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Re: OT: Whatever

From:Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Date:Saturday, December 22, 2007, 18:02
Dirk:I dont think your lack of interest in YA*PT's is despite your
phonological specialty, but because of it. Not only do you know this
stuff, but youve internalized in a way that the rest of us cant, even
though we may have read and may even own JCW's books.  To you, it's
like a thread popping up every few weeks with another
"newly-discovered" consequence of something trivial, like the earth's
rotation.  "Hey, you mean it's LATER in Rightpondia?  Cool!".
Followed a few weeks later by "Whoa, so, like, it's not dark there
right now?  What color would you say your sky is, exactly?"



On 12/21/07, Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...> wrote:
> 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 >
-- Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>