Re: Language Naming

On Thu, 21 Jan 1999, Sheets, Jeff wrote:

> So the general convention for natlangs is naming it after the original
> country/nation?  Are there any major exceptions to this?  I think Cherokee
> would be one, isn't Tsa-La-Gi the Cherokee word for their tribe?  Do they
> actually HAVE a name for their language?  I'm being specific about natlangs,
> but I'm interested in knowing what General rules are used to name any given
> language.  From what I can tell most languages are based on their homeland.
> Are there any other ways that the native speakers of a language name it?
>
        Though I don't speak with any scientific authority whatsoever, I
don't think there would be much limitation on how natives name their
language.  The perfect example is for me the most obvious: I live in the
United States, but for some reason I call my language English.
        FWIW, and from a more conlang-related point of view, my conlang
Doraya wasn't originally named that way (intrafictionally, at least).
Most of the native speakers still call it _raeyl mof_ ('The Sea
Language').  After some of the speakers of this language left their
homeland because of religious and political persecution, the refugee
government (after a small spelling reform) renamed it _doraya_
('Star-Language') to emphasize the new political, cultural, and geographic
differences between the two groups.
        (Actually, that's just the current story I use to justify the
continued use of the word _doraya_ to identify the language -- a
word which, though it seemed nice when I first started working on the
language, is horribly incorrect under the current grammar. <g>)

--
Adam Parrish                   "A friend of mine once told me that the
myth@inquo.net                 best way to understand teenagers was to
http://www.inquo.net/~myth/    think of them as constantly on LSD.  It was
                               good advice." -- Mary Pipher