Re: OT: Whatever

On Dec 21, 2007 1:47 PM, Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:

> --- "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...> wrote:
>
> <snip>
> >
> > although I enjoy seeing discussions of other interesting* conlangs, and
> even
> > > natlangs, provided it's not about phonetics and phonemes.
> >
> >
> > Gary Shannon?  Is that you?
> >
>
> Nope, not me. True, I'm not particularly interested in phonetics as it
> relates
> to conlanging for the simple reason that every language has dialects and
> accents, so describing the *precise* pronunciation of a conlang seems
> rather
> pointless.

Now, this is interesting, since it seems you are assuming that languages are
constructed in order to be spoken. If this were always the case, you would
be right; everyone imposes their own peculiar pronunciation habits on
whatever language they are speaking and the narrow specification of
pronunciation isn't likely to help a great deal (although general guidelines
are useful).

The languages I'm most interested in working on and reading about are not
languages that I would ever want to learn to speak. They are fictions. I
enjoy reading fiction, but not because I want to live in the worlds that are
depicted. For me, the more fully an imagined world is depicted, the more
satisfying the fiction. Likewise, a constructed language which narrowly
specifies pronunciation and sound alternations is more satisfying to me than
one which gives a perfunctory phoneme inventory and then moves on to "more
interesting" matters. I am a phonologist by training and profession, and the
phonology *is* the interesting part. (Of course, grammar is interesting as
well.)


> I do, however, enjoy reading discussions on YAEPT, since dialects
> and accents are interesting in non-conlang contexts.

Even though I am a phonologist, I find the YAEPT threads to be extremely
tedious. I have a copy of Wells' _Accents of English_, and a handful of
other reference works on English phonetics and phonology, so I don't really
want or need more of it from this list. So I generally just move on when
these threads come up. And yet I haven't felt a need to give up this list or
to discontinue reading it. I may not post a lot anymore, but I do follow the
discussion as much as I am able.


> --gary
>
Dirk

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