Sally Caves wrote:
> 1. Who are you, and what is the name...
My real name is Remi Villatel and the one of my conlang is Shaquelingua in
English.
> *2. Are you new to the Lunatic Survey...
New.
> 3. Do you have a website...
Soon. I'm working on it.
> 4. What is your email address?
maxilys at tele2 dot fr
> 5. What is your age?
38 soon already.
> 6. What is your gender?
Male.
> 7. What is your nationality? Where do you live now?
French living in France, EU.
> 8. What is your native language?
French.
> 9. What natural languages foreign to you have you studied or do you speak?
English, German, a bit of Luxembourger (sp?) and a tiny bit of Japanese.
> 10. What is your level of education?
University a.k.a. College.
> 11. What is your profession?...
Computer assembler for a computer parts shop. (No idea what's the real name
in English.)
> 13. If you are a student,...
>
> 14. How long have you been developing your invented language(s)?
For over 10 years.
> 15. At what age did you first start...
Around 16. Each word was a mix of French and English and I "broke" the
grammar of both languages into pieces.
> 16. What drew you to start inventing a language and/or constructed
> world? What was the inspiration?
I read a lot of Science-Fiction and I started writing my own novel. There
were Aliens and I wanted to let them say a few words in their native language.
> 17. Did you start inventing before you had heard...
Long before everything, at a time I didn't know that anybody else but me was
involved in such an activity. Sorry for Tolkien but I didn't know who he was
before the movies. Middle Earth is far from Science-Fiction.
> 18. Tolkien calls it a "shy art" and a "secret vice"...
It's not such a secret. My family knows but we don't talk much about it.
It's quite like revealing one's homosexuality. :-D
> 19. Yaguello has called it "pathological,"...
Not pathological yet but most people think I'm weird... just like usual.
> *20. Do you consider it nerdy to be doing this?...
I prefer the term "geek" because it sounds more sophisticated. The list is
"my band of geeks". ;-) And what's a life?
> 21. There has been a connection noted between...
Not at all.
> 22. There has been a connection noted between...
Both mathematics and computing.
> 23. What other passions...
Writing stories, drawing, web-designing, and programming.
> B. FEATURES OF YOUR INVENTION
>
> 1. Pick the best term for the invented language...
In between other and artlang.
> 2. Is your conlang a priori...
A priori.
> 4. Do you have a script for your conlang?...
Yes. It's on Langmaker under the name "Shaquean Horizontal Syllabary". There
are 3 scripts, 2 other ones are planned but none have a name.
> 5. Briefly describe the outlines...
Shaquelingua is definitively analytic. Its most innovative feature is that
it has no verb.
> 7. How extensive would you say your invented language...
It's almost complete but the vocabulary list contains only a bit over 2000
entries. It will be on the website.
> 8. How do you build vocabulary?...
I do both and also use a word-builder of my invention.
> 3. Does a constructed world accompany...
Yes, the planet Shaquie.
> *9. Has your language and conworld ever served...
No.
> *10. Briefly describe your conculture...
The Shaqueans are double-gendered and live in symbiosis with a
pluri-cellular entity which/who gives them an empathic sense. They
have a very egalitarian advanced society and they live everywhere in their
solar system but mostly in the asteroid belt.
> *11. Are the beings who speak your invented language...
The Shaqueans are defintively alien but the phonology of Shaquelingua isn't
that much. I removed the nasals, I introduced some unusual clusters of
consonants, an alien way to handle vowels, and some phonetic tricks
everywhere in order not to sound too eurocentric but all this still sounds
very human. --I wouldn't create a conlang I can't speak.-- The bigger work
is on the vocabulary. Shaquelingua is a very direct language; you needn't to
be subtle when your adressee understand your intentions through eir empathic
sense, but you also need a very large set of words to describe subtle
emotions... --The very one I'm feeling right now because I don't know how to
finish my sentence is /xüthti/ [z`i\d_0.t_hi] or [Zyd.ti].-- ;-) An alien
society also has alien political scructures and concepts which require some
vocabulary. But IMO, this was the fun part to build an egalitarian utopy
that works... with the Shaqueans at least.
> 12. What do you write in it?...
I made some translations of lyrics and poems but for the time being, I'm
writing stupid grammatical examples.
> 13. Can you speak your conlang?...
Yes I can. I speak fluently only for the short sentences I say to my cat
which doesn't listen even if I speak French. ;-) I'd like to be really
fluent but it's not my goal.
> 14. Have you made any soundbytes...
Yes and yes.
> *15. If you use Roman script,...
I can use a roman script that looks much like CXSAMPA with a few oddities
because I wanted a totally lowercase script like all shaquean scripts... and
some diacritics because our alphabet has definitively not enough vowels. All
chars are within the Latin-1 charset. I was tempted to use some more
"exotic" chars but I'll wait until the list becomes Unicode aware.
> 16. How many of you sing in your language...
Not yet.
> *17. How many of you, for entertainment...
I don't sing.
> *18. What on-line games do you play? (or devise?) Translations,
> Babel-text, Relays, etc.
>
> 19. Which do you prefer doing: ...
Polishing the grammar is my favorite task. I love to do grammatical reforms
to prevent me from publishing anything. Next come the phonology which allow
me to produce non-sensical sounds with my mouth for hours. :-)
> 20. Do you start and stop several different conlangs...
I work on the same conlang since the very beginning of my career of
"professional" conlanger. I have another one very different in the pipe but
it remains as a sketch.
> 21. What do you think makes a "complete" conlang...
A conlang is "complete" when the grammar is entirely written and all you
have left to do is to create new words. That's my goal and I never grow
tired of working toward it.
> *22. Which came first: the conlang or the conworld?
The conworld... then the Aliens open the mouth for me to put words into it.
I think they swallow me in the process. ;-)
> C. PHILOSOPHY AND AESTHETIC:
>
> 1. What aesthetic features do you value in inventing language? Be
> specific as to phonology, structure, script, etc.
The phonology first! It's how your conlang sounds that makes it beautiful or
ugly. A beautiful script can be important too. The rest is for specialists only.
> 2. What commonly applied aesthetics...
I didn't know there were cookbooks for conlang aesthetics.
> 3. Is difficulty or obscurity a goal in inventing a language?
It's not my primary goal but it always makes me laugh to imagine a bunch of
linguits debating for a week to give some meaning to a sentence I wrote in
Shaquelingua.
> 4. Is efficiency a goal in inventing a language? This question needn’t
> cancel out the previous one.
A little. It's a neat feature to be able to express a lot of ideas with very
few words. Apparently, I like complexity more than I thought.
> 5. How natural do you wish to make it, or is that a concern? Or rather,
> how unnatural do you wish to make it?
At least, I want to make it sound natural, that neither a sound nor a word
seems "off place"... to my liking.
> 6. Can conlanging be sexy? sensual? obsessing? how does it heal or harm you?
Obsessing! And it heals me because while I'm working I'm off this world
--better than any drug.
> *7. How many of you have developed a rich vocabulary of obscenities?
Not very shaquean. Right now, I only have one insult: "shadow-caster" which
means trouble maker. Not very rude.
> 8. Can it be mystical? To what extent does conlanging fulfill a...
I'm not that spiritual.
> 9. How many of you have developed a rich vocabulary of magical,...
Magics doesn't fit in a highly technological world. As for religion, the
Shaqueans are like me: very pragmatic.
> *10. How many of you have striven to invent words that express novel
> ideas, or are not expressed in any natural language that you know?
I did. That was mandatory. Aliens on another planet with a real sixth sense,
in a society totally different from ours, with alien technology. I even
created neologisms in French.
> 11. Name a few of the words in your language(s)...
How can I choose? I liked all of them that's why they become part of the
vocabulary! Well...
yilaikxa [Hi4a"i.kCa] = shadow
çulika [Cu4ika] = esprit
tókyoe [tO.kwo"e] = error
vathtulu [vad.tu4u] = means
txelae [tCe4a"e] = written word
> 12. How do you sense that a word is "right" for its meaning?...
No idea. A word fits or not. The rules I follow have yet to be discovered.
> *13. Do you ever rely on a software program to build vocabulary?...
Yes. I wrote my own but I use it on a word-by-word basis, not to create full
rows of words.
> *14. Is conlang a hobby, a craft, or an art in your mind?...
Conlanging is an art. Assembling sounds according to certain rules, that's
not very different from writting a song, a poem or music.
> *15. If it is, who do you think are its consumers?
No idea. We need first to become more public and maybe we'll become trendy.
> *16. This question is directed as well at any auxlangers...
>
> *17. There has been some exciting talk recently...
Conlanging is like a giant carnivorous plant. Don't get too close or it will
eat you up.
> *18. Why or why not would you eschew the metaphors "miniature" or "model"?
I don't like these expressions because it let you think that a conlang is a
tiny thing. I don't like to see my work minimized. On the other hand,
conlanging is much like model-building; you put together elements (phonems)
thanks to a glue (a grammar) in order to look like something real (a
language) but while a model remains a static thing to put on a shelf, a
conlang is a living creature beyond its constitutive elements. It keeps on
growing with every new word, it evolves with every phonological or
grammatical change you do.
"It's alive!" exulted the Doctor Frankenlang as he removed his hands from
the keyboard. ;-)
> *19. Is a conlang more like a glimpse of something lifesize?...
Unless it's only a sketch or limited to a peculiar usage (eg. only swearing
or casting spells), a conlang always becomes virtually life-size once you
can build sentences --all problems of vocabulary and fluency set aside.
> *20. There has been some invigorating discussion lately about...
First, I removed the verbs then the adjectives... Now, Shaquelingua has
become an "a contrario" conlang. Any time you ask "Does Shaquelingua have/do
this or that?", my answer varies from "No" to "Not exactly" and to "Yes but".
> *21 What do you think distinguishes a conlang from a natural...
There is one big difference: A conlang can evolve much quicker than any
natlang. You can turn it upside down and inside out several times a day, all
con-speakers will follow. Try to do this with any natlang!
> *22. How much do you study other languages in order to discover...
It studied natlangs grammars just to know what not to reproduce.
> *23. Can such a language function?
Of course. ANADEW!
> *24. There has been quite a bit of fascinating debate about...
Right now, we're of no use for the linguists but we can imagine in a distant
future that our ability to go beyond existing language may help them to
decipher real alien languages.
> D. THE LISTSERV
>
> 1. How did you first hear of this list?
On a website full of conlang related links.
> 2. How long have you been on this listserv or on other...
2 or 3 years. I don't remember exactly.
> *3. What is the appeal of being on a listserv and contributing to it?...
At least, we can talk to people who understand our passion. But I'm a kind
of big lurker too...
> *4. For those of you who remember its inception, how has it changed over
> the past decade?
> *5. How helpful has the list been in developing your language? In...
The list provides me more inspiration than information. I'm not a ripper, I
want to be unique... if possible.
> 6. What books have you consulted? On your own, or because you heard...
I never read a book about anything related to linguistics or grammar. Too
much information, too many rules at one time! I preferred the online DIY
kits which are much more concise. And I googled when I wanted more details.
> *7. Do you peruse the websites of other conlangers?
Most of the time, I only read through them. If I find an interesting
feature, I bookmark the website. If that's the conlang as a whole that I
like, I suck the whole site.
> *8. Do you sense that people on this list are interested in your conlang...
I'll answer when I'll make my big presentation. ;-)
> 9. Have you ever set out to learn at least a little bit of someone’s...
When I'm really interested, I always try to build a few sentences of my own.
Conlangers are very pleased to see a stranger using their language.
> *10. Do you peruse Jeffrey Henning’s Langmaker.com site?
Of course. Are there other sites? ;-)
> *11. What on-line techniques do you use to showcase your conlang,...
I only use Linux basic sound tools to handle the soundbytes and I write HTML
and CSS by hand. I hate crappy HTML code.
> 12. Have you ever tried to introduce a friend to the list?
Not yet.
> 13. Do you know of anyone who does this kind of thing...
No.
> *14. What other lists do you frequent related to conlanging?
One is enough.
> *15. What do you think will be the future of the list?...
No idea. I'm not a fortune teller.
> *16. What Internet technology would you most like to see developed...
UTF support everywhere!
> *17. What lists like conlang exist in other cultures and languages...
No idea. Conlang list is working and one is enough for me.
> *18. There has been some terrific talk about CONLANG as a community...
Take me to your leader! ;-) Right now, I don't see us as more than an
informal band of geeks. As for becoming public, there's always a lot of
discussion about it in every "secret vice" related list. Nothing ever
happens because we feel much more secure behind the big walls of our little
ivory tower. What would happen if we become very public in a way we don't
like? Our little world would explode... or worst! Within the limits of the
list we do a lot of unusual things that we wouldn't do outside. Besides the
non-sensical sounds we produce every day, my favorite example would be the
thread about the left-handed gay conlangers. In how many places could we
have had this discussion without seeing it degenerating in threads of
insults? Nowhere else but within the limits of the list. If we go out in the
wild world, we'll have to stop talking so freely.
That was the point of question 18: "Useless and obsessive activity". I think
that's the point of view of many people about many things. And I also think
that the list increases our obsession. While days and messages pass by, we
find new tiny details exposed by other conlangers that focus our attention.
Conlanging is a carnivorous plant...
> 20. If asked whether it is not better to turn your linguistic talents...
The one doesn't prevent the other and we certainly know more about natlangs
than the one who would ask such a question.
> *21. In Elizabethan times there were the inkhorn neologisms...
Nothing really changed except that we have Internet now. Such jeux de mots
are still reserved for a closed "caste".
> *22. What would Tolkien have done with such a community?...
I don't know much about Tolkien but I think that his conlangs would have
been very different. That's because of this list or another that
Shaquelingua became radically verb-less.
> *23. Is there a danger that over-exposure can make conlanging "banal"?...
I don't believe that conlanging will ever become "banal". There's no way to
quickly present a conlang to a wide audience and let it understand. It's too
technical. You must have the gene of conlanging!
> Finally, may I have your permission to use any of this material of yours...
Sure, you have it. I'm can hardly wait to see your work.
ji kaçtólu soe, [ji: ka.CdO4u so"e] (one soon until)
--
==================
Remi Villatel
maxilys_@_tele2.fr
==================