Re: CHAT: General Question

Hi! My full name is David Lucas Robert Stokes (middle two names optional -
but given the David abundance I may start using them here). I was born and
raised near Austin, Texas and I'm now living in Bloomington, Indiana. I'm
34 years old, and engaged to be married.

I have a bachelors degree in Astronomy from the University of Texas. Since
then I've studied philosophy in various places. Now I work as a Unix
systems administrator (which pays better than philosophy).

My first language is US English (hypercorrected away from my
father's Texas accent). I speak Russian, and German (although out of
practice), a little Czech (language of most of my grandparents) and am
teaching myself some Japanese and Mongolian (very little progress so far).

I don't have much formal linguistic training, but have long been fascinated
by languages. Much of that interest can be traced to reading Tolkien as a
youth, which led to an interest in language, writing systems, and
calligraphy.

My conlang projects include: Diom (inflected, possibly Romance sounding,
available for viewing at
http://www.bloomington.in.us/~dstokes/diom_intro.html ),
niKomba / neSija (Bantu-like noun catagory prefixes),
Dansilh (ergative, agglutinative, lateral fricatives),
and a yet un-named alternate English sans Norman.

My musical tastes are varied. I listen to the classical radio station and
my favorite composers are Stravinsky, Barber, Copland, Beethoven, Mahler,
and 19th Cent. Russians (ask tomorrow and get a different list). I like
progressive rock, bands like ELP, early Genesis, Yes, Anglagard, Jethro
Tull. Also Medieval music. And African music. And Tuvan Khoomei
throat-singing. I considered becoming a voice major, but decided I could
sing in choirs as an amateur. I've been part of several choirs and early
music ensembles.

Well, that should just about do it. And yes, I am keeping these. I'll look
back over them and try to learn who everyone on this list is.

David Lucas Robert Stokes