Re: Lighting Some Flames: Towards conlang artistry

Help!!
Jesse's email seems to have sparked off a whole host of replies.  I see my
own 'immediate' reply was already way behind more than 50 or more others
who got in first.  How can I keep up with reading all these?

Just a couple of things I noticed where others expressed sentiments I share:

At 6:30 am -0500 12/3/02, Jan van Steenbergen wrote:
>Here comes my counter-flame.
[snip]
>
>My point is: we have a very small and very diverse community. If we were to
>follow your ideas, it would soon split up into numerous tiny fractions,
>part of which would instantly cease to exist. I don't see what purpose can
>be served with such developments.
I absolutely & entirely agree.

>Why create tension between those for whom
>it is art and those for whom it is hobby, or between professional linguists
>and amateurs?
Indeed!!  Why create tensions?  I was once - and I take no pride in it - on
a list where tensions were (I suspect still are) the norm.  In the end I
could take no more and left for good.  I have never since had the slightest
desire even to peek in and see how things are on Auxlang.  If this list is
is going to split up into rival 'schools' with all the tensions that will
IME inevitably ensue, then I quit.  I keep my conlanging to another list I
also belong to.

[snip]
>
>Let us respect each other and enjoy our differences!
Amen.
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At 10:03 am -0500 12/3/02, Muke Tever wrote:
[snip]
>
>Me personally, I look at conlangs more as craft than art--
Precisely!! I think JRRT showed remarkable skill in his crafting of Quenya
and Sindarin.  I've never considered them works of art; nor has it ever
occurred to me to judge them as artistic creations.

If future generations regard JRRT as an artist it will surely be for his
literary creations.  The LoTR may indeed be a great work of art.  But
Quenya & Sindarin are examples of excellent craftsmanship IMHO.
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At 10:35 am -0700 12/3/02, Dirk Elzinga wrote:
[true]
>
>I think we have already separated ourselves into "schools". For
>example, there seem to be lots of Celtic/Romance conlangs around
>here.
True - and IIRC there is a CeltiConlang list. There is certainly more than
one list devoted to the languages of JRRT.  There are lists for Klingon,
Esperanto and lojban; there is the Auxlang list for auxlangers.

As I said in my earlier mail, there are lists for more specialist areas. I
welcome the Conlang list since it is so wide in its interests and it offers
a 'safe haven' for the hobbyist.

[snip]
>
>If conlanging is an art (a proposition which I really doubt),
Me too!

BTW, Dirk, I regard Tepa as an excellent example of craftsmanship.
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At 11:43 am -0800 12/3/02, Clint Jackson Baker wrote:
[snip]
.
>but it doesn't help to intimidate those who are just
>dipping their toe in as a hobby.  That toe-dipper may
>well be a Grandma Moses, and we don't want to
>discourage that person
We most certainly do not!

Long live hobbyists and craftsmen!

Ray.

=========================================
A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                     [J.G. Hamann 1760]
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