Re: self designations

I wrote:
>Dirk Elzinga wrote:
>>What names do the speakers of your languages use to refer to
>>themselves? Are the names morphologically transparent? How did
>>these names come about?
>
>Hm, the speakers of Tairezazh don't really have a word for themselves -
>they'll call themselves "Tairezazhen" or "Vanizazhen" or Zanthen depending
>of whether they're from Taireza (most of 'em), Vaniza (lots) or Zantha
>(proportionally very few). In Vaniza, the language is in casual speech
>usually refered to as "klaizh", tho Tairezazh is still the word used in
>formal contexts. If a word specifically for (any) speaker is direly needed,
>I suppose one'd use "suleln tairezazhi", lit "Tairezazh's speakers/sayers",
>would be used.
The situation with Tairezazh's sister lang Steianzh (or "Steienzh" in
itself) is actually very much similar. The speakers normally call themselves
"Steienzhen" or "Keizdrezezhen" (ugly word, isn't it!) depending on whether
they're from Steiana/Steiene or Keizdreza/Keizdreze (the first forms are
Tairezazh, the later Steianzh - I usually use the Tairezazh names for most
things in this con-universe).

In both cases, the reason for this practice is that the lang started out as
a standardized form abstracted out of a continuum of dialects that got named
after the state that invented it, and then it became accepted by
neighbouring states and groups. If one looks at the dialects, it's hard to
find a definite border between Tairezazh and Steianzh, and it was patently
impossible in the days when the first versions of the standard langs where
promoted to officiality. The situation is quite similar to the relationship
between German and Dutch.

                                                        Andreas
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