Re: A proposal to bring together the conlang communities
From: | Herman Miller <hmiller@...> |
Date: | Thursday, January 31, 2008, 4:11 |
ROGER MILLS wrote:
> No need to mention specific conlangs/conlangers. But there should be
> links to the various compendia-- Langmaker springs to mind, but it's
> hardly a complete list, and I don't know if there's anything comparable.
> A really "complete" list would be very desirable*; and links to the
> various fora-- Conlang, ZBB, Auxlang, the various Wikis et al.; Spanish
> Ideolengua and any other non-Anglophone lists that exist, etc. And the
> LCS of course.
> --------------------
> *A "complete" list may not be possible, given our productivity; I recall
> that various Conlang members have produced good lists in the past, but
> such a list needs constant updating, and who will be in charge of that?
> By the way, would it be possible to have such a list (at the listserv? a
> ref. to be sent to every new member?) of all the languages devised by
> the members, past and present?
A "complete" list of my langs (I can only speak for myself, but others
may have similar experiences) would be of little interest, as it would
include many abandoned projects (some little more than crude sketches).
One thing about having a conworld with concultures is that there are
always other cultures nearby with their own languages, and it can be
useful to have a vague idea of what those langs are like (without
necessarily developing them into a usable language). As I've revised the
worlds (Azir is the third major revision), many of the ideas from the
old worlds become obsolete. And while I was a student, creating new
languages was one of the ways I made use of the time between (or during)
classes; I ended up with quite a few ideas for languages that never went
anywhere.
There's also the question of boundaries between languages as they
develop -- is Ludireo a "dialect" of Eklektu, or a new language? Are
Tirelat and Czirehlat one language or two? (I think Ludireo should be
considered a distinct language because of the total revision of the
grammar, even though many words were retained from Eklektu, but
Czirehlat is just a specific "version" of Tirelat. On the other hand,
even though Lindiga shares a large part of its vocabulary and grammar
with Minza, I think of it as a distinct language.)