Re: CHAT: Synesthesia and conlanging (was Re: The Conlang Instinct)

Daniel Seriff wrote:
>
> I think I've always had a kind of "analytical" perception of language,
> even when I was very young. I would find myself deconstructing words in
> my mind, trying to figure out what my mouth was doing, and what my brain
> was doing. Then I'd move on into the question "How did these sounds get
> strung together and associated with this particular concept or object?"
> In other words, I'd find myself wondering about the etymology of words,
> especially ones like my name (Daniel), and things like "harmonica" and
> "bagel". I think this ability to break down words and sentences into the
> smallest possible segments is what got me really interested in language
> pretty early on.
>
        That's my experience too. Even before conlanging, I was interested in
etymology and analyse the way words are formed in French. My parents
were amazed that I could take simply the dictionary and spend hours
reading it, looking at the etymologies of the nouns, the tables for
conjugations, etc...

        I think this idea of "non-standard yet functional perception of
language" is the key to explain conlanging. Contrary to most people, we
don't take language "for granted". Most people see language as their
thoughts themselves (hence the fact that most monolingual people are
unable to imagine people thinking in another language than their own)
whereas we see language simply as a mean to express our thoughts, or
even as a piece of art, and so we have the right to create our own piece
of art or mean of expressing our thoughts (well, it's more complicated
than that, but I simplify for summary).

        Just my two centimes :) .

> Dan Seriff <microtonal@...>
>
> "Mozart is just God's way of making the rest of us feel inferior."
>         - David Barber
--
        Christophe Grandsire

        Philips Research Laboratories --  Building WB 145
        Prof. Holstlaan 4
        5656 AA Eindhoven
        The Netherlands

        Phone:  +31-40-27-45006
        E-mail: grandsir@natlab.research.philips.com