot, just a computer science major who's interested in too
> many things other than computer science. ;-)
>
> 2+2=4. 2*2=4. 2^2=4. Therefore, +, *, and ^ are the same operation.
> The diminished 7th chord is the most flexible and fear-instilling chord.
> Use it often, use it unsparingly, to subdue your listeners into
> submission!
Another typical musician/comp.sci./etc./conlanger!

Jeff