Re: LUNATIC SURVEY: 2005

1. Who are you, and what is the name of your invented language or
languages? Pseudonyms allowed. (Are you using one? asked "Sally Caves")
---I'm Cristina, and my conlangs are Lakamye, and "Fiver" the current
nickname for the one I'm on now

*2. Are you new to the Lunatic Survey or have you filled out a version
of this survey before? ---I'm losing my Lunatic Survey virginity right
now

3. Do you have a website for you language/world(s)? If so, please list
the URL address. ---Nope

4. What is your email address? name at hostsite dot whatever.
----Cristina @ intersat dot net

5. What is your age? (vague answers allowed, but it is an important
demographic)
---18

6. What is your gender?
---female

7. What is your nationality?  Where do you live now?
---USA, living in Parkland, Florida

8. What is your native language?
---Spanish is my first language, then English at around 4 or 5, and I'm
fluent in both

9. What natural languages foreign to you have you studied or do you
speak? ---I "studied" French for a school year, I read about other
natural languages, latin and tagalong, recently

10. What is your level of education? i.e., your highest degree achieved
or sought? ---Senior in high school

11. What is your profession? Are you a professional linguist? If so,
what also makes you a conlanger? ---Unemployed

13. If you are a student, what is your major or your area of study? ---I
plan to study molecular biology

14. How long have you been developing your invented language(s)? ---on
and off, about 2 years

15. At what age did you first start inventing a language? Can you
briefly describe your early efforts?
---experimented with grammar, basically, and have attempted to work out
a communications system sprung from pictographs.

16. What drew you to start inventing a language and/or constructed
world? What was the inspiration?
---Curiosity, like putting a puzzle together, and a "what happens when I
do this" mentality.

17. Did you start inventing before you had heard of the list or after?
Before you had heard of Esperanto or Tolkien? (I name the two most
common inspirations) ---I started before I learned of the list and, but
after I learned of Tolkien, although I was only ever mildly intereted in
Orkish

18. Tolkien calls it a "shy art" and a "secret vice"; but that was
before the Internet. How secret do you keep it from others outside this
list for much the same reasons? ---I don't keep it a secret, If someone
asks, I tell.

19. Yaguello has called it "pathological," influenced, unfortunately, by
a lot of psychiatric writings such as _Le Schizo et la langue_. To what
extent have you encountered such reactions by outsiders you had taken
into your confidence? ---Never.

*20. Do you consider it nerdy to be doing this? This is a term that gets
tossed around a lot. Or actually sophisticated? Do you need to get a
life, or is this your life? What is a life? ---I don't consider it nerdy
doing this, since most of my friends for a few years were nerds, so its
what I considered normal, although I doubt they would spend so much time
thinking about grammar. Instead of reading, or watching TV or taking a
walk, I do this-it's a hobby, relaxing yet engaging.

21. There has been a connection noted between linguistic and musical
ability. Are you musically inclined? Do you sing and/-or play a musical
instrument? Do you compose music? ---I've played(quit), enjoy music,
don't see the connection, and don't consider myself musically inclined.

22. There has been a connection noted between linguistic and
mathematical ability. Are you mathematically inclined or inclined
towards computing in any way? ---I think math is beautiful, and
interesting, but haven't gotten past calculus. I'd say I'm not
mathematically inclined because I've never come up with a novel way to
solve a math problem, nor think I am capable of it.

23. What other passions do you pursue that give you creative pleasure?
(painting, drawing, sculpting, calligraphy, model-building, novel or
story-writing, role-playing games, map-making, book-making, poetry,
web-designing, star-gazing or other?) ---Occasionally, I make things out
of paper-postcards, origami, stencils,

B. FEATURES OF YOUR INVENTION
1. Pick the best term for the invented language you are currently
invested in: auxlang, artlang, engelang, loglang, lostlang,
philosophical language, or "other." etc.
---artlang

2. Is your conlang a priori (devised from scratch) or a posteriori
(based on an existing natural language or drawing from a language class
such as Semitic)? ---I'd say a mix, leaning more towards posteriori due
to my lack of experience.

4. Do you have a script for your conlang? What is it called? Could you
provide me at a later date with a sample of it?  Is it on Langmaker's
"neography" site? ---Not yet!

5. Briefly describe the outlines of your invented language (syntactical
structure--VO, OV, etc.; class or type--analytic, synthetic,
agglutinating, incorporative, accusative, ergative, active, trigger,
other, combinations, etc.), noting what you have done with it that is
innovative in your opinion. ---"Fiver" is SVO, agglugating or isolating
depending on part of speech, synthetic, and a trigger language. It is
actually based off of a collection of poems by Frederico Garcia Lorca.

7. How extensive would you say your invented language is, now? How big
the vocabulary? Do you provide a vocabulary list or taxonomy on your
website if you have one? ---Now, vocabulary is at an absolute minimum,
with only some roots and some affixes, since I'm focusing on the
grammar.

8. How do you build vocabulary? Some people pull words out of the air;
others build up a base of root words and affixes. Many do both. ---I try
to create categories, like presently in "Fiver", luna, which is
encompasses the death-bringer, metal, jewelry, kitchen utensils.and
words in this category share similar sounds and syllables.

3. Does a constructed world accompany your invention(s)? What is it
called?
---Barely-and I'll be needing on very soon

*9. Has your language and conworld ever served in a role-playing game or
a world shared by other conlangers? ---No

*10. Briefly describe your conculture (is it within the bounds of this
world? on another world, etc.?) *11. Are the beings who speak your
invented language human or alien? If alien, what features have you given
the language to make it alien or how have you restricted or expanded its
phonology? vocabulary? ---Human beings, so far.

12. What do you write in it? Poems? chants? lullabyes? prayers? history?
stories? recipes? Are any of these exhibited on your website? ---Short
stories about kids getting chased and eaten by monsters.

13. Can you speak your conlang? Are you fluent in it? Is this a goal for
you? Have you tried to teach it to an intimate? a companion animal? :)
---I would like to be fluent in it.

14. Have you made any soundbytes of your language? Could you provide me
at a later date with a sample of them? ---Definitely

*15. If you use Roman script, how recognizably "phonetic" is your
writing system? In other words, do you use unconventional letters or
letter combinations to represent sounds? Why or why not? I'm thinking,
of course, of Etabnannery, for those who remember it. ---Very phonetic.
Boring.

16. How many of you sing in your language and have invented songs for
that purpose? ---Perhaps I could if I wanted to.

*17. How many of you, for entertainment or any other reason, resort to
gibberish? (This is in response to Adrian Morgan's question in
December). Does it give you ideas for conlanging? (Have you ever fooled
anyone?) How many of you have sung gibberish?
---All the time! Gibberish is idea fodder, but I have to wonder how
"original" my gibberish is.

*18. What on-line games do you play? (or devise?) Translations,
Babel-text, Relays, etc. ---I did a relay once.

19. Which do you prefer doing: devising phonology? script? structure?
building vocabulary? ---structure

20. Do you start and stop several different conlangs, or do you tend to
stick with one and develop it over years? ---Starting and stopping,
trying to find an idea that was worthwhile-I think I've found it

21. What do you think makes a "complete" conlang, if a conlang can
attain completion? What are your goals for completion? When do you grow
"tired" of your conlang, or don't you? ---I don't regard conlangs as
complete or incomplete, they just are, from their conception, and may
grow. As to when I'll "finish", I'm not sure exactly when that will take
place, but I'd like to have a fleshed out conworld and vocabulary

*22. Which came first: the conlang or the conworld?
---conlang

C. PHILOSOPHY AND AESTHETIC:
1. What aesthetic features do you value in inventing language? Be
specific as to phonology, structure, script, etc.
---phonologically: vowel sounds, glottal stops, and clicks, I adore
structure: clarity,
script: cursives, although I can't reproduce them myself

2. What commonly applied aesthetics have you ever tried to avoid in your
invention? This has been an oft debated question, especially when it
comes to Tolkien.
---I'm sure there is one, but I can't think of it

3. Is difficulty or obscurity a goal in inventing a language? ---Not for
me

4. Is efficiency a goal in inventing a language? This question needn't
cancel out the previous one. ---no

5. How natural do you wish to make it, or is that a concern? Or rather,
how unnatural do you wish to make it? ---As natural as possible, with me
as language god presiding over the tongues mouths, and vocal chords of
my con-population

6. Can conlanging be sexy? sensual? obsessing? how does it heal or harm
you? ---It keeps me from boredom

*7. How many of you have developed a rich vocabulary of obscenities?
---no

8. Can it be mystical? To what extent does conlanging fulfill a
spiritual purpose for you? Or a magical one? Did it ever start out that
way?
---Not for me

9. How many of you have developed a rich vocabulary of magical,
religious, or incantatory terms? ---Not for me

*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'm getting there

11. Name a few of the words in your language(s) that you are most
pleased with and are the most original to you.
---Toro: The power and beauty associated with adulthood, or mental and
physical maturity, which can be both masculine or feminine
Akeituna:  1. The home, the sanctuary   2. relating to very young
children

12. How do you sense that a word is "right" for its meaning? How much do
you labor at fitting a sound to its sense? Or don't you care? ---I don't
know-it feels right. The word's sound matches the category-sounds that
it belongs to.

*13. Do you ever rely on a software program to build vocabulary? Do
those who don't think that's cheating? :) ---No, because I never liked
the results. Otherwise, I'd use it.

*14. Is conlang a hobby, a craft, or an art in your mind? This has been
hotly debated, so the question is not as weird as it seems. Can
conlanging be considered an art? Why or why not? ---For me, it is a
hobby

*15. If it is, who do you think are its consumers?
---Fanboys

*16. This question is directed as well at any auxlangers on the list. Is
it an art, a political tool, both? And who do you think could be its
consumers? *17. There has been some exciting talk recently (and over the
years) about what a conlang is or is not. If you could pick a metaphor
or write a descriptive phrase defining "conlang," what would that be?
---Having a world inside the head and trying to write it down

*18. Why or why not would you eschew the metaphors "miniature" or
"model"?
---Conlangs do not represent something bigger, something real.

*19. Is a conlang more like a glimpse of something lifesize? (Irina's
suggestion in 2001) ---Yes!

*20. There has been some invigorating discussion lately about what a
conlang can do that most natural languages don't (such as produce OSV
structure, or eradicate verbs) What experiments have you made with your
artlang(s) along these lines?
*21  What do you think distinguishes a conlang from a natural language,
if you think so at all?  What would it take for a linguist to be fooled
into thinking a conlang was a natural language?
---Distinguishing: Lack of speakers, high regularity, and some are
(seemingly) impossible to understand if having a conversation as I know
it.

*22. How much do you study other languages in order to discover what is
natural in language? Or to discover how you can stretch the boundaries
of language to make it do things that are unnatural? ---Quite
frequently, I spend more time studying than putting pen to paper, it
seems.

*23. Can such a language function?
---I think so.

*24. There has been quite a bit of fascinating debate about the
relevance of conlanging to linguistic study. We all know that
linguistics can aid conlangers, but in what ways can conlangers aid
linguists? Or does it matter? ---Provide an audience for their textbooks
and articles.

D. THE LISTSERV

1. How did you first hear of this list?
---I can't remember-I saw quite a few references to it surfing conlang
web pages, so I searched for it, I think.

2. How long have you been on this listserv or on other related
listservs? Continuously? Infrequently? Off and on? More off than on and
vice versa? ---Subscribed September 11, 2004, so it has been a few
months

*3. What is the appeal of being on a listserv and contributing to it? Do
you think you contribute moderately or excessively, or not enough? Do
you tend to lurk ? ---I am a lurker, and I find things here quite
educational

*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 learning linguistic information? ---Very helpful,
especially in pointing out resources, and debating concepts

6. What books have you consulted? On your own, or because you heard of
them on the list? ---On my own, _The Atoms of Language_

*7. Do you peruse the websites of other conlangers?
---Ocassionally

*8. Do you sense that people on this list are interested in your conlang
and give you feedback on it?
---I don't know

9. Have you ever set out to learn at least a little bit of someone's
conlang, if only a word or two, or a phrase? ---yes

*10. Do you peruse Jeffrey Henning's Langmaker.com site?
---Yes

*11. What on-line techniques do you use to showcase your conlang, such
as Audacity or other sound programs, Dreamweaver, Illustrator,
Fontography, and so forth? Did you hear of them on the list? ---I don't
showcase, I have notebooks.

12. Have you ever tried to introduce a friend to the list?
---yes

13. Do you know of anyone who does this kind of thing but who has never
heard of the list? ---Yes, the friend

*14. What other lists do you frequent related to conlanging? ---none

*15. What do you think will be the future of the list? I see it giving
birth to alternate lists like Conworld, Lostlanguages, Romlang, etc.
What improves the present list and its helpfulness or entertainment
value?
---The debates are very interesting, along with entomological factoids
and references to phenomena and languages I had never heard of

*16. What Internet technology would you most like to see developed that
would aid you in showcasing your language(s)? ---Virtual reality would
be best for this sort of thing

*17. What lists like conlang exist in other cultures and languages that
you know of? *18. There has been some terrific talk about CONLANG as a
community. And yet so many of us seem to want the world to know of it
and respect it. Is the CONLANG community enough? ---I believe it is
community enough

*19. In my 2000 on-line article
(http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0003/languages.php) I suggested
that the Internet "may provide a site that, with the impetus of
competition and showmanship, encourages inutile and obsessive activity";
I was quoting Jeff Salamon's article "Revenge of the Fanboys." Village
Voice 13 Sep., 1994. He wrote that over ten years ago. Do outsiders
still entertain such notions, do you think, about listservs like this
one? Do you? To what extent has the list increased obsessive development
in you? Would you be inventing as furiously as you are without the list
or knowledge of other inventors? ---I would be inventing still. I don't
see anything wrong with the internet fueling obsessive hobbies-it makes
the world more interesting.

20. If asked whether it is not better to turn your linguistic talents to
the learning and speaking of natural languages (a common response I've
met with and aimed at criticizing introversion or solipsism), how would
you answer?  ---This is more fun.

*21. In Elizabethan times there were the inkhorn neologisms. There were
ciphers and pasigraphies. Today there is conlanging. Do you think the
contemporary world is more open to language innovation or more closed?
-----More open, thanks to Star Trek and LotR

*22. What would Tolkien have done with such a community? He writes in "A
Secret Vice" that language inventors "hardly ever show their works to
one another, so none of them know who are the geniuses at the game, or
who are the splendid 'primitives'." He suggests that perhaps in a later
time language invention will become respectable, and such things can be
exhibited. Have we reached that time?  ---I'm not sure-the only people I
know that know of conlanging are conlanger I see in the internet, and
obviously they believe they are doing something worthwhile. However, the
rest of the world believes conlanging is a colossal waste of time.
*23. Is there a danger that over-exposure can make conlanging "banal"?
To what extent is it exciting because it is a) considered disreputable,
"corny" or "mad," or b) largely unknown to the world? Does it have a
fizzle-out date?  In other words, is it just a fad, or is it a natural
human inclination that will stand the test of time? ---I'm afraid of it
becoming banal, yes. In a large way, I like conlanging because I am not
constantly being bombarded with it in the real world. I like the present
solitude.

Finally, may I have your permission to use any of this material of yours
for my academic work on conlanging? First name? last name? pseudonym?
anonymous?  Use it Erm, I apologize for the shortness of some of my
responses, and for skipping a few.
As a constant lurker, I'll take this moment to say hello to the list.
Hello!

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