Re: Language and "mysticism," whatever that is.

A little late catching up with this list, but here goes...

>1)  How many of you old- and new-comers started inventing a language
>in isolation from the list?
Yes.

>         1a)  If so, how old were you?
Can't remember. Probably about 12.

>         1b)  Was it a project with friends or a solitary project?
Solitary...although I'd occasionally share with friends, they were not part
of the process.

>         1b)  Did your invented language have some kind of private purpose?
>                 esoteric?  erotic? religious or mystical?
No. Just an imaginative exercise. My most recent projects, though, have
included languages for personal religious use.

>2)  How many of you newcomers heard of the list first and thought--
>Wow! I think I'll try my hand at conlanging!
Nope.


>3)  How many of you, when you were starting out on this on your own,
>did this kind of thing:  you have a list of words you want to invent
>new ones for, so you drew di-and polysyllabic words out of the air.
>This is
>what I did when I was new at this and a teenager.  Many of these still
>remain vocabulary words in Teonaht, but I've since then learned to build
>up through word roots.
Sometimes, but this is not my primary means of language construction. I
usually start with structural things, phonology, inflections, grammar. I
don't feel comfortable working up vocabulary until the structure is in place.

>4)  If so, how important was it that the new word sound "exotic,"
>"beautiful," or
>"suggestive" in some personal way of the word you wanted it to stand
>for?
There are always a certain number of words that suggest themselves to me as
just "feeling right" for the concept they convey. But there are always
others I just invent sort of randomly, respecting the phonology of the
language, but otherwise not really minding what the sounds come out to be.


>5)  How many of you invented words to express concepts that could not be
>expressed in your native language?
I do this all the time. It is one of my chief motivations for constructing
languages. And I usually try to extend beyond vocabulary, and make give the
language structural features that support an different conceptual view of
reality.

I also sometimes make up languages on the familiar European pattern, where
almost all the words can be translated directly into English, Spanish,
etc., but these are just a kind of mild recreation for me, something to
give atmosphere to a medieval fantasy story or role-playing campaign, for
example, not the focus of intense work.


>6)  How many of you used it for prayer?  For secrecy?
Prayer, yes. Secrecy, no.

>7)  For how many of you was it an intellectual exercise?
It's that certainly, but it's always been more. I mean it's not just
puzzle-solving or something like that; language is an intensely human thing
for me, rooted in culture and so many different aspects of life; so there's
always this sense that making a language is exploring different facets of
human experience.

>8)  A language for a conculture?
Almost always. See above. In fact, I can't think of ever having done a
language without some conculture connection, although often it is the
language that suggests the culture, rather than the reverse.

>9)  How many of you newcomers (and I see a lot of names I don't
>recognize
>in the six months I've been away) heard of the list first and thought--
>Wow!  I think I'll try my hand at conlanging!
Nope. I found the list, and thought--Wow! After two and a half decades of
doing this in isolation, I've finally found someone to share with!

>10)  What is your definition of a mystical language?  Would any of you
>characterize your conlang as such?
The one I'm working on right now is. I'm not sure I would be able to define
"mystical language", but perhaps it is one in which difficult-to-express
spiritual concepts are not only easily communicable, but in fact assume
prominence. There are perhaps two directions one may go with that...a
ritual language reserved for sacred use only, or a daily-use language that
nevertheless embodies a spiritual sensibility. The latter seems to me to
require conculture work to support it.

>Yry poy poy firrimby,
I love it!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Tadfor Little            tom@telp.com
Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA)
Telperion Productions        www.telp.com
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