Re: An Idea (Hopefully Non-offensive)

Self-indulgently, I quote the entirety of David Bell's message:
> > At 1:20 am -0400 24/4/01, David Peterson wrote:
> > [snip]
> > >    Why don't we have a competition?
> > >    Let's all create a universal auxilliary language and then
> > send to a group
> > >of us to judge (since putting them up on e-mails would be long,
> > tedious and
> > >impractical).
>
> <mounting soapbox>
> I have salted my previous responses to this thread with a pinch of subtle
> sarcasm, but seriously folks.  Can we really propose "Let's all create a
> universal auxilliary (sic) language" with the same alacrity that we might
> suggest "Let's all make a ham sandwich?"  To do so either overestimates the
> complexity of ham sandwich construction or underestimates the complexity of
> language.  Surely it is this complexity that brings us to this list and to
> this avocation.  If I could create a language in a few days or even a few
> weeks time, I would quickly tire of this most unchallenging enterprise.
> But, on the contrary, it has kept me interestedly occupied for a great many
> years now.
>
> If we are talking here merely of "language sketches" rather than
> "languages", then I would be hard pressed to determine by what standards
> these might be judged.  Sketches, and certainly sketches a mere few days
> developed, would inevitably leave too many incomplete avenues of exploration
> to be properly judged.  Would or should Esperanto be judged purely on the
> basis of Zamenhof's "16 Rules?"  I would think not.  Would the subtleties of
> a Tepa or a Tokana that make them conlang classics be evident in premature
> sketches or only in their evolution to maturity.  While sketches may offer
> promise, it would seem a difficult task to distinguish one promise from
> another.
>
> I don't mean to rain on David's parade here, but I find it mildly
> disparaging to suggest that this "Secret Vice" of ours is so easily sated.
> Be it an auxlang, artlang or loglang, it aint a -lang after a mere few days.
> <dismounting soapbox>
... just because I agree with it so wholeheartedly.

BTW, David's Amman Iar Reference Grammar fully deserves to be mentioned
alongside Tepa and Tokana, tho of course he'd be too modest to say so
himself.

--And.

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