Re: News from the Island of Kalu

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:06:58 -0700, Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:

>Za eyani! Andin kisa da rayse.
"Be well!  This news is bad."

>A devastating eruption of the mighty volcano A'Tuin,
>named for the legendary hero of the Kalusan people,
>has destroyed much of the Great Library at Kalumani,
>once the treasured respository of nearly 1800 Kalusa
>sentences. Of this vast linguistic storehouse a scant
>700 sentences survived the destruction.
>
>Now the few surviving Kalusans struggle to rebuild
>what was lost of their unique language. It is hoped
>that out of the ashes a greater, more expressive
>Kalusa will rise like the mighty Phoenix.
>
>Will Kalusa become an extinct conlang, or will it
>survive and grow? Only time will tell. Witness history
>in the making at http://kalusa.fiziwig.com
>
>(This message brought to you by the Kalusan Ministry
>of Linguistics.)
>
>--gary
>=========================================================================
*Here* in OurTimeLine 70,000 to 75,000 years ago a RealLive "SuperVolcano"
erupted -- or maybe that should be, "a volcano 'supererupted'" -- under
Lake Toba on Sumatra in Indonesia. (? do I have that right?  Maybe
it's "Tosa").  (That was about 71,500 BCE or about 72,000 BCE).

(Or maybe it didn't).

It spread a cloud of sulphuric acid that reduced the amount of sunlight
reaching the Earth's surface for 50 years, and triggered a "mini-Ice Age"
that lasted 1000 years.  (Or maybe it didn't).

It reduced the Earth's human population by 40%, or to about 10,000
individuals.  (Or didn't). (This event is one of those called "a population
bottleneck", but ordinarily a "population bottleneck" refers to a die-off
of 50% or more of the population.  Perhaps I have that percentage wrong?)

Was the recent event in Kalu similar?

-----
eldin