Re: Lunatic Survey

Ah well, since others are openly revealing their lunacy  ;-)

And sorry for the very tardy response.  September is a very busy month as
the academic year starts and the burocracy & inane paperwork seems to
increase almost exponentially each year.  Unfortunately, those who dreamed
of the computer bringing about the "paperless office" had not reckoned with
the single minded determination of burocrats: they soon realized that the
computer actually makes it easier to produce new forms, collate more & more
meaningless statistics and that _increase_ paperwork!

THE SURVEY:

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

In my teens, I guess it was personal though I never kept it secret from
contemporaries - only my parents :)   I didn't reveal it to any fellow
conlangers then, simply because I never come across any.
After marriage & the responsibilities of parenthood, the whole thing went
very much on the back burner, so to speak & was revived about three or four
years back when I discovered CONLANG.  Since then I've revealed the
interest to many out there on the internet - not only on this list.

        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 rekindled a latent interest as I explained above.

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

Just condescension - the guy must be approaching 2nd childhood. (Maybe I've
never entirely left the 1st one ;)

        4)  How many of you are:

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

I am (c) - for various reasons I've got three degrees along the way - but
also (d) since 1963.

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

Formerly a teacher of Latin (and Greek occasionally) in secondary/high
school; now a college lecturer in computer science.  Desired profession: to
be a "gentleman of independent means" ;)

        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?

(ai) ever since I was about 10 or 11.
(aii) for most of my teens - tho the socio-political bit didn't figure
much.  On another list I've become appalled at the fanatical & intollerant
bigotry one too often IMO finds among IAL enthusists.  Ach y fi!

(biii) again ever since about 10/11 - once in my teens I peopled part of
Venus with people speaking a sort of Turko-Hungarian inspired language -
that might be considered (bi) I suppose.

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

I taught myself 'basic' Esperanto when I was 11, and later Novial.  I
learnt Speedwords from a correspondence course.  I've looked at the basic
structure &c of many conlangs but never got as far as really learning them
- time is the problem and, in any case, if I'm going to spend a lot of
effort learning a language I'm much more likely to go for an unusual
natlang.

        6) How many of you are women?

Nope.


        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]

Go through odd lurking periods if I'm very busy & traffic on the lists is
heavy.  But I'm not a good lurker ;)


        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.

Not applicable on both counts.

        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]

Go ahead - no need to protect my name.

        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?

It ain't.  Nor do I necessarily persue more familiar models (if only
'briefscript' had a more familiar model, I might br making more headway.)
It depends why the language is being modelled; it may be just to get to
grips with some unfamiliar, "exotic" feature I've come across in some
natlang.

        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?

I've never noticed any sexiness in a language either natural or artificial.
Conlanging may have some spiritual value, tho I'm not aware of it.  As for
sensuality - I suppose Quenya might merit this epithet, but none of my
creations do.

What keeps me at it?  The challenge - the same sort of challenge I
experienced long ago doing Greek and Latin prose compositions; the
challenge I experience with a crossword puzzle in a serious newspaper; the
challenge I experience trying to find an elegant solution to an intractible
programming problem.

And the satisfaction when & if success (or near success - except for the
crossword, the others never reach 100% success) is achieved is much the
same.

In that the brain & imagination is stimulated it must necessarily be
beneficial & results, even partial results, can prove useful when fresh
problems are attempted.

Does it harm?  Emphatically not.  Does it heal?  Heal what??

Many thanks.

You're welcome.