Re: CHAT: Unsolicited abuse

>Matt Pearson wrote:
>
>> I should clarify that the psychologist in question was not my
>> therapist, nor was he acting in a professional capacity at the time
>> of our conversation.  But he was something of an authority figure -
>> viz., the father of the family I stayed with when I was an exchange
>> student in Sweden, about 11 years ago. [...]
>Ah... you've mentioned this incident before.  Do you think there is any
>possibility that he misunderstood what you said?  Do you think he thought
>you meant you liked to make up words for fun rather than a systematic,
>rule-governed *language*?  Most people, I would think, have so little
>understanding of what conlanging is that they might assume you just play
>around
>with words or something like that, not knowing about the intracacies that
>grammars can have (much as most people think linguists just know lots of
>languages).
I know exactly what you mean.  Yes, it's *possible* he thought that, but
I doubt it.  When I told him that one of my hobbies was making up a
language, he asked me whether the language was 'logical', and then went
on to pontificate about Esperanto and its function as a medium of
international communication.  Although not exactly a fan of Esperanto,
he was intrigued by the Esperanto concept (in addition to being a
psychologist and professor of pedagogy, he was also a specialist in
'peace studies' or some such - all very Swedish!).  It was only after I
informed him that *my* language was not intended as an auxlang that he
became hostile and started spouting catch phrases like "mental
masturbation".  So I don't think he thought of me as a schizophrenic
or a glossalalic.  In his mind, language has a purely utilitarian
function, so any artificial language project which is 'just for fun'
would be a waste of valuable time - a reaction which many other people
on this list have reported.

Matt.

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Matt Pearson
mpearson@ucla.edu
UCLA Linguistics Department
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543
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