Conculture shock (was: I may not be a bearded, left-handed, gay Lithuanian, but...)

Hi all,

On Tue, 30 May 2006, Philip Newton wrote:
>
> On 5/30/06, Mark J. Reed <...> wrote:
> > Even if you don't actually remember
> > enough of what you've studied to say "hi" to the next ancient Etruscan
> > you meet...
>
> Heh... speaking of ancient Etruscans, I occasionally wonder what would
> happen if a couple of inhabitants of someone's conworld were somehow
> stranded on Earth and tried to make contact with that person -- how
> well the language's "creator" would be able to converse with these
> travellers :)
>
> Would he have to stop at "hello"? Be able to converse slowly but have
> to reach for his dictionary frequently? Be able to carry on a fluent
> conversation?
Exactly ... great plot idea for a story!  Hey, I feel
a film script coming on.


> Not to mention - would he seize the opportunity and squeeze those
> informants for all they're worth? :) "I've always wondered how to
> express <construction>; I've thought of <alternatives A, B, and C>,
> but none of them feels satisfactory. What *is* the way that it's
> expressed in <language>?" or "What's the difference between <two words
> that have the same English gloss, for some reason or other>?" are just
> two things that come to my mind.
Yep, Philip, you've hit the nail on the head ...
I have a little confession to make - ever since
I had that weird dream in which I met the
Uiama Makpo (detailed on this list some months
back), I've been trying to go back to "Planet X"
in another dream.  But it seems my "lucid
dreaming" ability is largely in abeyance at
present, and I've had to resort to filling some
gaps in my knowledge thru ... um - "linguistic
reconstruction".  Nup, that won't wash, people
won't buy that, since I've already told you that
Uiama has no known cognates, and since it's
current, you'd think they'd've mentioned their
cousins who spoke some wierd daughter language.
OK, I've filled some of the gaps in this artlang -
LOGICALLY!  There, now my dirty little secret
is out.  But they're(*) really a very logical sort
of people, so it's not that unreasonable.

(*) see, we DO use "they're"!

Regards,
Yahya

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