Re: New here

-----Original Message-----
Date:    Tue, 30 Aug 2005 07:21:18 +0200
From:    Eduard Ralph
Subject: AW: New here

> > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> > Von: ... Yahya Abdal-Aziz
> > Gesendet: Dienstag, 30. August 2005 06:57
> > An: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> > Betreff: New here
> >
> > Hi all!
> >
> > Just joined, and am new at conlanging, too. :-)
> >
> > About a month ago, I started cooking up a new language for the fun of
it,
> > little realising what depths I might need to plumb ...
> >
> > I've had a quick browse of a few recent posts, and the enormity of my
> > grammatical ignorance now appals me ...  Clearly, I'm going to have to
get
> > up to speed on, for one thing, several kinds of case that I haven't
> > encountered previously in my linguistic travels.  Any pointers
> > appreciated!
> >
> > Regards,
> > Yahya
>
> Welcome to the list, fellow newbie and ignorant. :-) I just introduced
> myself the other day and some on the list were so nice to suggest
following.
> (The original post was from Paul on Sunday, the response from taliensin)
>
> > > Here are a few books you ought to consider buying:
> > >
> > > A Dictionary Of Grammatical Terms In Linguistics, Trask
>
> > There's also his "A dictionary of phonetics and phonology", which I
> > recommend.
>
> > > Language Universals And Linguistic Typology, Comrie
>
> > Pssh, Comrie is much easier to read than Croft's "Typology and
> > universals". Croft's "Radical Construction Grammar" is interesting
though,
>
> > except for the middle third that reads like molasses.
>
> > > Describing Morphosyntax, Payne
>
> > This is the bible. Be aware that it doesn't cover *everything*, just 80%
> > or so of grammar. If you answer every question in it you'll still not
know
>
> > how to compare things or say which is <adjective>r. It is also rather
> > light on pronunciation and script.
>
> > > The World's Writing Systems, Daniels & Bright
>
> > This one is incredibly expensive. I recommend finding it in a library
and
> > photocopyting the introduction and scripts that captures your eye.
>
> > A good website for scripts is http://www.omniglot.com/
>
> > > You also ought to become familiar with the IPA (International Phonetic
> > > Alphabet) and CXS, which is how we represent the IPA in ASCII.
>
> > The book to get here is:
>
> > Handbook of the International Phonetic Association
>
> > not because it teaches you the IPA, but because it lists what sounds
many
> > languages use, being a great inspiration.
>
> > Oh, and as usual, you learn by doing. Welcome to the list!
>
> Hope it helps,
>
> Eduard
Eduard,
Thank you for your thoughtful reply, with those wonderful references
from Paul (which one?) and taliensin.  I have a passing acquaintance with
IPA, which I explored some years ago but have now mostly forgotten.

I had never heard of CXS before this, nor of its forbear X-SAMPA.
Thank you for this pointer!

I've downloaded some reference pages for CXS and will be sure to pass
the links on to some philologist friends.  I've reviewed the orthography
I had proposed for my conlang _Xe xugi ga-ba bu_, and expect to make
some changes to render it more CXS-like.

Regards,
Yahya

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