Re: Is conlang a generator of conlangers? or a sustainer? (was: Oops!)
| From: | Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Thursday, October 8, 1998, 4:01 |
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At 00:34 08/10/98 -0400, you wrote:
>So, Christophe, it was studying a foreign language (and a dead one at that
>with a complicated grammar) that gave you the idea to create your own?
>This brings up another very rich question (I said this would be my last,
>but oops I lied)... and that is: are almost all of us conlangers because
>we caught the virus independently, or are there a growing number of
>conlangers who have been inspired to create because they joined the list?
>Now this would add fuel to my idea that an electronic network has not only
>made an excellent forum for us, but is actually generating a new hobby.
>
>My other question: how much was Tolkien an influence on your decision to
>invent a language? I'm made curious by your story, Christophe, since it
>mirrors my own (Spanish being the instigation). I only learned about
>Tolkien's books years after I had begun writing down early T. and
>starting a grammar. This was my reaction: stunned disbelief, joy, and
>sullen resentment. How could he do this to me? How could he not only
>create a language that was far more complex and beautiful than mine, but
>also publish it and become famous? With a gorgeous script to boot? I was
>fourteen. Tolkien then sustained me and determined me, but he didn't give
>me the idea. Other folks have the same experience? Sorry if I'm
>generating just another FAQ.
>
In fact, when I read The Lord of the Rings, I had been creating
languages for already two years at least (in fact, I don't remember well. I
think I was 12 (or 13, or 14) when I first tried to create a language
(really in Latin class, when it was toooooo much boring -I'm kidding, I
liked very much Latin class-) and I read Tolkien's book when I was 16. But
is it because I read a French translation or because I was stupid, I didn't
realize that he had really invented languages. I think I learned it when I
spoke of it with a friend of mine, only one year later. But I think it
affected me as you, Sally, it determined me to carry on trying to create
languages, not to create one.
>Sally
>
>
>On Tue, 6 Oct 1998, Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>
>> Oops! I forgot to add that I studied Latin for 7 years at school,
>> and I learned a little bit of Ancient and Modern Greek by myself.
>>
>> It's important because I remember that I had my first idea of
>> creating a conlang in Latin class (what I created then was just a superset
>> of Latin, but it was just the beginning). I don't know why it's in Latin
>> class that I caught the virus, but I never recovered!
>>
>> Christophe Grandsire
>> |Sela Jemufan Atlinan C.G.
>>
>> homepage:
http://www.bde.espci.fr/homepage/Christophe.Grandsire/index.html
>>
>
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>Sally Caves
>scaves@frontiernet.net
>
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teonaht.html
>
>Rin euab ouarjo vopy vytssema tohda uo zef:
>ar al aippara brottwav; ad kemban aril yllefo
>brotwav fenom; vybbrysan brotwav an; he ad
>edirmerem brotwav kronom.
>
>"A cat and a man are not all that different.
>Both are on my bed; both lay their head on their
>arm; both have mustaches; both purr when they
>sleep."
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>