Re: CHAT: The Conlang Instinct

Sally Caves wrote:
> I don't really think any of this is synaesthesia, though.  Isn't this
> just the age-old creative process that allows us to turn abstractions
> into human form
I'd call it a form of synethesia, at least from what I understand of the
phenomenon.  I don't think it's just a creative process.  I suppose if I
worked at it, I could come up with a set of associations for each
number, but they wouldn't be consistent.  If I wrote them down and then
lost it, and came up with associations again, they'd be very different.

> It strikes me that true synaesthesia is even more dramatic: experiencing
> sounds from a musical instrument tactilely, or olfactorily, or as
> brilliant colors seen in the head?
Why can't synesthesia have degrees, like any other mental phenomenon?
I'd call that just a more extreme form of synesthesia than what you've
described for yourself.  Either that, or people like me who don't
display what you've described have some sort of "anti-synesthesia"!  :-)

> As for whether any of these creative and burdensome gifts are components
> in conlanging, I simply don't know, but it's an interesting question.
Not necessary components, at least.

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