Re: is there a Latin-Chinese conlang?

From:    "Pascal A. Kramm" <pkramm@...>
> On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 23:01:14 +0200, Rodlox <Rodlox@...> wrote:
> > out of curiosity, has anyone ever created a Latin-Chinese conlang?
>
> No. Because of the large geographical distance it would be highly
> improbable... but don't let that stop you.
Years ago on this list I proposed precisely such a thing on the
following grounds.  The Roman triumvir Crassus famously lost the
battle of Carrhae and what soldiers were not killed were pressed into
service of the Parthian emperor. Now, there are records in Han-dynasty
period Chinese texts of the Han emperor's armies coming up against an
barbarians with an unusual fish-scale formation, reminiscent
of the testudo formation of the Romans, which few if any other
ancient militaries did.  All this much is historical fact.  The
speculation, among some, is that these were the same Roman soldiers
captured by the Parthians at Carrhae.

(See here for more:
<http://www.pip.com.au/~paceman/ROMANS%20IN%20CHINA.html>)

(Incidentally, the Economist had a wonderful article about the current
Communist party official mentioned here.  He's erected three
statues in his little town for each of the putative ancestral peoples:
Han Chinese, represented by a literatus, a Uigur in traditional
clothes, and a Roman legionary.)

I never followed through on this conlang idea, because I don't know
enough Chinese to make it plausible. Also, there was always the
nagging doubt that Crassus's soldiers were at least as likely to
implant a Greek-Chinese language in China as they were to implant
a Latin-Chinese one.

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Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
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Chicago, IL 60637