Re: THEORY: Conlanging as reverse Sapir-Whorf?

Paul Bennett comunu:

> > I started thinking about Sapir-Whorf (we dont need to discuss the
valididty of
> > it -- we've only recently been through that game -- it's just a handy
label for
> > a phenomenon that exists, to a greater or lesser extent, within various
scopes).
> > I've come to the theory that conlanging express the exact reverse of
this
> > theory; i.e. "The way one thinks effects the type of conlang one
produces".
> > There's something bigger and deeper lurking there, but I'm only
peripherally
> > aware of it and certainly lack the terminology to describe it
adequately.
> >
> > Anyone care to jump in and help describe/refine/refute this?
I have the very real feeling with Dublex that I did not invent it, only
discover it.  It has had the longest gestation and most difficult creation
of any conlang I've produced, stretching back over four years before it
gelled (yes, I've had languages I worked on for years, but they changed in
quantity of vocabulary, not in quality;  Dublex kept changing
qualitatively).  It is almost as if someone else invented Dublex and was
trying to communicate it to me subliminally.  The stops and starts occured
as I got closer or further away from what was being communicated to me.  For
instance, I had been working on a detailed syntax for well over a year, very
slowly and painfully, and then a month ago I threw it all out and started
from scratch and defined it within about 90 minutes.  Very odd.

The rationalist in me thinks this was all just my subconscious doing the
creating, while the spiritualist in me says that a muse was calling me.

Viangarm,

Jeffrey