Re: proposed conlang database & my classification

 --- Garrett Jones <alkaline@...> wrote: >

> what other types of personal languages are there (to
> contrast with
> stealth/secret languages)?
Have a look at http://www.langmaker.com/mlclass.htm;
there you will find a description that - I must add -
leaves some questions open.
At http://www.langmaker.com/mlindex.htm you can find a
huge, but slightly outdated, list of languages. Many
of them marked "Personal", though I don't really see
on what ground.

> your system reminds me of the one i found at
>
http://www.invisiblelighthouse.com/langlab/l-types.html
> (mostly because of how comprehensive it is and the
> fact that a number system is used). I basically made
> a simpler version of it.
Yes, I took it as a starting point. But the impression
I have from Rick Harrison's classification, is that it
seems rather intented for classifying auxlangs.

Numbered (or lettered) codes are quite common in a
relational database.
It allows you to search along different lines: all
Indo-European conlangs, all Romance conlangs, all
Esperanto-relatives... My hobby is Slavonic
conlanging, so I would like the database to produce a
list of Slavonic conlangs, which can be achieved by
just telling it the code for them.
Besides, it saves someone who creates a new entry some
typing work and prevents typing errors from creating a
new category.

> So you used this system in your own database? Did
> the languages spread across the classification
> evenly?
1. I did, with a lot of languages yet unclassified
because I didn't know enough about them.
2. Not always. There are a few categories that haven't
been used at all; they were rather meant to make the
system complete, so that it won't have to be updated
if someone suddenly comes up with "Neo-Tocharian" or a
new Bantu language.

> I'll be thinking on this vocab categorization thing
> and on how best to do it. It would be nice if other
> people gave their input too :)
I'll do my best :)))))

By the way, something else came to my mind this cloudy
morning. Wouldn't it be a good idea to create a
separate entry for specifying the con-location of a
fictional language (planet, fictional country,
parallel universe, alternative timeline, micronation,
etc.)?

Apologizing for being so boring,
Jan

=====
"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought,
wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that
happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great
comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." --- J.
Michael Straczynski

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