I have an idea! (Good this time)

    I know at least one person went to Cal (Irina?), but for those of you who
didn't/don't, I'll explain.  We have these classes at Cal called DECal
classes (stands for Democratic Education at Cal).  I'm sure there are similar
programs at almost every university.  Anyway, I'd always wanted to teach one,
but didn't know what to do (my Peter Greenaway idea didn't get off the
ground, and I really wasn't up to having some sort of fiction writing
workshop).  Then, just today, I came up with the idea that should've been
obvious to me by now: A Conlang class! ~:D  I'm really excited about this.  I
don't think I could do it this upcoming semester, but I want to try for
Spring 2002.  My idea was that all the people taking this class would come
once or twice a week and we'd talk about different topics in Conlanging
(types of verb systems, cases, etc.), and all the while, each student would
be working on his/her own language.  And, of course, they'd share their
languages and their progress, their ideas, etc., and by the end they should
have a working sketch of their own language.  It would be so cool!
    Anyway, I have several questions/requests.
    Is there anyone out there (possibly lurking) that goes to Berkeley that
could/would like to help me teach this class and put together a reader and
plan it, etc.?  I don't think there is, but I hope...
    Also, I'd love it if any of you could type up some sort of paper (2-3
pages, or however long you need) on some aspect of conlanging, like the
sections in the Conlang Book.  Also, I'd like to get some language sketches.
They'd have the basic information in the Conlang Book, but in addition to a
translated sentence, you might include specific aspects of the language that
are interesting, out-of-the-ordinary.  For instance, you could list your verb
conjugations (if you can fit all 7,000 onto a few pages), the types of cases,
the moods, the classifiers, etc.  What I'm hoping for is to be able to put
together a reader that would have a bunch of information on linguistics in
general, topics in language creation, and a ton of example languages.
    Anyway, I'd love some feedback on this.  I have months and months to
plan.  What do you all think?

-David

Replies