Re: An Idea (Hopefully Non-offensive)

> From: Raymond Brown
>
> 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).
>
> Yep - but that's the problem.  As Rick Harrison so rightly observed, the
> auxlang world is competitive.  Each auxlanger thinks his/her
> project is the
> best & the others defective in some way or other - and the result
> is flames.
>
> And one thing you can bet your bottom dollar on is that there'll be no
> agreement about the criteria of how to judge the languages.
<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>

That said, I eagerly await the list of entries in this proposed contest.
The collective linguistic genius of this list continues to amaze me.  Maybe
this bunch can create languages in days.  What do I know?

David

David E. Bell
The Gray Wizard
www.graywizard.net

Wisdom begins in wonder.

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