Re: Esthetics

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 13:34:29 +0100, Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...>
> Poster:       Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>
> Subject:      Re: Esthetics
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------


> It is rule-bound in the sense that I want naturalism in all three
> tiers, but to achieve that I go mostly on feel.
The framework I established (which I realized needs some adjustment)
is much like the wire aperture of a scultpure -- it allows me toe have
something to frame out the language and to build upon. I found if I
didn't have a sort of roadmap, I'd get lost easily. It helps guide me
a bit, but I do sometimes break rules..


It's also helped me to remember which sounds I had allowed originally
but on second though decided weren't as cool as something else, such
as on the Ayhan phonology page, I've put up that clusters like md and
nb are allowed. Then, the other day as I was trying to spice words up,
I realized that mb and nb weren't possible with the new rules I was
establishing -- that md and nb wouldn't work and they'd actually end
up as nd and mb (/nd/ and /mb/-). I also had to let go of my "fear" of
homonyms. Homonyms (resulting from my new sound changes) are OK. Lots
of languages do well with them and some do well with a lot of them!

> One aspect of
> historical-depth-conlanging is that if you can't decide what
> features to include or reject you can always develop a new dialect.
> The backside of this is of course the risk to end up with an
> unmanageable dialect proliferation.
I started to do that with Montreiano, but realized that for such a
small country, and recently settled there wouldn't be as many dialects
as I had thought up.



--
You can turn away from me
but there's nothing that'll keep me here you know
And you'll never be the city guy
Any more than I'll be hosting The Scooby Show

Scooby Show - Belle and Sebastian