Re: OT: Conlangea Dreaming

On Thu, 5 Oct 2000, M.S. Soderquist wrote:

> I had a dream last night that included some really strange hybrid of
> Spanish and English that was spoken in a lush island paradise ruled over
> by a queen named Lisabehtita, who looked suspiciously like a young Queen
> Elizabeth. It's got me feeling all creative today. The spoken language
> sounded a bit like Brazilian Portuguese to me, actually.
>
> Do other people construct languages in their sleep? I am sure this has
> been addressed before, but it was just so vivid in my mind, and I caught
> myself breaking it down in my dream-- "Oh, that's like English, that's
> like Spanish".
Not really.  :-(  Closest I've come is the rare dream in Korean instead
of English.  (My mom tells me I used to speak Korean in my sleep when I
was younger, so it must've been more frequent then--but I also used to be
more fluent in Korean relative to my age.)  I've never actually dreamt
even words in any of the other languages I've been acquainted with.
English.  Boring.  (On an unrelated note, I do dream in vivid color--the
only time I can visualize is apparently in my sleep!--and the water is
never wet.)

I have, however, had occasional dreams in which a made-up word is
central.  I think the last one I remember clearly was some mixed-up
incomprehensible dream about islands and oceans and "luave," whatever
that meant; I combed four dictionaries upon waking and still have no idea
how my brain came up with it.

I'd love to dream in conlang, or come up with conlanging stuff as I fall
asleep, but I guess I'm too new at this.  I *have* come up with "aha!  so
*that's* how you do that math proof I was stuck on!" as I was falling asleep.

I've also composed in my sleep--or at least, come up with pervasive
melodies, not terribly sophisticated but also not anything I can identify
as something I heard by someone else (and I have a decent musical
memory), that even today I could play back, pitch and all.  Alas, unless
I come up with a *music* conlang that's not of much help.

YHL