Re: Fakelangs

Christian:
> --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, And Rosta <a.rosta@V...> wrote:
> > Danny:
> > > From: "Christian Thalmann" <cinga@>
> > >
> > > > (Feel free to coin a better word for "fakelangs"...)
> > >
> > > First thing that came to mind was 'altlang', short for 'alternative
> > > history language' or 'alternative Earth language'. Or is that already
> > > taken?
> >
> > I had supposed that Christian was describing not 'altlangs' (or,
> > as David Peterson called them, 'histlangs') but rather languages
> > whose description is part of the greater fiction. So, for example,
> > the description of Kinya is (or at least was) replete with full
> > scholarly apparatus, footnotes, bibliography (whose entries are
> > fictional). The fiction surrounding the description of Miapimoquitch
> > is so convincing that it can and has deceived people into believing
> > it to be real.
>
> Exactly, that's what I meant.  Maybe we should call them
> fictlangs (a bit too generic) or lostlangs (though not all
> of them are necessarily lost).  How about verilang, after
> the primary goal of verisimilitude?
Many conlangs aim for the *language* to have verisimilitude, but
here we are talking about the *description* of the language --
the way it is presented (to the audience) -- having verisimilitude.

I can't think of a better name yet, though. "Simu(l)lang"
("Simulative conlang"), maybe?

--And.