Re: CHAT: Three questions from a lurker

> Oh, and I have another two
> questions, because somehow I didn't get the responses the first time.
> How do you decide on your vocabularies/morphemes?  And what computer
> program do you use.  I use Excel myself because of the ease of
> alphabetizing.
> Well, I'll go back to lurking.  Thanks a lot.
> David
I hadn't used computers in conlanging until just before I joined this list.
Even now the vast majority of my digitalized material is what you see on my
web page (and what you don't see; the new page is much larger :); most writ=
ten
material is to be found in the heaps of white paper on my bookshelf, and al=
l
but a vanishingly small percentage of the vocabulary is only available in
"neural" format.  Recently I've become a little more organized, though, and
have started documenting Arov=EBn in a notebook; despite a certain fondness=
 for
digital files I like *writing* much more than I like typing (especially
since I can use my own script when I'm writing -- it looks neater ;-).
Lately I've been working on a digitalized "beginniner's dictionary", also
for the purpose of putting it on my web page, using Microsoft Word.  I shou=
ld
probably try out something more sophisticated sooner or later...
About the vocabulary, I seldom make up new root ("basic") words anymore, bu=
t
longer words I coin almost every day as I come across a need for them; many=
 of
them have to do with math and physics because I'm always learning new
definitions in my lectures, but just as many are ordinary things I come acr=
oss
in the course of the day -- the button on my mechanical pencil which pushes=
 the
graphite out, cloud shapes, the dark exhaust-streaks in the middles of road=
s...
anything that comes to my attention I like to give a name to, as a sort of
mnemonic anchoring-point.  Occasionally I'm more methodical: lately I've be=
en
going through encyclopedias working on my biological vocabulary, organizing
it and coining words for things I don't have names for (often because I've =
never
really known about them, or because they didn't interest me when I first he=
ard
of them), like alveolates (fyortyltayl=EB) and spurges (laudalind=EB).
The new words I like best are those I feel the need to invent before I real=
ly
even know what they mean: once in a while I see something and it seems
familiar, in an intuitive sort of way, but I can't really say how; maybe it
is a sense connected to some abstract concept, or maybe it's the impression=
 I
have of a stranger standing on a street corner, who in some unexplained way
seems *characteristic* -- but what the characteristic is I don't know, and =
I
feel I should have a word for it, so I invent a word which seems to fit tha=
t
sense as a reminder to come back and think about it again.  Later on I may =
come=20
across something else which brings that same word immediately back to mind =
--
"aha, dvel ty=EBrna!" -- I just *know* that person is "ty=EBrn", and sooner=
 or later
I "discover" what the word really means; it's never a concept familiar to m=
e
as a word from any of the languages I already know, otherwise that word wou=
ld
have come to mind right away.  My favorite intelligence-related quote (by
Einstein): "The human mind has first to construct forms, independently,
before we can find them in things."  My naming-language has always served m=
e
to solidify those forms which are to me the best and most fundamental; it w=
as
and is a way to conceptually order the world -- and from my point of view,
therefore Arov=EBn's as well, those conceptions *are* the world.

> Hi all list people.  I am generally a lurker, but I have to ask: am I the
> youngest conlanger on this list?  I'm 16 and have made five languages.
> Right now I'm working on one based on Welsh.
My younger brother's your age; he doesn't have a conlang of his own but he =
did
make an attempt at learning Danov=EBn -- unfortunately he couldn't even
consistently remember the word for "water", so I sort of gave up on him.
All these posts from sixteen-year-olds and younger are making me feel rathe=
r
ancient; I had thought I was pretty young compared to other Conlang-ers.  W=
on't
be long before I have to walk with a cane -- I might even have to pay the a=
dult
fare for my tram tickets :-)


JJS