NPR interview

I just heard the RealAudio version of Sally's NPR interview.
Here's the URL for it:


http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=08/5/2001&PrgID=10

The interview portions were great!  Sally/Sarah has a wonderful
radio voice and spoke very eloquently, making her the ideal
spokesperson for our little pastime.  I also liked the references
to Descartes and Hildegard of Bingen (adds a touch of class), and
the interview with Greg Carlson (a well-known and well-respected
name in generative linguistics).

The presentation of the subject matter was done very tastefully
and with respect to those being discussed.  In general, the piece
was designed to explain conlanging *on its own terms*:  The
comparisons with model shipbuilding and crossword puzzling, for
example, were quite apt.  This worked to make the hobby seem less
strange to the audience, rather than more strange.  Quite unlike
the recent "New Times" piece on Elvish featuring Marcus Smith and
myself, which, while entertaining, seemed bent on portraying
conlangers as a bunch of freaks (extremely intelligent freaks,
but freaks nonetheless).

In the best NPR tradition, the segment was well constructed and
surprisingly free of factual errors.  The only 'serious'
error--for dedicated Tolkien nitpickers, anyway--was that the
interviewer referred to "The Fellowship of the Ring" as a novel,
and "The Lord of the Rings" as a trilogy (I was surprised that
there was no tie-in to the upcoming movies...).  Also, the
comment about almost every conlanger translating the Babel Text
was a bit misleading.  But otherwise, a job well done!  The best
publicity yet for Conlang and for conlanging!

Matt.

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