Re: LeGuin was Re: Introduction

 --- Sally Caves skrzypszy:

> It depends on what you mean by "rather extensive."   I'll have to get the
> book you got, with the cassettes.  And I'll have to find my book, which I
> didn't finish before I lost it.  I believe that Amman-Iar boasts something
> like ten thousand words, and David Bell has the glossary to prove it.  If
> it's not David Bell, then I can't remember who it is with such a developed
> conlang (John Fisher's Elet Anta?).  Tokana (also invented for a conculture
> that takes place in an alternate world located somewhere on the Pacific
> Coast) comes with an admirably detailed grammar, and another extensive
> vocabulary, and whose author, Professor Matt Pearson, has devoted years to
> its making.
IIRC Talossan has something close to 20,000 words.
I really admire people who can do such a thing. I could never do it. The
absolute maximum for my languages will probably something between 3,000 and
4,000 words. If I will ever reach such a number (currently my "record" is a
little over 1,400 words, in Hattic), I would probably prefer to start working
on the basics of a new language than working out terms that I know in advance
will never be used in any context.

What about Teonaht's lexicon? I would expect that a language celebrating its
40th anniversary must have grown to a considerable size...

> No one will be married in Teonaht, or speak Teonaht to their child and make
> it his first language, unless I acquire some kind of cult status that
> Klingon has.  Or the kind of fame and charisma that Le Guin has. :)   Gotta
> get that novel done.  Gotta get that novel done.  Gotta get that novel done.
> Gotta get that...
I certainly hope you get that novel done. And that Teonaht acquires a status
making Klingon look like peanuts.

But I sincerily hope nobody will start to teach it his or her children. IMNSHO
only a madman would do such a thing. I believe it is a cardinal sin to force
your hobbies onto your children; especially in the case of such a "weird"
hobby, they would be condemned to lonely isolation. No, children must be
allowed to develop their own hobbies. And you never know, maybe they won't even
like Star Trek a they grow up?

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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