Conlang: Re: history of conlanging (aka Conlang influences, aka Lest darkness fall) (Doug Ball, Nov 21 '99, 19:23)

Re: history of conlanging (aka Conlang influences, aka Lest darkness fall)

From:	Doug Ball <db001i@...>
Date:	Sunday, November 21, 1999, 19:23

From:

Doug Ball <db001i@...>

Date:

Sunday, November 21, 1999, 19:23

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> At 5:36 pm -0800 20/11/99, Barry Garcia wrote: > [....] >> >>Well i'm probably the odd one out here, because I was never inspired to >>start conlanging because of Tolkien >

I'm also part of the not-influenced-by-Tolkien Club. Although, I read parts of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings prior to the invention of my conlang, it was some time before I was told that Tolkien had invented languages, and really only within the last 24 hours that I realized what a thorough job he did (by visiting the Languages of Arda website).

> ------------------------------------------------------------------- > > At 12:20 am +0100 21/11/99, Boudewijn Rempt wrote: >>On Sun, 18 Jul 1999, Jay Bowks wrote: >> >>> I wonder what motivated the love for conlanging in other list >>> members... are there similar threads that we can identify as >>> positive influences and I'm interested in knowing if we got hooked >>> to our secret vice at similar or different ages. > > [snip] >> - but even then, I was also motivated by >>a strong desire to write a better, clearer grammar, than the French >>grammar we used in school. Up to that time, I don't think I'd ever >>read anything about invented languages. No Tolkien, no Languages >>of Pao. >

[rest of Ray's message snipped] Indeed, one of my motivations was a desire to write a better grammar than the Latin one that learned (I thought it was a bit complicated). The origins of my interest in language are little fuzzy, but I did try to invent a language (twice actually) in sixth grade (age 12) called Douglasian. I had invented countries, alien races, sports teams, stories, and the like for many years, and languages must have seemed like another area to go into the inventing business (and I was probably also motivated by a classmate, who knew someone that had an language, although in retrospect it was probably some sort of code). But this language didn't really work, since I had no idea how languages worked. Then in seventh grade (age 13) several things happened to seal my conlanging career. I took an exploratory class (six week classes where you were introduced to a topic) in French, and liked it so much I signed up to take French in eighth grade. I also decided to go to this enrichment school, where in the summer one got to be a college student for three weeks. During this time, I took Latin. This conveniently gave me the grammar background to start inventing a language. Earlier that summer, I had invented yet another alien race, and had done a fair amount of culture work with it, including the beginning of a novel featuring them (never finished-I always had trouble sustaining stories to novel length). After taking Latin, I decided to give these people a language, thus Skerre was born. I was also made aware of Esperanto at this time (I think), and although I never went the auxlang route (since I already had a purpose), Esperanto always served an inspiration as to what was possible. Then the next school year, I began talking French, which would exert it's influence, and I began to collect language books where I would be influenced by Russian, Turkish, Norwegian, et al. Somewhere (I think in 8th grade) I saw The Search for Spock, and became aware of Klingon. I got the Klingon Dictionary and Klingon is probably the only conlang to influence Skerre. Star Trek and Star Wars had influenced several concultures, and this was no exception, but other than Klingon they were not much of a linguistic influence. By ninth grade (age 15), I became aware of the discipline of linguistics, and with the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language as a starting point I began to explore that discipline (a journey that continues into my linguistics class that I'm in right now, all the while refining my language. I have tried to invent some other languages, but since Skerre remains so near and dear to my heart, I have trouble extending beyond it. -Doug --MS_Mac_OE_3026039032_517902_MIME_Part Content-type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: history of conlanging (aka Conlang influences, aka Lest darkness= fall)</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR=3D"#FFFFFF"> > At 5:36 pm -0800 20/11/99, Barry Garcia wrote: > [....] >> >>Well i'm probably the odd one out here, because I was never inspire= d to >>start conlanging because of Tolkien > I'm also part of the not-influenced-by-Tolkien Club.  Although, I read= parts of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings prior to the invention of my conl= ang, it was some time before I was told that Tolkien had invented languages,= and really only within the last 24 hours that I realized what a thorough jo= b he did (by visiting the Languages of Arda website). > -------------------------------------------------------------------<BR=

> > At 12:20 am +0100 21/11/99, Boudewijn Rempt wrote: >>On Sun, 18 Jul 1999, Jay Bowks wrote: >> >>> I wonder what motivated the love for conlanging in other list<= BR> >>> members... are there similar threads that we can identify as<B= R> >>> positive influences and I'm interested in knowing if we got ho= oked >>> to our secret vice at similar or different ages. > > [snip] >> - but even then, I was also motivated by >>a strong desire to write a better, clearer grammar, than the French= >>grammar we used in school.  Up to that time, I don't think I'd= ever >>read anything about invented languages. No Tolkien, no Languages<BR=

>>of Pao. > [rest of Ray's message snipped] Indeed, one of my motivations was a desire to write a better grammar than t= he Latin one that learned (I thought it was a bit complicated).   The origins of my interest in language are little fuzzy, but I did try to i= nvent a language (twice actually) in sixth grade (age 12) called Douglasian.=  I had invented countries, alien races, sports teams, stories, and the= like for many years, and languages must have seemed like another area to go= into the inventing business (and I was probably also motivated by a classma= te, who knew someone that had an language, although in retrospect it was pro= bably some sort of code).  But this language didn't really work, since = I had no idea how languages worked.   Then in seventh grade (age 13) several things happened to seal my conlangin= g career.  I took an exploratory class (six week classes where you were= introduced to a topic) in French, and liked it so much I signed up to take = French in eighth grade.  I also decided to go to this enrichment school= , where in the summer one got to be a college student for three weeks. &nbsp= ;During this time, I took Latin.  This conveniently gave me the grammar= background to start inventing a language. Earlier that summer, I had= invented yet another alien race, and had done a fair amount of culture work= with it, including the beginning of a novel featuring them (never finished-= I always had trouble sustaining stories to novel length).  After taking= Latin, I decided to give these people a language, thus Skerre was born. &nb= sp;I was also made aware of Esperanto at this time (I think), and although I= never went the auxlang route (since I already had a purpose), Esperanto alw= ays served an inspiration as to what was possible.   Then the next= school year, I began talking French, which would exert it's influence, and = I began to collect language books where I would be influenced by Russian, Tu= rkish, Norwegian, et al.  Somewhere (I think in 8th grade) I saw The Se= arch for Spock, and became aware of Klingon.  I got the Klingon Diction= ary and Klingon is probably the only conlang to influence Skerre.  Star= Trek and Star Wars had influenced several concultures, and this was no exce= ption, but other than Klingon they were not much of a linguistic influence. =  By ninth grade (age 15), I became aware of the discipline of linguisti= cs, and with the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language as a starting point I be= gan to explore that discipline (a journey that continues into my linguistics= class that I'm in right now, all the while refining my language.  I ha= ve tried to invent some other languages, but since Skerre remains so near an= d dear to my heart, I have trouble extending beyond it. -Doug </BODY> </HTML> --MS_Mac_OE_3026039032_517902_MIME_Part--