Re: Uusisuom, Unilang, auxlang discussions in CONLANG

Oskar Gudlaugsson


>But recently I gathered that
>this Uusisuom is some kind of auxlang, so I inquired on it.
>
>Having viewed the lang's homepage and read through all the threads about it
>of late March - early April, I must honestly say that it's the most
>hilarious CONLANG thread I've ever seen; no offence to Daniel (Uusisuom's
>author) or anyone else involved :) As for my opinion on Uusisuom, I
>wholeheartedly agree with most that it would make an excellent beginner's
>artlang, while at best a naive auxlang. I hope the friendly comments and
>criticisms of this list will inspire Daniel to study more linguistics,
>especially phonology, to improve his designs; we all started this hobby
>somewhere :)

A hearty Hear! Hear! to all of the above

>I now realize, however, that my whole auxlang discussion may have entered
>the list at a bad time, when some were getting tired of the subject. I
>noticed iterations of this not being a list for auxlang design. I'm sorry,
>for example, that my threads spurred a brief flame-war between list members
>about Esperanto, which would otherwise not have occurred.

That's as may be.  Some people's hackles rise automatically upon seeing
"auxlang" or "IAL".  Others are more tolerant, but grow tired or take
umbrage when the level of evangelistic fervor (or occasional
wrong-headedness)
 becomes excessive.

>Though no-one has openly complained of my writing on the subject, I wish to
>explain why I feel these writings belong here. One big reason is: they
>don't want them in AUXLANG! The difference between CONLANG and AUXLANG
>isn't necessarily, I think, in what can be discussed, but rather _how_ it
>is discussed. AUXLANG discusses auxlangs in a completely non-theoretical
>manner; the main subject is the political reality of such languages, and
>not design questions. If we see my auxlang design as design ponderings for
>a futuristic artlang named "Unilang", whose nature is that it is the
>intermedium of all humans in some ideal future, I think it is easier to
>accept its presence here.

Indeed.  I still remember with delight your earlier proposal (World, I
think?).

Perhaps in our most secret Heart of Hearts, any of us would like to see
_our_ language spoken widely...