Re: Lighting Some Flames: Towards conlang artistry

On Tue, 12 Mar 2002, Peter Clark wrote:

>    Well, it's still early in the morning here in the Rebel Colonies,
> but already it looks like a hot day on Conlang. (Heat, of course, is
> relative; a fifty degree day in March here in Minnesota is an excuse to
> go out in shorts and a t-shirt. :)
>    If I may summerize what I'm hearing others say: the idea of creating
> schools to critique conlangs has been met by a generally negative
> response. I'll add my voice to the "nays" in a moment, but I want to
> praise Jesse for the instinct that he has.
>    I can well understand his frustration. Back when I joined this list,
> I could post some grammatical ideas and expect to get some _serious_
> response. Things like, "Have you considered X?" or "What happens in
> situation Y?" or "This would get far too complex in Z, if this were my
> language, I'd take it back to the drawing board." Sometimes, I felt a
> little tinge of pain, seeing my baby disected so, but then I reminded
> myself that I had posted to the list for exactly that purpose. I don't
> generally save email, but I saved _and_ *printed* those responses,
> because they were so helpful. So Jesse, I agree with your instinct; I
> for one would love to post a managable chunk of grammar and have
> several people pick it apart.
YES!!!

I hate to sound whiny, but I posted on the Mujai verb system some time
ago, looking for experienced response and advice, and all I got were
crickets.

But telling me that Mujai isn't complete enough, or naturalistic enough,
or too close to English wouldn't be particularly useful response.  Telling
me how evidentiality markers work in Hopi *might* be useful, though.

--Pat