Re: Is conlang a generator of conlangers? or a sustainer? (was: Oops!)

> Sally Caves wrote:
>
> > 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?
I couldn't say.  For myself, I had been conlanging for over ten years
before I found the list.  It's hard to say how much this list has
influenced my conlanging:  I've certainly received a lot of inspiration
and encouragement.  One of the most important effects of this list on me
was that it showed me that there is indeed an audience for our work,
however small.  This realisation in turn encouraged me to get my notes
in order, and write up my ideas in the form of a reference grammar for
other people to peruse.  I still don't have a web-grammar up yet, but
one day...

(Incidentally, I just finished yet another major revision to the
Tokana Reference Grammar, in case anybody's interested.  I've completely
redone the section on prepositions, reworked the case-marking system,
and made a few other minor - but crucial - changes and adjustments
here and there...)

> > My other question:  how much was Tolkien an influence on your decision to
> > invent a language?
A big influence - although I don't think that, in my case, it's correct
to say that I "decided" to invent a language.  I think I was more
compelled to do it.  My earliest attempts (done when I was 9 years old)
were some rather crude imitations of Elvish - essentially re-spelled
English words with lots of Elvish-like accent marks added everywhere.
Discovering Esperanto and Volapuek was another crucial event in my
conlanging development - although I was really more inspired by the
IDEA of invented languages than by Esperanto and Volapuek themselves.
Running across Klingon, Laadan, and Ursula leGuin's Kesh were also
major moments, although by that time I was already a well-established
conlanger.

Matt.