Re: Odd Idea

Sounds a bit like Shelta and the Travellers in Ireland. One theory I'd
read about them is that they stem from families who were dispossesed
of their homes (for whatever reason) and took to life on the road.

I'm not too familliar with what the language is composed of, but it's
a good bet that Irish and English make up a fair portion of the
vocabulary. I _think_ the grammar was essentially English. I'm sure
this university had some (or at least _a_) book on the topic: I'll
try looking it up, if you're interested.

They don't quite follow your steps (I think their language developped
more to keep away Outsiders than as a game); and, of course, they
don't have a homeland per se.

Padraic.

On Mon, 10 Jul 2000, Markus Miekk-oja wrote:

>I got this odd idea, though I don't know if it is the least realistic.
>
>I've got to give a scenario:
>
>Quite suddenly (historically that is), in some medieval country, alot of
>people abandon
>their homes and begin a life on the roads, living in tents or wagons. Most
>of these are young
>men and women who have been thrown out of their communities ( due to some
>odd wave of
>superstition, perhaps? ) among these, a sort of language-game evolves, not
>intended to transfer
>information from speaker to speaker, merely just to make others believe it
>actually is a language.
>