Re: Lunatic Survey

THE SURVEY:

        1)  To what extent is your conlang an "intensely peersonal"
pursuit--one that you don't often reveal to people other than
conlangers?

It used to be something I mainly kept to myself, since revealing it to
"outsiders" sometimes gets a reaction similar to revealing that you are
a part-time psychopath. These days, I figure it doesn't take people very
long to figure out I am an all around weirdo, so I go ahead and proudly
list it among my hobbies.

        2)  If so, to what extent do you feel that the listserv
"Conlang"
has given you a _raison d'etre_ for

                a) pursuing your invented language
                b) making it public?

CONLANG has been a place of acceptance and inspiration for me. I am
completely surrounded by linguaphobes, including my own husband who,
when I first moved in with him, forbade me to speak, read, or write
Spanish in his presence. (As you might have guessed, *all* my language
skills have gotten quite bad over the course of our relationship, even
though he has dropped that rule. I am still not comfortable using any
foreign language in his presence because I know it makes him feel
stupid.) Finding other conlangers has been really good for me, and given
me a lot more confidence to go ahead and work on languages, and to share
them with anyone who seems the least bit interested. I probably wouldn't
be conlanging today without the support of people I met on CONLANG.

        3)  How many of you, in mentioning your conlang to an
acquaintance, received a belittling reply?  Condescension?  Disapproval?

My step-mother-in-law didn't talk to me for days afterward. I think she
thought I was being a smart aleck when I told her that I was making up a
language.
Otherwise, I have gotten a lot of condescension and head-shaking. It's
not a "real hobby" to most people. [Then again, they have hobbies like
gardening, which look suspiciously like WORK to me...] I get the same
reaction to my other hobby, which is breeding small exotics. I don't do
it on a scale big enough to make money, so it is just a waste of
resources, in some people's opinion. What's with the people around me
who think that a hobby should yield monetary rewards? Wouldn't that make
it a JOB???

        4)  How many of you are:

                a) high school students or younger?
                b) undergraduates?
                c) graduates?
                c) out of school altogether and supporting yourselves?
                d) Not in school, never went?

I dropped out of college. Twice. I was a foreign lang and lit major. I
discovered that pursuing language course after language course right up
to the "LangX Composition 207" level was really groovy, but that I hated
literature courses in foreign languages just as much as I hated them in
English. (I scored 740 out of 800 on the College Board Achievement Test
for lit. when I was 16. Go figure.)

I have been advised from time to time in e-mail that an Intro to
Linguistics course would be good for me. For the record, I took that
one, and a few more after that. It's been about 7 years, though, and the
truth is that my memory is like Swiss cheese...  on a good day.

        4a) What is your profession, or your desired profession?

I am a housewife and mother of 4, 3 of whom are in elementary school.
I'd like to spend more time with my pets, and maybe make a business out
of selling related products and making breeder referrals, but I am in no
hurry. Kids keep me plenty busy!!!

I always wanted to be a writer when I was young, but I decided that I
can't handle rejection, so I gave that idea up.

        5)  How many of you have invented a language because

                a) you are solely interested in language experiments
                   and linguistics?

                        i) for personal experiments...
                        ii) because you like participating in the
                        development of an auxiliary language and its
                        socio-political effects?

                b) you are interested in world-building

                        i) for fiction
                        ii) for role-playing and other social activities
                        iii) just for your own amusement?

Mostly b(iii). I am mostly interested in creating a language and its
speakers in my imagination. Gives me something to think about when I am
busy doing laundry. :)
I am starting to take an interest in b(i) too, but I don't have anything
written that I care to share yet.

        5) How many of you take the time to learn another's conlang?

I don't spend a lot of time learning any languages anymore, though I do
like to get a feel for how languages (real or constructed) are put
together. I am making an honest effort to learn NGL. I received many
photocopied sheets describing one conlang from someone I met here, and I
really enjoyed that.

        6) How many of you are women?

ME!!!! ME!!!!


        7) Who is lurking period?  [these questions I don't expect
                public answers to--if any answers--but I ask it anyway
                to see what happens]

I am not lurking on purpose, but I just rejoined the group, and my time
is severely limited.


        7a) If you are women and you are lurking, why are you not
contributing?  This is a shamefully gendered question, but gender and
participation has been raised, and I'm curious.

Homelessness has been the main cause of my lurk mode. I am not
intimidated by these guys. :)

        8) Which of you would give me permission to (or object to) my
mentioning your conlang and webpage (if any) at a convention, in an
academic article?  I'll protect names if so desired [as though this is
writing pornography!-- now there's something]

You can use anything I say, or whatever, and you can even use my real
name. :) Gotta go work on that Siidmak page though. I did some revising
and expanding of that language this past week. I have this notion of
developing Siidmak and Merahai together, in a sort of parallel
evolution. I am just hoping that there isn't too much "bleed over" from
one project to the other, since I'd be disappointed if they got to be
too similar. Oops... Sorry 'bout the rambling. The answer was just yes,
though I have to update my language pages.

        9) For how many of you is "exoticness" in your invented language
and absolute must?  How many of you pursue more familiar models... and
why to both?

I have invented some exotic languages and some that are more like the
natlangs with which I am familiar. The former is always a conscious
decision. The latter happens when I am working on a language that is
meant to be comfortable and easy for me.

Nothing is a must to me. No must, no must not. Heck, I am even willing
to stand up to defend relexifying... Though I do try to avoid it myself.


        9)  FINALLY: what is the appeal of an invented language for you?
Wherein is its "sexiness"?  Its spirituality?  its sensuality?  What
keeps
you at it?  How does it benefit you?  Does it harm you?  heal you?

My dad paints. One of my brothers draws. The other is a musician.
Conlanging is my outlet for my artistic impulse. To me, the sounds of
spoken language *is* music, the most beautiful music, and I am seizing
the opportunity to compose, even if I am the only audience that will
ever hear the work.

When I express something in one of my own languages, I feel that I am
expressing it from deeper within my own being than any other language
could ever express it. What is coming from my pen onto the paper or from
my lips is not just "something I thought" , it is more like the thought
itself. It isn't "an expression of who I am", it is just "who I am".

(Ok, now I really do sound like a lunatic. <LOL>)

Many thanks.

Many welcomes.

Mia S. Soderquist
ma luna ea-luna! Speak ea-luna! (Because I am the mommy and I said so.)