Re: CHAT: another new language to check out

About Aiola:

1.         I didn’t really see anything new on your site.    It makes a
pitch for yet another proposed artificial international auxiliary language
with the same virtues and problems as all the rest.

2.         With regard to low lexical ambiguity, I wonder how Aiola’s
vocabulary compares to that of Mark P. Line’s Classical Yiklamu, which maps
distinct word-forms onto every sense of every word listed on Word Net.

(For Word Net, see.... http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn/ )

3.         Your FAQ claims that Aiola is unique because of its “an
unprecedented combination of logical consistency, low ambiguity, and
familiarity.”    How on Earth did you verify that?   How did you measure
“consistency,” “ambiguity,” and “familiarity” across hundreds of languages
world-wide?   How did you even define these qualities in measurable terms?

4.         Your FAQ says that Aiola’s vocabulary was derived from English,
Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and German, along with three
constructed languages.   Such a vocabulary is hardly neutral, especially now
that the EU is a reality.

5.         The distinctive features of Aiola are not distinctive.   Every
proposed AIAL and its brother boasts phonemic spelling along with simple &
consistent conjugations and declensions.

6.         However, you shouldn't fret about most of this.   If Aiola's
grammar and spelling are simple, and if its vocabulary is large enough for
commerce and other literate discourse, it will be fit to serve its purpose,
and you should stop worrying about its features *now*.

7.         If you really want to Aiola to be as good as it can be, do the
following:

a)         Get every member of your group fluent in Aiola.

b)         Get every member of your group writing at least a paragraph in
Aiola every day.

c)         Conduct all internal ARG communication—written and spoken—in
Aiola.

d)         Make sure that some of your group members are bilingual or
multi-lingual.
           Have these group members form Aiola chapters in other countries,
so that
Aiola can be actually used within your international organization among
people without a common natural language.

f)         Come up with intelligent plans for promoting the use of Aiola for
recreation,
           commerce, and other purposes in groups outside the ARG.

g)         Don’t bother writing conlang or auxlang.   The conlang list doesn
’t concern
itself with proposed AIAL’s, and—from what I’ve heard—the auxlang list does
not concern itself with detailed and feasible plans for promoting the use of
any proposed AIAL.

Any further refinements or additions to Aiola's grammar and vocabulary
should be part of the process of doing steps a) through f).

If you take these steps, the ARG will be miles ahead other auxlang group on
the planet.

Jim G.

P.S.   When I played the Aiola vowels over the speakers, "e" and "o" both
came out as diphthongs, /eI/ and /oU/.   Is that what you want?

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