Re: Reactions to the secret vice (was: Steg's wonderful sig.)

Sally Caves wrote:

>The reaction I got recently from an academic friend (I'm beginning to
>come out
>of the closet a little more now that I've been writing about this in
>academic circles) was:  "how ARROGANT!"
>Addressing the (to him) arrogant assumption that any one
>person could replicate the complexity and history of a real language.
>I asked him if he would have the same response to "I am building a
>miniature city."
>As soon as I invoked the "miniature" element, he could understand.
>See, he thought, at first, that I and all the rest of you are trying
>to build full-sized cities, all by ourselves.  <G>
Here's where the term "model language" comes in handy, I think.
I prefer "model" to "miniature", because the latter word connotes
triviality for many people.  I think "model" gets at the heart of the
difference between a natlang and a conlang:  Conlangs are things
which more or less mimic the structure and behaviour of natlangs,
but are less detailed and more restricted in scope, and are never
actually *used* for anything.  :-)

Matt.