> > PART III: NON-CELTIC CONLANGERS:
> >
> > In the discussions I've witnessed on Conlang in almost five years, I've
> > observed that many conlangers have deliberately avoided "Tolkienesque"
> > languages, and even Indo-European languages as models for conlangs, and
> > especially the "Celtic." Why? Boring? Overdone? Trite? Too pretty?
> > Too Western? Or none of the above--just more interested in something
else?
> > <G> I don't want to give the impression that I think we conlang only
> > because of Tolkien, and that anything we invent has to be INSPIRED BY or
a
> > DEPARTURE from the "Great One"; but in this question I'm eager to see
some
> > eschewal of or at least indifference towards the Tolkien, the "Celtic,"
> > and/or even the Indo-European model.
> >
> > What is your name and what do you call your conlang?
Michael Poxon, Omeina.
> > How did you start conlanging? What was your initial inspiration?
> Started at age 12. Just wanted to do it. I've always been
interested in languages.
> > Did you know about Tolkien's inventions? Read the books, the
appendices?
> > etc. Or not?
>
> No, didn't read them till age 25.
>
> > What language types have you modeled your language(s) after?
Basque.
>
> > What features of these languages or language types appeal to you?
> 'Primitive' sound, orthography (I know it's 'unscientific', but it's
the answer), and general exotic grammar. All those tx's and k's! Generally
the fact that between French and Spanish, whose speakers consider themselves
thoroughly modern and the epitome of civilisation, you have this wonderfully
unique language and culture. And I just love ergativity.
> >
> > Some of you, and I'm thinking in particular of a conversation I had with
And
> > Rosta, are not interested in producing a language that is
> > "mellifluous"--that "mellifluousness" is a thing to be avoided in your
> > conlang and especially as it is associated with Tolkien's Elvish or
copiers
> > of Elvish. Is this so? Why?
>
> No. I don't think I could get inside a language that wasn't beautiful to
me. I can't deny, however, that Tolkien strengthened this trait.
>
> > For how many of you, though, is beauty and/or efficiency a factor in
your
> > language? Or elegance? How would you define these terms?
>
> Beauty is everything. It's like someone said about jazz, if you need to
ask what it is, you can't see it. Beauty can only be experienced. Not sure
about elegance; it sort of conveys the idea of neatness (to a proof, for
example, or the design of something). I don't like language to be too
elegant, or it ceases to be 'human'. That's why I don't like auxlangs.
>
> > For how many of you is the "exotic" a desired feature of your invented
> > language?
>
> A very important part, but again, not so exotic that it stops being a
language and starts becoming an (elegant?) intellectual exercise.
>
> No.
> > Do you prefer inventing an a posteriori language or an a priori
language?
> > In other words, how many of you invent a language wherein you base it
> > closely on a natural language (Arabic, Tagalog) or a combination of
> > languages, and how many others of you invent a language from, well,
scratch?
> > (if that can be done.)
>
> Kinda halfway between the two - a mediani
>
> > How many of you invent a language based on a particular type (Ergative,
> > Accusative, Trigger, etc.)?
>
> Ergative.
>
> > To what degree is difficulty and irregularity of language important to
you
> > in your conlang? what natural language eccentricities (or efficiencies)
do
> > you like and try to reproduce?
>
> Omeina is actually very regular, but a lot of people would consider it
difficult because of incorporating subject and object pronouns, multitude of
suffixes, peculiar structures generated by ergativity, and so on. I don't
have to reproduce eccentricities and irregularities; they are evloving
already!
>
> > To what degree is accessibility, efficiency, and regularity important to
> > your conlang? What natural language "faults" are you correcting?
>
> I'm putting a teach yourself Omeina course on the net (up to lesson 4 so
far). Efficiency sucks (as regards language - it's great for car engines
though) and I wouldn't want to correct the 'faults' of any language, quite
the reverse.
>
> > How many of you invent logical languages?
>
> Yuck.
>
> > Megayuck.
>
>
> > How many of you have invented non-Tolkienesque or non European
concultures
> > and what are they like?
>
> Well, the auleri aren't strictly invented but (for the same reason as
Tolkien) they are quite 'Elvish', literally.
>
> > How many of you started out by pulling words out of the air, originally?
> > How many of you have chosen a more methodic form of vocabulary building?
> > I.e., how have you gone about setting up the framework for your words
and
> > your grammar?
> > (I started out pulling words out of the air.)
>
> Some words just have to be. I distinctly remember the Omeina word for
'horse', Engu, for some reason suggests the long face of a horse to me.
Definitely synaesthesia. Another word is elde, meaning 'late evening when
the first bright stars appear'. It just sounds sort of quiet and clear blue.
> > PART IV: THE LUNATIC SURVEY REVISITED (because we are all "fous du
> > langage," according to Yaguello and other French critics.
> >
> > Why do you conlang? Who will speak it? Read it? What's the point?
What's
> > the beauty? what's the intellectual draw?
>
> Pure art. So it's there for whoever wants it. But like all art, it soon
develops a real ('biological') life of its own. In some ways the lack of
point is the beauty. Painting is art that uses lines and colours; poetry is
art that uses words, so inventing a language is art that uses a language
structure itself, but it's a kind of poetry. See next question for the same
answer.
> > To what would you compare a conlang? Is it a miniature? Is it a model?
Is
> > it a tapestry? Is it an act of obsession and madness? <G> Or is it a
> > communicable language?
>
> > If it is a communicable language, to whom do you speak it?
>
> Anyone who wants to listen! Good to use for effect, and when you want to
pretend to be foreign but don't want to speak (say) Russian because the
person you're speaking to might just turn out to be fluent in it!
>
> > To what extent is the opacity or "alterity" of your language something
that
> > pleases you? In other words, the sounds and the script have, even for
you,
> > a quality of being foreign, and this delights.
> > Comment? (I know that when I make maps of cities, and imagine myself in
> > them, they delight me because they are both familiar and foreign at the
same
> > time.)
>
> It's a big personal pleasure, yes.
> > This is a difficult question: how is it that a word sounds "right" to
you?
> > We recently discussed this. To what extent are you finding righter,
better
> > words for the world in your conlang? (Perhaps unanswerable).
>
Not easy to answer. But the words will find me, not the reverse.
> > How many of you are fictive map-makers, designers of fictive floor
plans,
> > fictive yachts, fictive star-ships, world-builders, calligraphers,
> > cartoonists, etc.? (These pursuits have been associated with
conlanging. I
> > 've done most of them.)
>
> Calligrapher, but not necessarily to do with conlanging. I used to teach
it.
> > How many of you have a special script in your conlang?
>
> Possibly. I think it's a syllabary. But Omeina isn't really a written
language.
>
> > If you use Roman script, how recognizably "phonetic" is your writing
system?
> > In other words, do you use unconventional letters to represent sounds?
> > Why?
>
> Totally phonemic. The phoneme inventory is smaller than English, and the
phonology is more restrictive (say more Quenya than Sindarin)
> > This is a question Heather asked, but I also asked it four years ago:
how
> > many of you write in your language? What do you write?
>
> Poetry, songs. Also I like to translate silly things like the advice on
shampoo bottles.
> > How many of you sing in your language and have invented songs for that
> > purpose?
>
> I would if I knew the auleri musical modes.
> > How many of you started conlanging when you were a teenager and have
stuck
> > to the same language over many years? Why?
>
> Just before teenage years, but big gaps have existed from then till now
(age 50)
> > How many of you change conlangs regularly, developing structures for
many
> > languages but not sticking with any one for very long? Why?
>
No.
> > For how many of you does your language function as a spiritual
instrument?
> > This is a deeply personal question--let me give you an example. When I
> > first started inventing "Tayonian" in my early teens, what I wrote were
> > spells and prayers. They had a talismanic quality. Does that ring a
bell
> > for anybody?
>
> Most definitely, but along with other art forms as well.
> > For how many of you was your language at least at one stage of its
making
> > meant to fool others, or to write secret diaries? (Me, waving my hand).
>
> Not me.
>
> > How many of you can speak your language, at least to yourself and your
pet?
> > child? spouse? <G> To what extent?
>
> Depends what you want to say. I can't say to my 14-yr-old "Turn the volume
down on that $%^^!?* playstation".
>
> > How many of you have put up websites where your language can be
showcased?
> > If so, what is the website address?
>
http://freespace.virgin.net/m.poxon/omeina/start.htm
> > How many of you have made soundbytes of your language so the rest of us
can
> > hear it? If so, give the site.
>
> Not yet, but coming.
>
> > How many of you are comfortable talking to your boss, your professors,
your
> > family members about this pursuit? How many of you have received
> > condescending or other negative responses to your disclosure? (I have.)
Or
> > even been called "pathological"?
>
> Not worth it, cos so few people know about my secret vice (or conlanging!)
But I'd quite like to make the inventing of a language an element in the
teaching of basic linguistics.
>
> > If this attitude is changing, to what do you attribute the change? (On
New
> > Year's Eve, a delightful, elderly gentleman could not understand why I
would
> > be interested in this pursuit. What purpose could it serve?)
> > Don't think the attitude is changing. There are a lot of Parish's out
there and very few Smiths.
> > For how many of you is the damning statement "better to learn real
languages
> > than invent private ones" a criticism you have encountered? What would
be
> > your response to such a remark?
>
> You can do both. I don't think there can be many conlangers who don't
speak at least one foreign language.
>
> > PART V: GENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS:
> >
> > What is your age (optional--and can be general: 30-40, for instance).
>
> 50
> > What is your profession or your station in life (i.e., if you are a
student,
> > what is your MAJOR; if a middle or high-school student, what is your
> > intended major)?
>
> Website designer / astronomer (but qualified linguist too)
> > What is your gender?
>
> Male.
>
> > What is your nationality and your native language?
>
> English (both)
>
> > What natural languages do you speak or have studied?
>
> Welsh, Hungarian, Basque, French, Dutch, German, Breton. Some Greek and
Latin.
> > How many of you have chosen a profession in linguistics because of your
> > interest in inventing languages? Or plan a profession in linguistics?
>
> No.
>
> > What have you learned from conlanging?
>
> The wonderful variety of linguistic structures, both natural and invented.
> > What texts on language and linguistics have you consulted to help invent
> > your language?
>
> None overtly, but writers read at Uni (Benveniste, Berlin & Kay, Friedrich
among others) have been influential.
> > Do you know of anyone who has not connected with the Internet or the Lis
t
> > who has invented a language? (I'm firmly convinced that "conlanging" has
> > been a private pursuit for many people long before the list started, but
> > that the list has increased its visibility as an art).
>
> No
> > Can you give me a short sample of your language with interlinear
description
> > and translation?
>
> Elandúna Omeina Ruskuladea dari!
elanduna / Omeina / rusku-la-de-a / da-ri
welcome : Omeina : net - place - my - locative : I(subj) - you(obj)
Welcome to my Omeina website! (Lit. I welcome you to my Omeina website)
>
> > Would you object to my mentioning your conlang/and or your name in my
talk?
> > I will be discreet about some of the more personal questions you
answered.
>
> Certainly not, and what's to be discreet about already? Good luck!
Mikchael Poxon