Re: The Littlest Conlanger

Delaney seems to have ransacked the kitchen for her list of words.
Food! Good place to start a language. I like the sounds of morahay
(make), mecey (juice) and roncel (daisy) best. Some of these will
have to be scavenged!

Do you know why suos (the) is starred, or why all the pairs are
circled? [I suppose they might be circled to separate the pairs.]
Though I notice that girl/boy and daisy/berries (?) are given in
the same circles.

Please keep the page updated!

Padraic.

On Sun, 9 Jul 2000, The Gray Wizard wrote:

>I often marvel at the sophistication of the conlanging work done by our
>youngest participants.  I recall my earliest dabbling in the Secret Vice at
>about age 12 or 13, but these were primitive compared to the work I have
>seen by 16 year olds on this and other lists.  I was recently surprised,
>however, to discover that I have a grandniece who has recently taken up the
>vice.  At age 5, now 6, she clearly has dibs on the title "The Littlest
>Conlanger"  I have dedicated a page on my site
>(www.graywizard.net/littlestconlanger.htm) to her budding endeavors and will
>be following her progress with some enthusiasm.  Do take a look and let me
>know what you think.  Words of encouragement now could lead to some
>significant contributions to the art.
>
>David
>
>David E. Bell
>The Gray Wizard
>www.graywizard.net
>
>"You must remember that these things were constructed deliberately to be
>personal, and give private satisfaction – not for scientific experiment, nor
>yet in expectation of any audience. A consequent weakness is therefore their
>tendency, too free as they were from cold exterior criticism, to be
>'over-pretty', to be phonetically and semantically sentimental – while their
>bare meaning is probably trivial, not full of red blood or the heat of the
>world such as critics demand. Be kindly. For if there is any virtue in this
>kind of thing, it is in its intimacy, in its peculiarly shy individualism. I
>can sympathize with the shrinking of other language-makers, as I experience
>the pains of giving away myself, which is little lessened by now occurring
>for the second time."
>
>from The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays - A Secret Vice,
>by J.R.R. Tolkien [Houghton Mifflin Company 1984)
>