Re: Sally's Survey

Hello,

I saw this survey on the list, and I couldn't resist!

~Michael Haycock

--- Kilo aulvot Sally Caves:
>
> PART I.  CELTIC
>
> What is your name and what do you call your
> conlang(s)?
My name is Michael Haycock, and my language is known
as Varidani, Varidanen, or Novaridanen or for short
NV. (all one language)
>
> When did you start it/them?
1/30/02 in Algebra class, 4th period.

>
> Are you still working with it/them or have you
> abandoned it or them?
Still going ... why would I stop?

> On the other hand, perhaps the Celtic structures,
> their VSO, their
> paraphrastics, their initial mutations, their
> spelling conventions, their
> general strangeness caught your fancy, not
> necessarily their "beauty" or
> "romance."  Comment?
Varidanen has VSO, but I did it to be different (it
was pretty much English word order until I did that,
and it has gotten more and more interesting since
then), not to imitate a Celtic language. I've never
studied a Celtic language, although I would have
checked out my public library's book on Welsh if the
pronunciation guide had not been ripped out.

> PART II:  INSPIRATION BY TOLKIEN (tangential to the
> questions on inspiration
> by Celtic languages):
>
> How many of you were inspired to invent a language
> because of your exposure
> to Tolkien?
Me me me!

> How many of you have a constructed world, and, if
> so, does it include some
> of the races we associate with Celtic or
> Scandinavian mythology? (Elves,
> Dwarves, medieval societies of humans, Faeries or
> Fays?  Selkies?  Wizards?)
Yes - I have several worlds, Varidan for one, whence
comes my language,  but none include any mythological
races or creatures.
>
> How many of you were inspired to examine Welsh,
> Hebrew, or Finnish because
> of your examination of Tolkien?
Yes, I looked at Finnish and would have looked at
Welsh if there had been a pronunciation guide in the
only book on Welsh my local library had (as I said
before).
>
> How many of you were inspired to invent a conlang or
> a conculture because of
> some influence OTHER than Tolkien?
I suppose Star Trek had a large influence on my early
stories about the planet Ravadak, which had Varidan as
a colony back then in fifth grade. Now Ravadak is a
colony of Varidan that declared its independence. Now
I also have a developing history of Varidan that
hopefully will turn out to be a "Silmarrion" for the
sci-fi stories set in Varidan's universe I plan to
write.

Also, my conculture has also been hugely influenced by
my religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints. Varidan is supposed to be a world created by
the same God that created Earth (for we believe the
worlds he created are more numerous than a grain of
sand).
>
> How many of you were inspired to invent a language
> because you engage in
> Roll-Playing Games?
Never played one.

> For how many of you is beauty and/or efficiency a
> factor in yourlanguage?  Or elegance?  How would you
>define these terms?
go down ...

>To what degree is difficulty and irregularity of
>language important to
>you
>in your conlang?  what natural language
eccentricities >(or
>efficiencies) do
>you like and try to reproduce?
Tilva ... (go down...)

>To what degree is accessibility, efficiency, and
>regularity important
>to
>your conlang?  What natural language "faults" are you
>correcting?
As for efficiency, the verbs are very easy ... there
is one tense that is irregular, but it has the same
form in all verbs, and there is a copula that is
irregular (along with the irregular conjugations of
the words for "yes" and "no"). I've thought about
having these easy verb conjugations be a trade
language based on Varidani created for easiness in
trade by the Varidani people - an auxlang within a
conlang - and have the natives speakers of Varidani
have a more complex verb structure, but as of yet,
that idea hasn't been brought to pass.

As for beauty and elegance, I chose the sounds I like
for the language ... thus, no "p", "b", "f", "g", etc.
I want it to sound "silver" instead of "gold," if that
makes any sense.

>For how many of you is the "exotic" a desired feature
>of your invented
>language?
I have one strange consonant - a dental unvoiced
affricate, only appearing in one name thus far. The
name is Tthana, tth being usually writen as t+thorn.
Tthana was the second queen of Varidan.

How many of you started out by pulling words out of
the air,
originally?

I did! I started with the verb stem for "to be" -
/vo-/ - and "to do" - /ko-/. I've recently pretty much
gotten rid of the need for the "to be" verb, creating
a more Ebisedi-esque system with what I call the
"attributary copula," /ar/, and the "equative ending,"
/-ti/, plus either the verb /vira/, "yes", or the verb
/nen/, "no". It's very weird, and I was very excited
when I read H.S. Teoh's Ebisedi tutorial and saw a
feature I thought only my strange mind had envisioned!

PART III:  THE LUNATIC SURVEY REVISITED (because we
are all "fous du
langage," according to Yaguello and other French
critics.

>Why do you conlang?
Fun!

>Who will speak it?
The people on my planet Varidan and its colonies in a
series of books I hope to write.

>Read it?
The same Varidani people mentioned above.

>What's the point?
I love language!

>What's
>the beauty?
The Varidani are going to have a poetic method now
called "wordsmithery" in which mood is conveyed not
only by the words, but the words' "silverness",
"depth", and "sharpness". I don't have enough words
for it now, though.

>what's the intellectual draw?
I learn about language.

To what would you compare a conlang?  Is it a
miniature?  Is it a
model?  Is
it a tapestry?  Is it an act of obsession and madness?
<G>  Or is it a
communicable language?

If it is a communicable language, to whom do you speak
it?

To what extent is the opacity or "alterity" of your
language something
that
pleases you?  In other words, the sounds and the
script have, even for
you,
a quality of being foreign, and this delights.
Comment?  (I know that when I make maps of cities, and
imagine myself
in
them, they delight me because they are both familiar
and foreign at the
same
time.)

>This is a difficult question:  how is it that a word
>sounds "right" to
>you?
It must sound "silver", but not "gold." For a
difficult question, a difficult answer!
We recently discussed this.  To what extent are you
finding righter,
better
words for the world in your conlang?  (Perhaps
unanswerable).

How many of you are fictive map-makers, designers of
fictive floor
plans,
fictive yachts, fictive star-ships, world-builders,
calligraphers,
cartoonists, etc.? Me! I've drawn out Varidan's map
and some close-ups, along with starships.
(These pursuits have been associated with
conlanging.  I
've done most of them.)

How many of you have a special script in your conlang?

Me.

If you use Roman script, how recognizably "phonetic"
is your writing
system?
In other words, do you use unconventional letters to
represent sounds?

I use thorn for th (in thin) and adh for dh (like
Tolkien used dh), along with x for sh (in ship).
Why?
I wanted to have each sound represented by a single
letter.

This is a question Heather asked, but I also asked it
four years ago:
how
many of you write in your language?  What do you
write?

How many of you sing in your language and have
invented songs for that
purpose?

How many of you started conlanging when you were a
teenager and have
stuck
to the same language over many years?  I am a
teenager, and I only have one conlang. Why?

How many of you change conlangs regularly, developing
structures for
many
languages but not sticking with any one for very long?
 Why?

For how many of you does your language function as a
spiritual
instrument?
This is a deeply personal question--let me give you an
example.  When I
first started inventing "Tayonian" in my early teens,
what I wrote were
spells and prayers.  They had a talismanic quality.
Does that ring a
bell
for anybody?

I've created names for Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ,
and the Holy Ghost, and the people of Varidan
basically believe in my religion, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to which I belong. They
even have temples!

For how many of you was your language at least at one
stage of its
making
meant to fool others, or to write secret diaries? (Me,
waving my hand).

How many of you can speak your language, at least to
yourself and your
pet?
child?  spouse?  <G>  To what extent?

How many of you have put up websites where your
language can be
showcased?
If so, what is the website address?

How many of you have made soundbytes of your language
so the rest of us
can
hear it?  If so, give the site.

How many of you are comfortable talking to your boss,
your professors,
your
family members about this pursuit?   How many of you
have received
condescending or other negative responses to your
disclosure?  (I
have.)  Or
even been called "pathological"?

If this attitude is changing, to what do you attribute
the change?  (On
New
Year's Eve, a delightful, elderly gentleman could not
understand why I
would
be interested in this pursuit.  What purpose could it
serve?)

For how many of you is the damning statement "better
to learn real
languages
than invent private ones" a criticism you have
encountered?  What would
be
your response to such a remark?


PART IV:  GENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS:

What is your age (optional--and can be general: 30-40,
for instance). 14

What is your profession or your station in life (i.e.,
if you are a
student,
what is your MAJOR; if a middle or high-school
student, what is your
intended major)? Linguistics; I'm in High School,
freshman year.

What is your gender? M

What is your nationality and your native language?
USA -English

What natural languages do you speak or have studied?
Spanish

How many of you have chosen a profession in
linguistics because of your
interest in inventing languages?  Or plan a profession
in linguistics? Me!

What have you learned from conlanging?

A whole lot I didn't know before about language!

What texts on language and linguistics have you
consulted to help
invent
your language?

I have one grammar book, "English Syntax: from Word to
Discourse" by Lynn M. Berk, and a local library's
foreign language section.

Do you know of anyone who has not connected with the
Internet or the
List
who has invented a language? (I'm firmly convinced
that "conlanging"
has
been a private pursuit for many people long before the
list started,
but
that the list has increased its visibility as an art).

Can you give me a short sample of your language with
interlinear
description
and translation?

Evrennet! Aet vire darene-hranu!
Evrenn.VOC! you.VOC vira.aorist
conquer.NEG.passive.island!
O Evrem! O thou isle ne'er conquered!

(The aorist conveys what are viewed as timeless
truths, such as in:

Taru are leena.
sky ar.aorist blueness
The sky is blue.

Here's /ar/, too, the "attributary copula". It
indicates the noun following is an attribute of the
preceding, thus, blueness is, was, and will be an
attribute of the sky.)

Would you object to my mentioning your conlang/and or
your name in my
talk?

Not at all.

I will be discreet about some of the more personal
questions you
answered.

>





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