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Re: IAL Re: another new language to check out

From:Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>
Date:Friday, July 2, 2004, 17:50
On Thursday, July 1, 2004, at 02:55 , And Rosta wrote:

> Ray:
[snip]
>> Why do people create artlangs, loglangs, engelangs etc.? > > Mainly because of the creative impulse that motivates art or > design. It's harder to believe that is the impulse for > creating IALs, though,
Why? I can assure you the creative impulse was the main impulse when I was creating AIALs and remained so even while I joined Auxlang.
> because, as I said originally, it > is hard to understand what creative satisfaction is to > be had from creating something that is pretty indistinguishable > from innumerable other instances of the same genre. Hence my > bemusement & my question.
Yes, but you create is different - you put your own personal stamp on it. Also, it's a bit like the old alchemists' quest for the philosopher's stone. Many have tried & singularly failed, so why try since it looks impossible? There's always the hope that your solution has just that little extra and that you've discovered the secret of the stone. So with AIALS; yes, one knows there have been, literally, hundreds of attempts and one ought to see that it's hopeless. But you're driven by the hope that you've found the magic ingredient so that your AIAL catches on where all the others failed. Well, a spell on Auxlang and its internecine squabbles got that out of my system but I do not deny others their quest for the philosopher's stone of interlinguistics, even tho I think it will prove as in vain as that of the alchemists of old. [snip]
>>> ................. Nor do I understand why IALs are published >>> with the usual IAL message: "this IAL is the solution to >>> the usual problems IALs are touted as solutions to, and it >>> is better than other IALs". >> >> Ah, but that's practically mandatory in Auxland. > > *Why*, though.
Because you hope that you have found the philosopher's stone of interlinguistics :)
> Even if IALism is a kind of harmless lunacy, why is > it such a prevalent one, and why are the symptoms of the syndrome > so consistent across different manifestations?
Why did generations of alchemists spend so much time seeking the philosopher's stone? Hope for the big break, I guess. Isn't this why Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof chose the pseudonym of 'Doktoro Esperanto'? [snip]
>> ================================================ >> On Wednesday, June 30, 2004, at 06:49 , Adam Walker wrote: >> >>> --- And Rosta <a.rosta@...> wrote: >>>> -- a kind of >>>> elective >>>> blindness to Reason, akin in nature to religious >>>> Faith? >>>> >>>> --And. >>> >>> And, I find this highly offensive. Faith is not >>> "elective blindness to Reason". >> >> Offensive? Yes, indeed, if I could take it seriously. But I found it >> silly >> and, in view of the well-known religious allegiances of many members of >> this list (and And has been here longer than I and ought to be even more >> aware of them), very insensitive. > [...] > I feel I can't really address your discussion of faith, because it would > be so off topic. Let me just say that if I were to reply at length on > this point, I would defend what I said, argue that it is not > inconsistent with much of what you said,
I guess it would be best for everyone if we drew a line under this. Ray =============================================== http://home.freeuk.com/ray.brown ray.brown@freeuk.com (home) raymond.brown@kingston-college.ac.uk (work) =============================================== "A mind which thinks at its own expense will always interfere with language." J.G. Hamann, 1760