Re: conlang no longer?

On Fri, 8 Mar 2002 23:33:06 +0100, Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...> wrote:

>
>>
>> I'd say that it will always be a constructed language. However, once
>> it
>> has changed enough, I would no longer call it the original language
>> (and
>> would start with old whatever, modern whatever), and eventually it
>> would
>> become commonplace enough that people would no longer think of its
>> construction.
>>
>> That would probably take a couple of generations from the time of its
>> widespread use. It would have to be used in one area and probably no
>> other (except in limited amounts, like a foreign language).
>>
>> Anyway, to answer your question, the original will always be a
>> conlang,
>> but the modern version can be a [pseudo]natlang.
>>
>
>What do you make of Bahasa Indonesia then? It's as much a conlang as Esperanto
>is, and yet it's become a native language after only one generation. Isn't it
>become a natural language as soon as it's acquired natively?
>
>Christophe.
I think, as soon as a constructed language becomes a native language for
sizeable population (one can argue of course what this means), it will also
become a natural language: Really "artificial" features will get lost, and the
language will behave like any other natural language too.
Even a board that tries to supervise change would not be enough to prevent such a
language from becoming a natlang. For instance, French has such a board too
(but probably it isn't that natural at all ;-) )
Otherwise, we would have to reclassify some "natural languages" because of their planned
or partially planned history or present character. Take Bahasa Indonesia, take
Standard German or Modern Hebrew.
Of course, all these had their roots in natural languages and were some sort of
modification - but then: All conlangs that are proposed for actual inter-human
communication are based on existing languages too - be it only because it is so
difficult for us to outline languages that are speakable on the one hand and
show original features on the other. It is not by chance that so many
conlangers have to find that their "new idea" is already in use by a natural
language or was at least used for some time...
(I don't want to discourage anyone - quite contrary, I think it is quite pleasing
to find the matching grammer in real life.)

Just some thoughts on the topic.

Christian