Re: Láadan and woman's speak

Barry Garcia wrote:
>
> CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU writes:
> >I like this concept quite a bit, but there's something you'd have to
> >consider. Since the language would very likely have existed before the
> >society became technologically advanced, this gender system would have
> >to have been added to the language later. Since (I'd imagine) gender
> >systems don't pop up automatically, this society would have to have been
> >using electricity and making sythetic materials and such for a long
> >time, several thousand years. Either that or it would have to be an
> >auxilliary language used by all the inhabitants of the planet, to unify
> >it after it became technologically advanced. Say, a scientific language
> >that eventually found acceptance in the whole of society.
> >
> >Just a though based on your thought. :o)
>
> Hmm very good thought there ;). I was thinking the same thing, either the
> gender system developed later, or it was a scientific language that was
> adapted by the public. Perhaps the need for a distinction came because
> people and technology are so linked together?
>
Glad you like it, I put some thought into my thought. But evidently not
in spelling "though(t)" right...

Building on that, perhaps technical words borrowed heavily on natural
terms, and the distinction was lost in the vocabulary and had to be made
up by a new distinction, so the government of what ever culture this is,
or maybe the scientific community, seeing as this society is
technology-driven, decided that this could be best served by replacing
an "archaic" gender system with one that suited there society better.

Either that or it was an auxilliary scientific language that came into
public use, because it was well suited to technological terms, in a way
that natural languages couldn't.

Like I said, I really like this idea, I'd like to see someone build on
it. I don't really have the time, I'm working on my language,
tentatively called "Ajuk", from AOYUC ("as of yet unnamed conlang"), and
I've got a lot of school work to do.

--
Robert