Re: Conlang Books - Reviews & Recommendations

Sai Emrys wrote:

>So: I'd like to see what you all think of the various conlang books
>out there, and what's worth reading.
>
>Feel free to include books that are not *about* conlangs as such, but
>have significantly affecting your conlanging (e.g. WF&DT above). And
>feel free to include reviews of books that have already been
>mentioned.
==================================================

Leonard Talmy's 2-volume "Toward a Cognitive Semantics" as well as the
several books by Gilles Fauconnier on Mental Spaces theory were invaluable
to me in my conlanging efforts, as was the Lakoff book already mentioned.
Also, the classic "Language, Thought & Reality:  Selected Writings of
Benjamin Lee Whorf" edited by John B. Carroll was a seminal inspiration for
me in branching out beyond the scope of Indo-European in my linguistic
worldview, as was Charles Fillmore's classic paper from 1968:  "The Case for
Case."

At this point, I'll also put in a word for Sarah Higley's (i.e., Sally
Caves') new book on Hildegard of Bingen's Lingua Ignota and its relationship
to conlanging.  I just finished reading it and it's a great, fun read, both
illuminating and insightful.

--John Quijada