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Re: One language for the world

From:Barry Garcia <barry_garcia@...>
Date:Thursday, June 8, 2000, 11:48
CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU writes:

Thanks for the explanation Mathaias (sp?). I never really knew how the
language was created, because most site i've found just have some phrases
and a primer on it.

>to learn and that's why there is very little written in B. except for a >host >of legal stuff. the vocabulary is really messy now because people >use their own local vocabulary and don't know whether a local word is >also regular B. or not.
The funny thing I find about the use of Pilipino in common use is people dont use it by itself yet (My friend Ann, who is fluent in Tagalog says she hates that). I watch this morning show from the Philippines occasionally (called Alas Singko y Medya (5:30)), and while they use lots of Tagalog, they still use a lot of English phrases (the weather girl often does this). So, the use of pure Pilipino hasnt stuck. I Honestly dont think it will for anywhere but in education and Government, and business. I don't see people in my grandfather's town in Aklan making much use of it :).
> >OBCONLANG: >I think that B. is a good example of an auxlang experiment. >B. is easier than any other available lang including English, >the vocabulary is pretty large and mixes Arabic and Indian words >understood everywhere in the region. >but people would rather learn English because it is spoken by rich >foreigners. >you can make your own auxlang just as difficult as you want-- >as French, Russian, Latin, etc.-- provided it is the richest ones'. >or else make sure your people can't access rich countries' langs.
This seems to be the case with the Philippines. English and Spanish are considered the languages of aristocracy, business, education, etc. and at least with my relatives, they like speaking English (English is considered a second official language there). Also, most foreigners that visit already know English, so Filipinos probably feel English is more important than Pilipino (also, most may feel they wont really go anywhere else but stick to their region, so they really wont need to learn Pilipino except in school). I'm not really sure if what I have said is the actual case (perhaps the other Filipinos on the list can affirm or correct me), so take my opinion with a grain of salt :). ________________________________________________ All the simple things are simply too complicated for my life