Re: OT: Artlanging is now mainstream

On Friday 20 February 2009 04:29, Paul Kershaw wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----
>
> > From: David J. Peterson <dedalvs@...>
> > If the type of the language is dependent on the goals or intentions
> > of the creator, then there could be infinitely many schools or
> > conlang types.
>
> Precisely. Theoretically, an artlang for another planet ought to be
> liberated from IE restrictions, but a specific commercially-minded author
> may also be concerned about reader accessibility; make the language TOO
> foreign, and it will just be characters on a page to be stumbled through.
> People devising conlangs for their personal enjoyment or as thought
> experiments are bound by different parameters than people interested in
> mainstream fiction popularity, and so on.
As someone who's made the elements of a language for GE/Med humans on another
planet, abstracted/abducted from Earth to an Alpha Centauri planet at least
40 k years ago, I can say quite accurately I am completely liberated from IE
restrictions. ;)  And yes, the parameters - of a piece of fiction - are
different from a thought experiment, but only if the thought experiment isn't
embedded in the fiction.  Since Homo Lakhabrechensis is both the thought
experiment - GE/Med hyenaized humans a la that American song "Crocuta,
Crocuta, what's the matter now? (2x) You done gone bad, babe, ain't no good
nohow." - and the majority of the characters in the fiction, it's kinda
difficult to separate them.
>
> It also strikes me that this individual wants to throw the linguistic baby
> out with the language-specific bathwater. Starting from total scratch is
> well and good as a thought experiment, but there are likely some universals
> to how sentient creatures intercommunicate. If there were some clear list
> of characteristics that all human languages have (say, words-for-things and
> words-for-actions, for instance), would such a list apply to ALL sentient
> communication, or are some of them accidental to the human experience?
>
> For that matter, he appears to be ignoring that the person he's railing
> about made a language for cats, while Tolkein made languages for
> (predominantly) humanoids, so insisting that Tolkien and the cat-writer
> follow the same strategies is short-sighted.
If he'd show instead of tell, I could take him seriously.  He said he's made
the beginnings of a conlang, but I don't see any evidence of it on the blog.

E liyhita, ara naatai eyatnaa teia itay taap-harenai.  "Now That I Kneel At
The Throne, O Queen."
Syafta kha ya enaivar teina karasenai.  "Sweet are the waters you share with
your love."  -- Lakhabrech proverb.
ya trau ya shawi ya brech!!! - "it's claws, it's teeth, it's blood!!!"  --
Lakhabrech woman's death challenge over a man.
Yezhech ya nazhyao, taori tore naati vana – Cruel Death, Give Three Things
Back
Improyarevo, illyezhrevo - Sunrise, sunset.
"Ina'iata lakhasun imati" - "Teach us freedom" -- formal eilakh request to
Lakhabrech midwife.

" 'Ay'it a li' atan a li' raya, en dusao eme po'i - lu li' betri dusao en,
i'at u en iro aa eme po'i, i'am u di dusaf eme po'i."  By the twins, the
goddesses, I say to you - may they curse me if I do not do for you such that
I have said to you.

"I'ai vralnei oro'en ma nye'en iri."  There is light between you and I. We can
see each other and no blood has been spilt between us.  [,,,] the
corresponding phrase [...], I'ai nyoro'en nu lalno toie toino - there is for
us the one and same blood.
"I'ai ulye toie'en rai vraite toie nya nu aves khara-ansha."  It is good for
one to hear the language of the sacred hunt.
>
> So, my opinion: The website linked to isn't worth much in isolation, but I
> do think it's interesting to think about how artlangs are limited either by
> the intended speakers of the language or the intentions of the creator.
>
> -- Paul
If he's still working on his conlang, and it's so far only an idea in his
head, he's not far enough along to make any worthwhile comment.  It's when
you've actually started putting words together in sentences and trying out
schemes of word-derivation, that weaknesses and difficulties tend to appear,
and if it's still only a dream, he hasn't faced that yet.

Just my 0.02c - don't spend it all at once.  Or as Vheratsho would say:
Ya saiyhavhi, ei yhei shawiti - just a tail, not [enough] for [the] bite.

Wesley Parish
--
Clinersterton beademung, with all of love - RIP James Blish
-----
Gaul is quartered into three halves.  Things which are
impossible are equal to each other.  Guerrilla
warfare means up to their monkey tricks.
Extracts from "Schoolboy Howlers" - the collective wisdom
of the foolish.
-----
Mau e ki, he aha te mea nui?
You ask, what is the most important thing?
Maku e ki, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
I reply, it is people, it is people, it is people.

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