Re: LUNATIC SURVEY: 2005

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LUNATIC SURVEY 2005, by Sally Caves
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A. PROFESSION, DEMOGRAPHICS, INCLINATION:

1. Who are you, and what is the name of your invented language or
languages? Pseudonyms allowed. (Are you using one? asked "Sally Caves")

Peter Kolb. I currently have only one language, "Graens" that is in
progress. It is a Romance language with words originating from Latin by
phonetic regression and uses an extended Swartzschrift. I am on the
verge on starting another language with the idea of finding out how
compressed a spoken language can be made, here nicknamed CUL (Currently
Unnamed Language).


*2. Are you new to the Lunatic Survey or have you filled out a version
of this survey before?

New.


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

No.


4. What is your email address? name at hostsite dot whatever.

peterwlkolb at yahoo dot com


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

Roughly twelve-and-a-half thousand days.


6. What is your gender?

Male, and my sex is male too.


7. What is your nationality? Where do you live now?

An Australian in an Australia.


8. What is your native language?

English (Australian dialect).


9. What natural languages foreign to you have you studied or do you speak?

English (Australian), some Americanese (bad speller!?), and some German.


10. What is your level of education? i.e., your highest degree achieved
or sought?

Graduate with Bachelor.


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

Computer "scientist" (Bachelor Degree in Computer and Information
Sciences). Not a professional linguist. What makes be a ConLanger is the
construction of a constructed language.


13. If you are a student, what is your major or your area of study?

Not a student. See above, Computer and Information Sciences and Business
Studies.


14. How long have you been developing your invented language(s)?

On and off, about three years.


15. At what age did you first start inventing a language? Can you
briefly describe your early efforts?

My first interest in other languages must have been sparked by an
interest in encryption. My first experiment with using a different
alphabet is when I whimsically wrote an entire high-school mathematics
assignment in the Greek alphabet. Mostly about six years ago with intent
to understand human language.


16. What drew you to start inventing a language and/or constructed
world? What was the inspiration?

I don't know. Graens was intended for a constructed world for use in
Dungeons and Dragons (2nd edition). I think my reading about languages.


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)

Before ConLang list. After Tolkien/Esperanto/...


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 have shown a few persons the Graens. I don't hide it nor say much
about it either. I would like to finish it before saying much about it.


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?

The main response of which I am aware is that mostly of disinterest.


*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?

No. Oddly, my dictionary (Collins) does not have the word nerd or nerdy.
Are those questions rhetorical?


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?

Yes. I play the piano. I don't compose as such, although I have written
a few small piano pieces. I am, although, currently transcribing
Beethoven Quartets for play on the piano.


22. There has been a connection noted between linguistic and
mathematical ability. Are you mathematically inclined or inclined
towards computing in any way?

Yes, I am mathematically inclined and I did mention computer sciences.


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?)

Role-play (in between groups), and correspondence/casual-OTB chess.
Also, designing some viscous levels for a computer game called
Rocks'n'Diamonds (Boulderdash clone). I tried submitting some DnD
modules for publication in the WotC Dungeon Magazine but I think they
told me to take a writing course.


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.

Graens is a artlang. CUL will be engelang and not much more can be said
of it.


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)?

Graens is a posteriori language founded upon Latin and using reversed
phonetic shifting to generate words.


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?

Graens uses German Blackwriting using Latin and some Cyrillic
characters. Graens has 26 consonants and 17 vowels (five normal, same
five with diaeresis, same five with circumflex, and two with tilde). CUL
will have a Mongol-like writing system, I think and a very rich phonetic
content. I think I will provide a sample of Graens. None are on the
"neography" site but Graens is common and a typeface called GothicG does
very well.


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.

Graens has three aspects (imperfective, inceptive, and perfective), ten
cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, ablative, vocative,
contributive, locative, participative, gerundive), six functionally
defined genders (masculine, feminine, androgynous, animate, inanimate,
neuter), seven modes (indicative, perspective, optative, prescriptive,
subjunctive, inquisitive, negative), mood (optional, and about
commonality and acceptability), six number (singular, dual, plural,
general, universal, voidal), five persons, five tense (always, past,
present, future, never), and four voices (active, passive, reflective,
reflexive). Verbs are in three categories (strong, weak, universal).
There is no particular word ordering required. It is a bit of an overkill.


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?

As soon as I have more complete set of transformation rules, the lexical
would easily be the same as Latin. A dictionary can be done.


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.

As indicated, take a word from latin and push it through a phonetic
masher. Current samples include announce (sv): , c-e-ß? (roughly
/'shaths/), celebrate (sv): d-ä-m (/'do:m/), short (in.n): yonw-ã
(/'yon,wyi/), time (an.n): räf-õ (/'hrofu/). In the correct writing it
looks better.


3. Does a constructed world accompany your invention(s)? What is it called?

A country called Graumann (happy ones) but the language is not relevant
to the fantasy country.


*9. Has your language and conworld ever served in a role-playing game or
a world shared by other conlangers?

Yes for DnD sessions but, with other ConLangers, not as far as I know.


*10. Briefly describe your conculture (is it within the bounds of this
world? on another world, etc.?)

Immigrants from a Western European type land with very strong
polytheistic political system on a continental island that is prone to
unfortunate amounts of rain and heat, violent earthquakes, pesterings of
anti-social neighbours (elves, dwarves, magician clan, annoyed natives),
and super-unnatural phenomena.


*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(-oid) speakers. Soften pronunciation of words.


12. What do you write in it? Poems? chants? lullabyes? prayers? history?
stories? recipes? Are any of these exhibited on your website?

Not much at the moment.


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? :)

Not enough words. Maybe a little tough to chew through easily.


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

No sound-bites. I am looking for an effective readily-available
Text-To-Speech program with a complete phonetics set. I have not yet
tested Festival.


*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.

Every consonant has two ways of being pronounced (primary/secondary). In
the alphabet, these are complementary letters P (p/b) and B (b/p). Every
letter, consonant and noun, has two ways of being pronounced.


16. How many of you sing in your language and have invented songs for
that purpose?

No complete songs or writings.


*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?

I don?t gibber.


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

Don?t do much on-line playing.


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

A naturalistic language is phonetically derived and structure is
secondary. An expansive vocabulary is important if communication is desired.


20. Do you start and stop several different conlangs, or do you tend to
stick with one and develop it over years?

Only one attempt, can?t answer.


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?

A ConLang is initially complete when it provides a writing/speaking
system with some structure, and order, either formal, or informal, and
is without any serious flaws and has a sufficiently vocabulary to hold a
mundane conversation. If a multitude of persons accept the language then
it will evolve as does any language. The language is initially complete
when I have a document on the grammar, a set of lessons, and a two-way
lexicon.


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

Conworld.


C. PHILOSOPHY AND AESTHETIC:

1. What aesthetic features do you value in inventing language? Be
specific as to phonology, structure, script, etc.

I like the phonology with its softened sounds. I like the shapes of the
Swartzshrift letters.


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.

Harsh sounds. Easy to remember grammar.


3. Is difficulty or obscurity a goal in inventing a language?

Partially for some difficulty. I suspect the CUL would be extremely
difficult without intention having both a huge alphabet (compound
cursives) and huge phonetics set.


4. Is efficiency a goal in inventing a language? This question needn't
cancel out the previous one.

No Graens but yes for CUL.


5. How natural do you wish to make it, or is that a concern? Or rather,
how unnatural do you wish to make it?

I would prefer both to be natural but CUL could be unwieldy.


6. Can conlanging be sexy? sensual? obsessing? how does it heal or harm you?

Graens doesn?t seem sexy or sensual.


*7. How many of you have developed a rich vocabulary of obscenities?

None. I doubt there are many such words in Latin.


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?

I say yes but not its intention.


9. How many of you have developed a rich vocabulary of magical,
religious, or incantatory terms?

None and not needed at the moment.


*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?

No such words.


11. Name a few of the words in your language(s) that you are most
pleased with and are the most original to you.

The words from B8 announce (sv): , c-e-ß? (roughly /'shaths/), celebrate
(sv): d-ä-m (/'do:m/), short (in.n): yonw-ã (/'yon,wyi/), time (an.n):
räf-õ (/'hrofu/).


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 care since this would be a cultural by-product.


*13. Do you ever rely on a software program to build vocabulary? Do
those who don't think that's cheating? :)

Hand built. Not cheating but perhaps only a start.


*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?

All of the above. Hobby because it is mostly done as a past-time
activity and not often for professional reasons. A craft because it is
an application of skill and ability. An art because it is an application
of craftsmanship with intent on creating beauty.


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

People who can relate to it ConWorld culture or like the sight/sound of
the ConLang. As well as those who want to deconstruct another?s language.


*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?

Art can say something about the human condition. When it does so, it is
reflecting upon the human condition and human policies. As such, art can
be political. Sometimes the artists effectively say nothing so that
nothing meaningful or concrete can be extracted by the observer.
Frequently the politicians effectively say nothing so that nothing
meaningful or concrete can be extracted by the observer. That is when
they are not lying from between their smiling teeth. Since AuxLang
attempt to be all things to all peoples, nothing useful can be got from
such attempts. That is why there are over four thousand computer languages.

As for the consumers, who cares? Either people like it or not.


*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?

A ConLang is a constructed language. It do believe that Hebrew and
Gaelic are also effectively ConLang/LostLang as both needed
reconstruction from literary sources.


*18. Why or why not would you eschew the metaphors "miniature" or "model"?

A model language is prone to the natural evolutionary influences of
human ambiguity and fuzzy-wuzziness. They would remain neither miniature
nor model for any appreciable time. Latin is not model language.


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

Lifesize in that they are held by each individual person but have the
potential to spread beyond into a collective sensibility. Like Klingon
and Esperanto.


*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?

When constructing a language, I don?t think like a linguist but more
like an artist with a pallet.


*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?

Natural languages have irregularities that ConLangs tend to avoid or
ignore. These irregularities happen at all levels of a language:
pronunciation, spelling, grammar, phrases, and expressions. If there was
a slab of mayhem like the French did with Latin, French, and German, to
come out with English.


*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?

I do some reading about what other languages have done and use this as
inspiration. CUL will be a little unnatural I think by compressing words
into a thick phonetics set.


*23. Can such a language function?

If I understand correctly, Graens would be usable for news, weather, and
etcetera.


*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?

ConLangers provide possibilities. ConLanger could provide Linguist with
something do look at when most of the other NatLang are exterminated.


D. THE LISTSERV

1. How did you first hear of this list?

Found on the WikiPedia webpages on constructed languages.


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?

I have been on this listserver for about two days.


*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 ?

Not long enough on to comment.


*4. For those of you who remember its inception, how has it changed over
the past decade?

Cannot answer.


*5. How helpful has the list been in developing your language? In
learning linguistic information?

Cannot comment.


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

Can?t remember. Several books from the public library, a couple of books
from the university, and pages from the internet.


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

Yes.


*8. Do you sense that people on this list are interested in your conlang
and give you feedback on it?

Cannot answer.


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?

Quenyan.


*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?

None yet.


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

Too early to comment.


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

No.


*14. What other lists do you frequent related to conlanging?

None, yet.


*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?

Too early to comment.


*16. What Internet technology would you most like to see developed that
would aid you in showcasing your language(s)?

An automated translator and effective TTS.


*17. What lists like conlang exist in other cultures and languages that
you know of?

Not know.


*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?

Too early to comment. But someone out there could provide a website
where a language can be completely show cased with an as uniform as
possible presentation. A place for grammar, lexicon, pronunciation,
works of literature (common set), and other bits. As well as a place for
commenting, comparing, and analysing, each other?s ConLang with other
ConLangers and linguists. A template for ConLangers to utilise for
presentation.


*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 don?t know what others think. Maybe not as much as the ListServ
provides a focus.


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?

The learning of a natural language is irrelevant to socialising
especially as most persons one meets are single language speakers or
have a common second language.


*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?

No basis for comparison as I have insufficient knowledge of Elizabethan
ConLangers. Considering that the construction of languages is
accelerating, I would conclude that society is more open now than 10-20
years ago.


*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?

Which one? As far as I can tell JRRT would be an active member and CT
would lurk at best, I understand that there is more material about Q
that is not yet released. We have nearly reached such a time as Google
has translated pages including Klingon.


*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?

Over exposure is improbable. No reasonable language is corny. All
languages are adaptable. All languages are transient fads.


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?

Yes. We didn?t have to answer your questions.


Thanks!

Sally Caves scaves@frontiernet.net
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