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CHAT: Phoebe's auxlang

From:Daniel Andreasson <noldo@...>
Date:Friday, February 5, 1999, 14:23
I was watching an old episode of 'Friends' this afternoon and =
incidentally it happened to be episode six from season four. Suddenly I =
hear something that I've never noticed before. Here is the set:

----------------
[cut to a new scene, also in Monica and Rachel's apartment. Rachel is =
sitting, Phoebe is nearby.]=20

Phoebe: Ooo, a crossword! Can I help?=20

Rachel: No! I'm sorry, honey, it's just that last week I got all but =
three answers and I really want to finish a whole one without any help.=20

Phoebe: Fine. But you can't help me develop my new universal language.=20
----------------

Phoebe is developing an Auxlang! I have just got a new favourite =
character in that tv-show!=20

I really wonder what a language developed by Phoebe would look like, =
though. Probably no gender, or she might use feminine as default and add =
a suffix to mark masculinity. It would probably include lots of words =
that we didn't know we needed until we heard them, and a rich system for =
colours as well. The first word in Phoebelang would probably be =
"transcendental" and a lot of derivatives from it, which we probably =
cannot even imagine. I'm really curious about the word order, though. =
Phoebe's way of expressing things can sometimes be quite odd, which =
leads to the conclusion that word order is free and Phoebelang has lots =
of cases. It surely has a particularly easy way of expressing imperative =
("Get your ass back here,  Tribbiani!!!") and lots of uncommon verbal =
moods and aspects, to reflect Phoebe's personality.

Hmm... This looks more like a conlang, than like an auxlang. But since =
Phoebe is the creator I guess there's nothing weird about that. She =
probably just want people to be able to think more like her, to get them =
to understand her better.

Any comments on this rather unusual matter? :)

/ Daniel Andreasson