Re: Caraboo

It's been a while since I've posted anything, and there's months of digests
I'll never read, but I still peek in from time to time. I've managed to
graduate college and get a job as a computer programmer with Boeing.
Hopefully things will start to settle down and I can begin conlanging again.

Anyway, "Princess Caraboo" was a great movie from a conlang perspective. A
must see! In fact, it demonstrates a great way to use a conlang. I wonder if
anyone on the list has ever tried doing something similar in real life. Have
any of you ever walked up to someone (preferably a complete stranger!) and
started speaking your conlang to them? I mean seriously speak it, as if it
were your L1, and you didn't understand English? I wonder what would happen.
Probably in this world of international globalism, nobody would hardly
notice or care.

The only specific sample word I can remember off the top of my head is
'nai!' which, in context, obviously meant "no". It occurred in the following
scene:

Deeply moved by a chamber ensemble's music (I think it was a piece by
Schubert), the princess starts crying. Mrs. Worral misinterprets this, and
asks the orchestra to stop playing, but the princess jumps up and shouts
"nai! nai!" and motions for them to continue. The ensemble, pleased to be
performing in the presence of such an admirer, happily continues. I remember
this particular word because I remember thinking how similar it was to IE
words for 'no'. My own non-IE Akathanu even has 'na' (one of the first and
few words I actually know in thej language).

~Caleb

Replies