Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

R: backwards conlanging

From:Mangiat <mangiat@...>
Date:Monday, November 27, 2000, 13:52
As always, I suggest the visit to one of M. Rosenfelder's pages. Set your
browser on:

http://www.zompist.com/virtuver.html

Click on the 'Proto Eastern' link and tell me what do you think!

Luca

> Query: > > I've read several conlang sites that suggest starting with an > ancestor-language and then deriving conlangs from the ancestor-conlang. > > This is a good idea. The problem (for me) is that I started developing > Chevraqis before I'd read about this (or it had penetrated, anyway). > Since then I've been struggling with the ancestor-conlang trying to get > the thing to come out so I don't shriek in disgust whenever I look at it. > > Can you work backward from a single conlang to develop an ancestor-lang? > I figure I could do that with what I have, reverse-engineer the ancestor, > adn then resume "normal" conlang production by creating stuff in the > ancestor and evolving it to the current language. > > Crowley's _Historical Linguistics_ explains about reconstruction of > ancestor tongues, but this requires taking actual languages that really > did probably evolve from a common ancestor and working backward from > several of them, if I understood that chapter remotely correctly. I > don't want to just randomly create another language and try to work > backwards, because in that case they *won't* have a common ancestor like > in "real life." > > Does anyone have suggestions for a related-but-faux conlang technique for > same? > > YHL, who is otherwise ready to scrap the entire mess and start from > scratch, darnit >