Re: NonVerbal Conlang?

David J. Peterson wrote:
> Sally wrote:
> <<
> Is the proper term for "oral" in signing "verbal"?  A *verbal*  language
> as opposed to one signed by the hands?
>  >>
>
> No, "oral" is the term.  But recall: it was one person that posted the
> question, and they used the term "non-verbal".  Seeing that word,
> one was left with two possibilities: (1) a language without verbs,
> or (2) a language that didn't have a spoken component.
No - there is the possibility: (3) a language without words.

Indeed (2) did not occur to me.

> Though
> technically speaking the first definition is the correct one, pragmatic
> concerns indicated to most that the second definition was the
> appropriate one.  After all, the goal in responding was to answer
> the question of the poster.
Indeed it is - and it was, I agree, clear in the poster's mail that "a
language without verbs" was not meant, which is why I thought it meant
"a language without words." I thought 'Is such an animal possible? Are
all these examples really wordless (I assumed some were)? Looks as tho
this could be interesting.'

[snip]

> So that's why I interacted with the term "non-verbal" the way I did.
That's when I was getting puzzled & confused. I was thinking of asking
for clarification but Sally posted her Kelen post ....

> And because I was thinking that way, when I saw you responded
> with Kelen, I first thought, "Wait...Kelen has a signing component...?"
> Oops!
Then, of course, when Sally asked: 'Is the proper term for "oral" in
signing "verbal"?  A *verbal*  language as opposed to one signed by the
hands?" Light began to dawn.

I'm glad to hear the answer is "No" - but a little sad to realize that
it was not, apparently, a 'fully multi-dimensional non-sequential
language' thread  after all   :=(

--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
"A mind which thinks at its own expense will always
interfere with language."         J.G. Hamann, 1760

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