Re: Rick Morneau's Katanda?

Jeremy Louzao <socialanarchist@...> wrote:

> I did contact Rick a month or two ago (he's another person who
> suggested that I join the conlang list), and he seemed too busy
> to initiate a Katanda group, but maybe he would be interested
> in participating if some of us did the startup work.  The question
> is: is it worth my time either?  I've never learned a language
> before, although I've played around with a number (including
> esperanto and lojban), so I definitely want to learn one, but
> I don't know if Katanda is the way to go since it's a one-man
> project right now.  I really like the community that has been
> built around Lojban, but I really don't like the language.
Well, seeing that you have Rick's blessing, I don't see any reason
not to give it a try.  Do you think you could set up a yahoo group?
(btw are the yahoo groups still free? They used to be.)  Honestly,
I wouldn't care to speculate how long it would take to build
a community, except that it might take time.  Rome wasn't built
in a day.  Speaking for myself, I would join the group and learn
a little conversational Katanda to be sure, but basically I prefer
to tinker with my own creation--like a lot of conlangers I think.


> I think Katanda and the monograph that describes it are far
> more interesting, and I think the machine translation stuff is
> extremely interesting.  I wonder, what are some critiques of
> Katanda and what it's trying to accomplish, and are there other
> languages pursuing similar goals which are as well developed?
If there are any MTILs lurking out there, I have no knowledge,
nor do I know of any Katanda critiques.

As far as MTILs in general, I have a lot to say about this subject.
As a matter of fact, I just wrote an essay on it, but I am going
to save it for the Engelang yahoo group, which is more specialized
for tech stuff.  BTW I might suggest that you consider joining
Engelang if you think it interests you.

> If not, then is Katanda indeed worth learning?  How many people
> would be interested in starting a Katanda list?
>
>Jeremy LouzaoGet
I feel if any conlang can develop a speech community, then
Katanda can--potentially.  No predictions on who might be
interested though.


Regards

---   Mike