Re: Introduction, and a Couple Questions

Hi, Parker!
<<
    -Why do most people start their work on a language with their
phonology?
 >>

I think it depends on the medium, as well.  As most have said,
with my spoken languages, I started out with the phonology
because I needed to create some words.  I also really like phonology,
so it's fun.

With my language X, I started out with pictures (equivalent to
words), without a thought to how the pictures would be bound
(somewhat equivalent to phonology).  Here's that language:

<http://dedalvs.free.fr/x/main.html>

It was after I got going that I decided that all the pictures would
fit into a particular frame, so they'd all be about the same size,
and that I would attempt to making them look vaguely Egyptian,
etc.

The same can be said with the sign language I started up, KNSL:

<http://dedalvs.free.fr/knsl/main.html>

There, I started with my word list, and used it to create signs.
Once I had most of them, I derived the phonology from them.

With something like Tetrect, I started out with the idea, which
then informed the phonology:

<http://dedalvs.free.fr/misc/tetrect1.jpg>

So first I came up with the idea of creating a language using
Tetris, then I tried to come up with some "text", then I went
back and thought about how things should look.

So I think it's both style and medium.  I know a lot of people
that come up with a language idea and then come up with a
series of place-holder words they use to tease out the morpho-
syntax.  Sometimes these place-holder words become a part
of the language--sometimes they even inform the phonology--
but often they're discarded once the grammar is set.

-David
*******************************************************************
"A male love inevivi i'ala'i oku i ue pokulu'ume o heki a."
"No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn."

-Jim Morrison

http://dedalvs.free.fr/