OT: Kelenala (was Re: OT: Programmed/Hand made music (was: Random word generators (was Re: Worthwhile Engelang Goal)))

Henrik wrote:
<<
But then, it's not so much a language than a language puzzle or
construction kit.  You could not use it to communicate without a
grammar, of course.
 >>

Referring to Kelenala.  I would object to this.  Kelenala is no
more a language puzzle/construction kit than a real live pidgin
or creole.  That's what the intent of the project was: To simulate
(in fast motion) the evolution of a creole.  Rather than having a
real language as a lexifier, though, I just created a list of common
words that would probably be borrowed into a creole (plus some
nouns/expressions that I just happened to want to put in there).
The result is supposed to be like a real creole.  During pidginization,
speakers are encountered with a language they don't know, so
they basically take forms they can recognize and hold onto and
try to fit them into their idea of what the grammar of a language
needs to be (with influences from their own language, the lexifier
language, and from external factors).  As time goes on, it creolizes,
though, and becomes its own system.  That's what I was aiming
for.

-David
*******************************************************************
"A male love inevivi i'ala'i oku i ue pokulu'ume o heki a."
"No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn."

-Jim Morrison

http://dedalvs.free.fr/

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