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OT: What makes a good conlang? (was Re: Super OT: Re: CH AT: JRRT)

From:And Rosta <a.rosta@...>
Date:Friday, March 12, 2004, 23:20
David P [in another thread]:
> Joe wrote: > <<Actually, the 'tt' is [?] :p>> > Not unless you're Eliza Doolittle (or "li'il"). It's pretty much a > flap in English, I'd say. Any takers on this issue? (Note: This is > NOT YAEPT! It's important for scientific purposes.)
Are you trolling?! Joe is English. There are many different accents of English, and only a few of them (North American, Aus, ?NZ) flap /t/ in _little_.
> And. wrote: > <<
[...]
> (I believe I practise what I preach here, and I delight in > discovering congruences between English and my conlang. I also > rely heavily on my English intuitions during the design process.)>>
[...]
> Now, what did you mean by "I also rely heavily on my English intuitions > during the design process"? I'm not saying this is a bad/good thing: I > just don't know what you mean. Could you explain?
I can't remember quite what I had in mind when I was writing that. There are many congruences with English, and influences from English. Examples of influence from English intuitions: (1) the Livagian notion of textual length is based on syllables; (2) discourse markers (like "well", "though", "yet") are (or will be) derived from analysis of English discourse markers, since they are more subtle than any system I am capable of inventing out of thin air (and Livagian must not be impoverished in comparison with English). Another example of influence from natlang intuitions: conditions on Livagian geminability seem to be the same as in Italian, but I haven't yet worked out how to define those conditions. --And.