Conlang flag design // was Minhyan & the goddess of conlangs

David Peterson wrote:

> We already have a patron saint, though, right?   (Hildegard von Bingham?)
> Seriously, though, we need to get crackin'.   We need a flag, an official
> conlang
> bird, an anthem...   We kind of have a motto, which can be translated into
> whatever language we wish: Fight Linguistic Extinction: Create a Language!
> Maybe a fight song, a mascot, official conlang colors...   Ooh!   The ABA
> 2000
> (a *very* minor basketball league) is looking for franchise owners!   What if
> we all pooled our money and bought a basketball team?   They could be the
> Conlangers!
Right, it's time to take this seriously.

I've drawn a (very) rough sketch of a flag, based on the following
ideas and considerations:

[Here's the sketch:
<http://www.netyp.com/member/dragon/temp/conlangflagidea.png>]

The flag is diagonally symmetrical. One half represents the "real"
world, the other represents the conculture world. In each half there
is a "person". In the "real" half, this person represents the
conlanger; in the "conculture" half, it represents a speaker. Each
"person" is represented simply as a big circle for a head containing
a smaller oval for a mouth out of which protrudes a tongue.

The "heads" in both halves are yellow for heraldic reasons (it's a
metal), whereas the colours of the "tongue" and the background colour
are interchanged across the diagonal divide. In the "real" half, the
idea is to represent the fact that the language itself is the creative
focus whereas the topics the words are used for is more of a
background detail. I've tried to capture this with reference to the
traditional symbolism of elements. Fire is supposed to stand for
creativity, so the tongue (representing the language) is a fiery red,
while the background (which represents whatever a particular discourse
happens to be about) is an earthy black (earth being the appropriate
element for stable, background details). In the "conculture" half, the
idea is to represent the fact that the language can be put to creative
use, but from the perspective of the native speakers, the vocabulary
and grammar and so on themselves are very much in the background.
Thus, the colours are interchanged across the divide.

I think the two tongues should meet in the centre in the form of a
Celtic knot or similar, but that's beyond my drawing capabilities.

Anyway, this is a very rough sketch of an idea, which is provided so
that it can be discussed, developed and improved through collective
input. What do you think?

Adrian.

Replies