Re: Presentation on Language Creation

David writes

>That's pretty much it; anything else I've got a handle on.  You can
>e-mail me offlist, if you'd like, so as not to clog up CONLANG,
>though most of this is on topic, I'd say.
Clog all you like. We've touched on these themes before, but if we
can't talk about this, what can we talk about?

>1.) What are some of the myths you perceive that irk you?  I could
>come up with a bunch, but then that would be just me, and I'm only
>one language creator, so I want to get ideas from different people.
The "waste of time" argument irks me. I lump it together with the
"study music so you'll be better at math and science" ads that have
been running recently in the US. Like, what's wrong with learning
music 'cause music, an sich, is cool? Creativity is creativity; where
it stops, nobody knows.

>2.) Does anyone have any information on or any links to information
>on the history of language creation--specifically, information on
>NON-Auxlangs from way in the past?  I found a bunch of information
>on Auxlangs, but very little on non, aside from the Voynich
>manuscript.  Is there anything out there?
When I did a "presentation" two years ago, I started with Lingua
Ignota from Hildebabe, just 'cause that's an easy milestone. At that
time (hers, not ours) and before, since it's a "secret vice", I would
think finding documentation would be difficult. Too, terminology may
be a stumbling block. Did Hildebabe see herself as "conlanging"?
Would predecessors call it "language" creation, or "code" creation,
"secret language" creation, or "wordplay"? Surely, there may well
have been what we as modern-day conlangers could point to and say,
"Aha! conlanging!", but who knows how the natives of the time
described the phenomenon. And that itself could be a topic of
discussion.

>3.) Concerning non-Auxlangs, again, what's of note?  There's Marc
>Okrand, Tolkien, maybe the Blade movies can get a mention, maybe
>Magma, the new Star Trek, or Star Trek in general, but what else?
>How well, for example, is Amman Iar known?  Are there any a priori
>conlangs created just for fun that have gotten any attention
>whatsoever aside from the ones mentioned?  I mean, I know a bunch of
>the conlangs of people on this list, and there are a bunch I like,
>but I can't go through them all, and, if their situation is anything
>like the situations of mine, then they don't exist, for the most
>part, outside of me and my computer.
When I talked about it, I started at Lingua Ignota, made my way
through Volapük and Esperanto and spawn, kowtowed to Tolkien as the
grand poohbah of the artlang movement (and its implications in his
conculturing), nodded to Okrand and other relatively commercial
successes, and touched on some of the langs on this list, including
(as a shameless self-promoting conlang whore) my own. Somewhere along
the way I got into distinctions between auxlangs, stealthlangs,
artlangs, loglangs, etc. And then opened it up to some of the greater
questions like: "Why has/did/does this phenomenon occur?"; "Is there
a real/imagined parallel between coming out as a conlanger and coming
out as a homosexual?"; "Pastime or raison d'être?"; "Extinction of
(certain) natlangs vs. increase (at least online, but also in public
consciousness) in conlangs?", yadda, yadda, yadda.

Within a 20-25 minute framework, I felt I *really* had to hustle the
group through the material. With more time, you could go further
in-depth and at a slightly less hurried pace.

Kou

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