Re: Collaborative conlang - Third time's the charm?

Do you really need a grammar, even? You could always instead�of that just use
the Kelenala wordlist and put a moratorium on�new lexemes (new vocabulary
would have to be built), and both�it and the grammar could be built up
gradually:��http://dedalvs.free.fr/kelenala/wordlist.html��Just a
thought.��-David�*******************************************************************�"A
male love inevivi i'ala'i oku i ue pokulu'ume o heki a."�"No eternal reward
will forgive us now for wasting the dawn."��-Jim
Morrison��http://dedalvs.free.fr/��On Oct 9, 2008, at 12∞07 AM, Gary
Shannon wrote:��> It's that time again. Time to try to launch another
collaborative�> project in linguistic anarchy. My last two collaborative
conlang�> projects were interesting, but ultimately not terribly
successful.�> (Kalusa - conlang archives May 2006... and another project
from�> longer ago. I don't recall the name.)�>�> So here's my latest
brainstorm: Start with a simplified "bootstrap"�> proto-language along the
lines of Toki Pona (but without all the�> excessive ambiguity). That
bootstrap language is used for all�> discussions about the emerging
collaborative conlang, so that�> people who do not share the same native
language can all discuss�> and work on the conlang using the bootstrap
language. And in fact,�> that bootstrap language would eventually evolve INTO
the�> collaborative conlang. One problem with that is that the original�>
bootstrap language would already have put its stamp on the eventual�>
collaborative conlang where basic vocabulary and grammar are�>
concerned.�>�> Therefore, the original bootstrap proto-language could be
set up�> with "placeholder" words for the initial vocabulary. To
distinguish�> between "real" words and placeholder words, all placeholder
words�> would be written in UPPER CASE ONLY. Placeholder words would NOT�>
reflect the eventual phonology, or morphology of the evolving�> conlang,
because they are disposable placeholders only. The�> bootstrap proto-language
would have the placeholder name�> "TAK" (talk). The real name may or may not
be discovered later by�> participants in the project.�>�> Grammar would
be a simple SVO positional grammar with the very�> minimum of features. This
too, would be disposable as the "real"�> grammar emerged and evolved to
replace the placeholder grammar.�>�> The only hurdle to participation would
be the necessity of learning�> the handful of placeholder words and the
minimal grammar so that it�> would be possible to use the bootstrap language
to discuss and�> evolve the emerging conlang.�>�> For that it would be
necessary first to have a quick and easy�> course of instruction to pick up
the bootstrap grammar and�> vocabulary. This would need to be available in
many natural�> languages so that people from diverse linguistic backgrounds
could�> all participate. The second requirement would be a forum where�>
discussions could be held IN the bootstrap language. Finally, an�>
interactive database would be needed for registered users to�> contribute
discovered vocabulary to the dictionary.�>�> There would be no "official"
dictionary, because any forum member�> could contribute any word or
grammatical principle. Whether that�> word remains in the language would
depend only on whether other�> community members used that word. The same
would apply to rules of�> grammar, declensions and case endings (if verbs and
nouns are�> eventually inflected), number of noun classes and their
properties,�> and so on. Rules would remain rules if and only if they are�>
generally adopted by the community. In fact, the language might not�> even
have an "official" name. It would be called whatever people�> called
it.�>�> Eventually all the UPPER CASE placeholder words would disappear
and�> the real grammar would emerge to displace the simplified�>
placeholder grammar, and a new language would be born which was not�>
"designed" by any one person, but, to use an old favorite phrase of�> mine,
"used into existence."�>�> Some preliminary quick-study lessons (40 sample
sentences) for the�> bootstrap language can be found here:
http://fiziwig.com/tak/�> tak01.html along with links to a forum (still empty
of posts) and a�> dictionary database with some 75 or 80 placeholder TAK
words�> (borrowed from Toki Pona and Ilomi (thanks Larry)), and an�>
interface for registered forum members to add words to the�> dictionary
database.�>�> There is NO official policy, NO official grammar, NO
official�> lexicon, and NOBODY to set themselves up as the authority on
what�> is or is not "correct". Usage is king, and nothing else matters.�>
Complete linguistic anarchy prevails.�>�> --gary�