Re: Aesthetics

> [mailto:CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu] On Behalf Of Edgard Bikelis
> I was wondering: as we surely are guided by some aesthetic
> principles in our conlanging, what are those principles we use?
...

It depends on the conlang.  Most of mine are designed as auxlangs so
aesthetics play almost no part because they are languages designed
with practicality in mind.  Decisions are based upon what will work
well for the target group.

I do have my personal language, Deini, which is there to serve the
purpose of putting my preferences into a language, so that's what
I'll use for my examples.  About all I have posted right now is a
description of the writing system
(http://www.nutter.net/dana/language/deini_script.pdf) but I'm
working on a language description and a dictionary.


> 1) On phonology, ...
	/ i(j) e a o u(w) 1 @ l R h N g k G x Z S d_Z t_S n d t z s
D T m b p v f /

I was hestiant about putting the affricates in there because I don't
care too much for them, but there are just too many words that
wouldn't sound right without them.  I also couldn't decide whether I
wanted /1/ or /y/ but finally settled on /1/ because I like the
symmetry it gives to the vowel system.  For some reason,  I tend to
like words with /D/, /T/ /Z/ or /v/.  The only way I can really
describe this phonology is that is sort of fuses Germanic and Slavic
together, which are major sources for Deini's lexicon.

> 2) On morphology, ...
I tends toward Germanic influences here too, but am gaining a lot of
respect for the Austronesian languages like Malay, Javanese or the
Filipino languages.  I also seem to prefer suffixes for derivatives
and inflected forms where they apply.


> 3) On syntax, ...
Here I'm a fan of simplicity and regularity.  It may seems silly,
but anything other than SVO word order just doesn't sit right with
me, though there are some SOV constructions I'm growing accustomed
to.  VSO reminds me too much of computer programming languages.  I
do tend to prefer a series of simple sentences vs. a long complex
sentence made up of multiple clauses.

> Did anyone here ever wrote an 'aesthetic credo' before  starting a
conlang? I
> think it's exactly what I will do, and then redo everything.
No, haven't really written or documented such a thing ahead of time.
It seems like every conlang I start undergoes several major shifts
during its devopment that turn it into something totally different
from what I had originally conceived.