On Sunday 05 January 2003 8:10 pm, you wrote:
> Vyko!
>
Haetu, Sale!
Here are the results of the Gevey jury...
> PART I. FOR CELTIC CONLANGERS:
>
> Have you based your conlang(s) wholly or partially on a Celtic language?
> If so, on which? or combined with which?
>
No.
> PART II: INSPIRATION BY TOLKIEN (tangential to the questions on
> inspiration by Celtic languages):
>
> How many of you were inspired to invent a language because of your exposure
> to Tolkien?
>
Tolkein helped to reinforce a process which had started some 3-4 years before
I read him (my first attempts to construct a language took place when I was
about 11).
> How many of you based your conlang on one of Tolkien's languages, or your
> conculture in Middle Earth?
>
No.
> How many of you have a constructed world, and, if so, does it include some
> of the races we associate with Celtic or Scandinavian mythology? (Elves,
> Dwarves, medieval societies of humans, Faeries or Fays? Selkies?
> Wizards?)
>
Yes, I have a constructed world. No, it has not been influenced by Tolkein.
> How many of you were inspired to examine Welsh, Hebrew, or Finnish because
> of your examination of Tolkien?
>
No.
> How many of you were inspired to invent a conlang or a conculture because
> of some influence OTHER than Tolkien?
>
I think that discovering other people spoke languages that were not English
must have triggered an "I'll have a go at that" response in me. I've always
read sf/fantasy books, so conculturing was probably a development of that
influence.
> How many of you were inspired to invent a language because you engage in
> Roll-Playing Games?
>
No.
> How many of you were inspired to invent a language because you heard of
> this listserv?
>
No.
> How many of you are members of the Mythopoeic Society, or the Society for
> Creative Anachronism, or other High Fantasy Groups?
>
???
No.
> 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?
>
I've never actively "avoided" a particular language group. Gevey has been
through a huge number of changes dependent on which "Teach Yourself xxx" type
book or grammar manual I was reading at the time. Some features survived,
some didn't. It's all too much of a slumpie now for me to be able to say
"feature x was directly lifted from language y"
> What is your name and what do you call your conlang?
>
Name: Rik Roots
Language: Gevey
(full details can be found at http://www.kalieda.org/gevey/index.html )
> So what is unappealing about the Indo-European model for conlanging? Or
> Tolkien's Elvish?
>
Nothing - Gevey is unashamedly accusative in nature.
> How did you start conlanging? What was your initial inspiration?
>
(repeated from above)
I think that discovering other people spoke languages that were not English
must have triggered an "I'll have a go at that" response in me. I've always
read sf/fantasy books, so conculturing was probably a development of that
influence.
> Did you know about Tolkien's inventions? Read the books, the appendices?
> etc. Or not?
>
(repeated from above)
Tolkein helped to reinforce a process which had started some 3-4 years before
I read him (my first attempts to construct a language took place when I was
about 11).
> What language types have you modeled your language(s) after?
>
(repeated from above)
Gevey has been through a huge number of changes dependent on which "Teach
Yourself xxx" type book or grammar manual I was reading at the time. Some
features survived, some didn't. It's all too much of a slumpie now for me to
be able to say "feature x was directly lifted from language y"
> What features of these languages or language types appeal to you?
>
All sorts of grammar, in particular the different approaches that can be
taken to convey the same information in different ways. I also like the way a
simple set of grammatical rules can generate a complex method of
communication.
> 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?
>
You mean sound? Gevey has a rather boring collection of English morphemes,
with a touch of Russian thrown in here and there. Sound has not been an
overriding factor in generating the Gevey lexicon
> For how many of you, though, is beauty and/or efficiency a factor in your
> language? Or elegance? How would you define these terms?
>
Efficiency interests me, and I consider the ability to convey (often
detailed) information succinctly to be highly elegant.
> For how many of you is the "exotic" a desired feature of your invented
> language?
>
Gevey has suffered its fair share of experimentation. Noun status, list
conjugations, conjugated conjunctions and the evil things that happen to
relative clauses (a switch case system gone mad) all bear witness.
> How many of you invent a non-human language? And if so, how alien are its
> sounds and constructions?
>
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.)
>
A priori. In its early manifestations Gevey was a relex of English, but only
a dozen or so words survive (eg guess these numbers: onu, drasu, finu, nuunu)
> How many of you invent a language based on a particular type (Ergative,
> Accusative, Trigger, etc.)?
>
Gevey is accusative.
> 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?
>
I expect Gevey would seem quite difficult to others, but it all makes sense
to me.
> To what degree is accessibility, efficiency, and regularity important to
> your conlang? What natural language "faults" are you correcting?
>
There is a high degree of regularity in Gevey (part of its agglutinating
tendancies), but it is not what I would call "accessible". I think it is
quite efficient - sentences in Gevey are not significantly longer than their
English translation.
> How many of you invent logical languages?
>
No.
> How many of you invent IALs?
>
Ha! No!
> How many of you have invented non-Tolkienesque or non European concultures
> and what are they like?
>
Yes. My conculture is founded on a planet (Kalieda) which, despite its
apparent suitability for human colonisation has proved to be largely inimical
to the Terran ecosystem. The concultures surviving on the planet are shaped
by the need to survive, trade and find joy in the hell their forebears built
for them. Technology exists in patches (electricity is known, but not the
internal combustion engine), etc.
> How many of you started out by pulling words out of the air, originally?
>
Yes. But not a suitable solution for the lexicon I required.
> 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.)
>
New Gevey words are generated through a set of rules embedded within a perl
script. 20 potential words are generated at a time, from which a suitable
word will be selected (or not, if none of the 20 pre-words sound "right" to
me).
> 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?
>
It satisfies a need within me.
> 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?
>
I call it an Artlang, now, as that is my way of justifying it. But it can
still be a bit obsessive at times.
> If it is a communicable language, to whom do you speak it?
>
I cannot envisage why anyone would want to learn Gevey. You don't need to be
able to paint sunflowers to appreciate Van Gogh's art.
> 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.
>
I suppose, yes.
> 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.)
>
To me, the maps, the language and its script are all "real".
> 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).
>
It's entirely a mood thing. Even so, to me "tuusrhe" conjours up a vision of
a big dog galloping after a stick.
> 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.)
>
Yes.
(details of my conworld - with more maps than you could shake a stick at -
can be found at http://www.kalieda.org/planet/index.html )
> How many of you have a special script in your conlang?
>
Yes.
> If you use Roman script, how recognizably "phonetic" is your writing
> system? In other words, do you use unconventional letters to represent
> sounds? Why?
>
The latinscript version of Gevey uses 24 letters for 52 "phonemes" (including
dipthongs). q and x are not employed.
> 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?
>
No. Everything is still translated into Gevey. Now the language has finally
settled, this is an ability I intend to develop.
> How many of you sing in your language and have invented songs for that
> purpose?
>
No.
> How many of you started conlanging when you were a teenager and have stuck
> to the same language over many years? Why?
>
Yes. Gevey is the only serious conlang I have attempted (over 26 years to
date).
> 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?
>
No.
> 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).
>
No.
> How many of you can speak your language, at least to yourself and your pet?
> child? spouse? <G> To what extent?
>
No (again, now the language has finally settled, this is an ability I intend
to develop).
> How many of you have put up websites where your language can be showcased?
> If so, what is the website address?
>
Everything you wanted to know about Gevey, Kalieda (and my English poetry)
can be found at http://www.kalieda.org
> How many of you have made soundbytes of your language so the rest of us can
> hear it? If so, give the site.
>
I intend to do this as part of the Teach Yourself Gevey facility that I am
developing.
> 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"?
>
Are you mad? I once presented a poem in Gevey at a poetry workshop. Ick
memory.
> 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?)
>
Not discussed. Not relevant.
> 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?
>
Yes. Response: I've learned more about English through developing my own
language than most English language graduates learn at university.
> PART V: GENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS:
>
> What is your age (optional--and can be general: 30-40, for instance).
>
38
> 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)?
>
Civil servant (though I have been a lab technician, bartender, soldier and
farm labourer in my time)
> What is your gender?
>
Male
> What is your nationality and your native language?
>
English, Estury English
> What natural languages do you speak or have studied?
>
French, German, Spanish - incompetent in all of them.
> 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?
>
People are strange, including me.
> What texts on language and linguistics have you consulted to help invent
> your language?
>
Lots of "teach Yourself" books and non-technical grammars. And the conlang
list.
> Do you know of anyone who has not connected with the Internet or the List
> 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).
>
Apart from Tolkein (a revelation to me) and the people on the Conlang
List/internet, no.
> Can you give me a short sample of your language with interlinear
> description and translation?
>
(from the Babel text - http://www.kalieda.org/gevey/babel.html )
Ónu ye doscisem lez doscathee galn'hietesh Kaliedan huucatheh,
{free clause}
ónu - one [coordinating conjunction, numerical]
doscisme (ye doscisem) - language [direct object]
lez - [continuous completion verb particle]
doscan (lez doscathee) - speak, talk [principal verb]
galn'hiete (ye galn'hiet) - people [causative subject]
Kalieda (ya Kalied) - Kalieda [genetive]
huuc-eh - previously, at that time [adverb]
At that time the people of Kalieda spoke one language
> 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.
>
Feel free
Best wishes
Rik, knee deep.