Re: conlang no longer?

| -----Original Message-----
| From: Andrew Strader
| Subject: conlang no longer?
|
|    Hi. I post here occasionally, and usually I just
| enjoy following the discussions, but now I have a pondery.
|   Is it possible that once a conlang is taken into use
| and allowed to change according to the whim of the one
| or more people using it, it eventually gets to a point
| where you could no longer call it a conlang?

        Hi,
        As a non-professional who simply has read a bit, I don't think so.
It could be reclassified as an artlang or private language/cipher
(privlang?)

        As I understand it, a "pidgin" is a simplified combination of two or
more languages. It  could either be classified as "planned" or
"constructed", but usually develops over a few years or generations. Also in
the definition is that two or more groups (socio- or economic- communities)
use it for trade, negotiation, or some similar mutual endeavor.
        Another point of definition is that a pidgin is acquired and used by
people in specific lines of work who need it, such as merchants, military,
etc. When the pidgin becomes prevalent enough within one (or more)
community(ies) that it is used in the home and children begin to acquire it
as a primary language, it becomes a "creole". I'm not sure if
"creole-status" requires only one or multiple generations of primary
speakers, and I'm sure many linguists would argue both sides of that
question. (I believe that question came up here last year.)

        Most of the IAL's ("International Auxiliary Languages", like
Esperanto, Ido, and Interlingua) started off as constructed languages (on
person or group built it). After that, they became "planned languages". The
languages changes by slang, neologisms, "officially introduced" words, but
within a set of given rules and usually along a "style" of that language.
(For example, "kvelkejo" looks like Esperanto, so it would fit the "style"
of the new word. No, it's not something you can really pin down and
explain.) There is also usually a council of sorts that tries to have some
control over changes.
        However, even though these languages have sizeable international
speaking communities and bodies of unique literature, they are not natural
languages. While a few might argue they could be seen as pidgins (they were
intended for such a purpose), they are still planned languages, or in some
peoples' point of view, very popular conlangs.

                Mike

______________________________________
Mike Karapcik   *       Tampa, FL
Network Analyst *       USF campus
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Research Center
ConlangCode: v1.1 CIT!h !u cG:M:R:S:G a+ y n29:2
B+++/R:Wic A+ E+ N1 Is/d K ia-:+ p-- s- m o P S----