Re: CHAT: Bob's Introduction

FFlores wrote:
>
> Robert Hailman <robert@...> wrote:
>
> >Hey hey!
>
> Hey, Bob! Welcome to the list.
>
> >I've been reading this list for three or four days now,
>
> Aren't you scared yet?
>
No, I'm used to strange internet forums filled with crazy people.

> >I have a project coming up at school where I'm allowed to do more or
> >less anything I want, and I'm considering developing a Conlang.
>
> Oh, how lucky you are! And how strange it is, I think, to
> see a modern educative facility where creativity is actually
> encouraged... ;)
>
True dat, to use some obscure slang. When I first found out about it, I
though it was a trick! ;-) It appears to be legitimate, though, so I'm
not too worried.

> >I've started a very rough sketch of a language, but it's nowhere near
> >complete enough to post here, I have to decide on quite a bit of the
> >grammar and have at least some vocabulary to provide examples with. I'll
> >post more on this as it develops.
>
> We'll be waiting.
>
It'll come soon enough, don't you worry.

> >1) When I post a sketch of a language, and I give the phonololgy, do I
> >give just the IPA symbols, or do I use the alphabet I am using if it is
> >a Roman alphabet as well as the IPA if they don't agree?
>
> The Roman alphabet is easier to read and handle (in particular,
> the lower characters of ASCII, for e-mail -- i. e. the ones up
> to code 126, the tilde ~). As most people have pointed out,
> you should explain the phonology using the IPA, and indicate
> the correspondencies between IPA and the "native" orthography
> (BTW have you thought of a con-script?). IPA is not comfortable
> to work with in computer edition, and may be tiresome to read.
> The Roman alphabet, OTOH, has an important shortage of suitable
> symbols for certain sounds. It's a good idea to keep the Roman
> orthography as close to IPA as possible, but some things are
> just counterintuitive for English readers (like using <x> for
> /x/ [unvoiced velar fricative] or <j> for /j/ [palatal
> approximant, "y"]) -- for ASCII-IPA conventions, see Don
> Blaheta's page,
>
>     http://www.cs.brown.edu/~dpb/ascii-ipa.html
>
> Of course, if you have to do it, do it all the way -- *they*
> have to read your papers. :)
>
Thanks, I printed that out and I have it for reference now. I've though
about a conscript, and I way toying with one in History class, but for
now I'm going to stick with the Roman alphabet, and maybe stick a script
on top of it later. I can always change my orthography later, but I do
youse <j> for /j/, as influenced by my German studies this year. I also
use <x> for /G/, as I'm informed it is.

Which ASCII representation of the IPA is used here? In Kirshenbaum my
<x> is /Q/, but in Carrasquer and SAMPA it's <G>.

> >2) The Conlang FAQ, or at least the URL I have of it, hasn't been
> >updated since 1998. Has it been abandoned, is a new version still in
> >development, or do I have the wrong adress for it?
>
> As someone mentioned already, there's one in www.conlang.org;
> it's a collaborative effort -- you can go and add a question
> (with its answer, of course) and then anyone can see both.
www.conlang.org doesn't seem to work for me, I've tried it twice today
and I can't get in. Maybe the server isn't working.



--
Robert