En réponse à Ian Spackman :
>I thought it was about time I introduced myself (I've been lurking here a
>few months, on and off), but now I find that summarising myself in a few
>paragraphs is not an easy task. :)
Welcome to the list! And don't bother if you're introduction is incomplete.
We'll grow to know you more through your presence here ;))) .
>I'm English by birth, but lived most of my life in Canada (in Quebec, other
>than going to university in Ontario); I've been back in England for nine
>years now. I've had an interest in language for as long as I can remember,
>despite the best efforts of the education system to kill it
Same here ;)))) .
> (though I must
>admit, school left me with a dislike of French, alone among
>languages).
Why is it always French which suffers from such dislikes? :((((
> For a long time I thought I was hopeless at languages, but
>that proved to be simply because the French they taught me in school was no
>use at all for understanding Quebecois.
Damn Joual! ;))))
> (In truth, though, I am not very
>good at oral/aural language: though apparently the person who marked my
>written French high school leaving exam thought I must be a native speaker,
>I can barely use in in conversation; this may have more to do with shyness
>than linguistic ability, however.)
Probably. I thought I was unable to make a single sentence in English
before being obliged to use it, and proving to be nearly fluent in it :))) .
>My first degree was in Language and Linguistics (Queen's U at Kingston); I
>now also have an MA in lexicography from the U of Exeter, and almost earn a
>living as a lexicographer.
Lucky you! (although the "almost" part is frightening... :)) ).
>My first Conlang I invented at the age of 7,
Well, that's an early start! :)
> and unsurprisingly was just a
>coded English (and it didn't help that the language was intended to be
>unusable - it was spoken by the natives of "Twisty-Wisty", who, as one
>might suppose, did not generally do things in a practical way).
LOL.
> There
>followed Imsian (from my initials) when I was 11, which didn't get very far
>(I recall nothing of it but that its nouns had four cases). Contact with
>the works of Tolkien the next year raised my enthusiasm and my standards,
>and a couple of years later, when I started writing a fantasy novel, I also
>devised several languages to at least a limited degree.
>
>Unfortunately, growing self-doubt and depression put and end to both my
>novel and my languages (and indeed almost everything else in my life).
> It
>took me years to get out of the hole (indeed, at 35 I am still
>climbing!).
I understand the problem, being on the climbing side myself.
> But gradually I am returning to the things I used to love so
>much; and I am writing a new novel (allegedly, at least) for which I am
>devising new languages.
Anything to share to us about those languages?
>Well, actually, only one language exists yet, and that is still at an early
>stage, but others are planned. I'll introduce "Holic" (a working name:
>I need to do more work on it before I can even work out what it should
>really be called) at some later time.
Please do!
Welcome again!
Christophe Grandsire.
http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr
You need a straight mind to invent a twisted conlang.