Re: Uusisuom's influences

On Sat, 31 Mar 2001, Daniel44 wrote:

> I think it's inaccurate to say that Uusisuom's influences are very
> 'european'.
I don't know the languages in question, that was just the impression I got.

> Finnish = one of the oldest modern languages in Europe; ties to Saami
> nomadic languages, arguably the most beautiful natural language in the
> world.
Not knowing Finnish, I can't agree or disagree; but that's an aesthetic,
not an objective, judgement.  Of the languages I know, I find Japanese
the most beautiful.  :-p

> It is also worth mentioning that Uusisuom's grammar system is more similar
> to languages such as Urdu, many African language systems and other WORLD
> languages than to simply 'European' ones.
Ah.  This was not obvious to me.

> Ultimately, it's a distinct and unique language. It has influences because
> every language has influences, and it's not absolutely perfect because no
> language is. There have been members of this list complain that the
> language's words do not include enough Finnish. But they miss the point: the
> language is unique and distinctive in its own right.
Heh.  I like it just fine as an artlang; in terms of international
communications, I prefer to try and learn others' languages.  (Which has
the possible advantage that I can find fluent speakers to practice with
far more easily.)  However, that's a personal preference, and for those
who like IAL's and this one in particular, go for it.  :-p  As far as
problems go, I'm guessing they'd be the same as for any other proposed
auxlang.  To take an example I know about, you would have a hard time
getting your average South Korean to see the point of *any* IAL, because
English works just fine for them, thankyouverymuch.  (And when you get
right down to it, Chinese, Japanese and English speakers are probably
what your average South Korean has a very good chance of dealing with on
a quasi-regular basis.)  Truthfully, as far as the IAL aspect goes I
looked at Uuisuom from a Korean POV (which, other than the American one,
is the only one I reasonably have): the problems a Korean-speaker might
have learning Uuisuom look a lot like the problems a Korean-speaker might
have learning English, which is to say, not inconsiderable.  OTOH, Korean
is a pretty useless language if you're not Korean, so that's not a very
helpful perspective.  <shrug>

I will shut up now before this turns into an IAL-vs.-artlang flamewar.

YHL