Re: CONLANG Digest - 7 Sep 2000 to 8 Sep 2000 (#2000-245)

Muke Tever wrote:
>
> > From:    Robert Hailman <robert@...>
> > Subject: Re: CHAT: University Advice (was Re: A bit of advice)
> >
> > > > Excuse me for my ignorance, but what precisely is a "credit-hour"? I
> > > > have an idea, but I don't know the definition.
> > >
> > > A class that meets 3 times a week for 1 hour each is a 3-credit-hour
> class;
> [gesnipfen]
> > >
> > Okie dokie, I get it now. Oi! 22 is a lot, 26 is just eeeeevil.
>
> Uyk!  Normal class load at our school is 12-16 hours.  I had to get approval
> (and pay extra) to get the 18 I have now.
>
> > From:    Jonathan Chang <Zhang2323@...>
> > Subject: Greenberg's universals for SVO languages  & Caos Pidgin
> ruff-sketch
> >
> >     etc. (in another words, the "universal" tendency of SVO languages - as
> > opposed to Mandarin and English - is to be right-branching, right/eh?)
>
> English isn't SVO?
> It doesn't fit all those "universals", of course, but...
>
> > From:    Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>
> > Subject: Re: CHAT: University Advice (was Re: A bit of advice)
> >
> > ObConLang: *education* in concultures/conlangs?  Education in mine is
> > associated with the magistrates, who form the scholarly elite, in Qenar,
> > though the word for "knowledge" connotes more wisdom/enlightenment (in a
> > vaguely Zen-ish sense) than book-learning.  Education in Qenar is a
> > privilege of the wealthy, and there "knowledge" connotes more
> > philosophy/ethics.
>
> The closest thing to "education" that most ancient Hadwan speakers
> got...Everyone had to know how to write their own name.  Most didn't elect
> to learn much beyond that, although some were motivated enough to learn the
> whole alphabet, and the well-off could afford tutors to teach them a little
> about everything.  I don't know how it is in the present yet, but in future
> times Hadwan speakers attend regular (Americanesque) schools.
>
> > From:    "Thomas R. Wier" <artabanos@...>
> > Subject: Re: CHAT: University Advice (was Re: A bit of advice)
> >
> > > Also, your comparison of CB to Jeopardy!, while true, may be more of a
> > > representation of the easiness of Jeopardy! questions than to the
> > > difficulty of CB questions.
> >
> > I wouldn't be so sure of that.  Here're some fairly representative
> questions:
> >
> > A:  _CUCHULAINN_
> >
> > A:  Jan _SIBELIUS_
>
> Now, I wonder if there have ever been Cuchulainn or Sibelius questions on
> Jeopardy!.
>
> My problem with most of those questions they have at College Bowl here is
> not knowing how to pronounce all them wacky foreign answers, having learned
> all this stuff only in 'boox'.  Is <Cuchulainn> /"ku.kl=.eIn/ or what?
/'kuxulin/.  Often the /x/ is weakened to /h/, and sometimes the stress
shifts to the second syllable in accordance with English patterns for
non-inherited words.

--
There is / one art                   || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
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