Re: Con-phonologies (was: Zaik! (Hi there!) - Description of Lyanjen)

In a message dated 2000:09:01 12:18:18 PM, ray.brown@FREEUK.COM writes:

>Switzerland with its four official languages seems to have got on quite
>peaceably for as long as anyone can remember.
>
    Or for example in Vanuatu, a former joint colony of both France &
Britain, has Bislama - a pidgin, French & English all as "official." (But
Bislama is becoming more prevalent).
    Vanuatu is one of THE most linguistically dense areas of the world:
with a population of roughly 165,000, it has just over 100 distinct languages
& dialects (an average of one language/dialect per 1,600 people)!!!

    "Bislama has its own distinct grammar. The use of traditional grammars
during early stages of its development, to link foreign words, was
instrumental in creating this situation." - from _Lonely Planet Pidgin
Phrasebook: Pidgin Languages of Oceania_, 2nd edition, 1999

>But we should not IMHO treat all conIALs the same - they are not.
    In light of these facts re: Vanuatu & Bislama = I personally feel a
ConLang based on a pidgin like Bislama's may be worth investigating &
creating.

    My ConLang - Caos Pidgin - is headed in this direction... But the primary
goal is for me to have fun, secondary to this is creating an easy-to-use
non-Globalist language (as opposed to English, Spanish or Mandarin) for use
in a "transnationalist paraculture."

    czHANg

"It would be ironic if the answer to Babel
were pidgin and not Pentecost."
- George Steiner,  _After Babel:
  Aspects of Language & Translation_