Re: Naming the conlang
| From: | Scotto Hlad <scotto@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, July 12, 2004, 4:54 |
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Hi Sally,
Thanks to you and to everyone for their kind greetings. Actually about 3
years ago I was a member, but several large and overwhelming things have
happened in my live since then which required me to set aside my hobbies and
switch solely to survival mode. I am now back and digging into my hobby like
a holiday meal.
Since my earliest days, I have been fascinated with language. I grew
up with bi-lingual grandparents, both maternal and paternal. I was always
amazed that they could understand one another when they spoke Czech or
Slovak or for that matter that those who spoke Czech could understand those
who spoke Slovak.
At age 13, my English teacher had our class study the etymology of many
English words. This coincided with intoduction to the study of foreign
languages. By age 14 I was studying German as well as a detailed study of
English grammar. My entire mindset was transformed by understanding that we
are influenced in our thinking by the very language we speak. As I explored,
I learned that others had been constructing languages for centuries. Of
particular interest was the success of Esperanto which my English teacher
had told me about. I am grateful for this English teacher, Mrs. Randall, for
setting me on the path of language.
I have made numerous attempts at constructing languages over my life
starting at the age of 14. Again, I have launched onto the sea of conlang to
enjoy life again.
On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 01:39:51 -0400, Sally Caves <scaves@...> wrote:
>Welcome, Scotto, to the list! How long have you been doing this solo and
when and how did you hear of CONLANG? I started when I was prepubescent,
and only found out about this community in 1998.
>
>I'll weigh in here on naming: Teonaht began as the name of a place, Teon,
invented by my childhood self to resemble "Siam," a concept I fell in love
with when I saw _The King and I_ and that impressive Thai dance version of
_Uncle Tom's Cabin_. I knew I couldn't just borrow the (now obsolete) name
of the country, but I could make something like it--thus Teon came to mind,
with an emphasis on the second syllable: /te'on/. In my salad days, it was
a world of flying cats until I REALLY hit puberty, in which these magical
creatures become gods and mascots, giving way to a more human and sexually
appealing race. Well before that time, the language of Teon had become
"Teonian," after "Parisian," "Martian," "Californian," "Roumanian," and all
the -ian adjectival endings I was aware of. Later on, when I became more
"sophis," I just merged Teon with the word for "land": hea, so "Teonhea,"
which now just meant the country of Teon, and the adjectival turned into
"Teonaht." This was still in my salad days. Boringly, the word "Teonaht"
can refer not only to the language but to anything of or manufactured in
Teonhea, just like "Roumanian," "Martian," "Californian," "Parisian"... But
a Teonaht individual is called a Teonivar, and the Teonaht people are the
Teonim. I was probably blindly copying the Hebrew there, because the
similarity only struck me much later.
>
>Teonaht and its people is a long, baroque, blind, "accretive," long-winded
and obsessional invention that has occupied me on and off for almost forty
years. Join the club!