On Sun, 5 Jan 2003 15:10:24 -0500 Sally Caves <scaves@...>
writes:
> 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?
i was.
> How many of you based your conlang on one of Tolkien's languages, or
> your
> conculture in Middle Earth?
i based two my first three conlangs on Tolkien's languages.
> 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?)
yep. elves, dwarves, and wizards.
> How many of you were inspired to examine Welsh, Hebrew, or Finnish
> because
> of your examination of Tolkien?
i decided to try to learn finnish.
> How many of you were inspired to invent a conlang or a conculture
> because of
> some influence OTHER than Tolkien?
i was (one of my friends at school invented a conlang, but i don't know
much about it)
> How many of you were inspired to invent a language because you
> engage in
> Roll-Playing Games?
not me
> How many of you were inspired to invent a language because you heard
> of this
> listserv?
not me. i invented several languages before i heard of this listserv.
> How many of you are members of the Mythopoeic Society, or the
> Society for
> Creative Anachronism, or other High Fantasy Groups?
not me
> 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?
my name is Robert Wilson. some of my conlangs are M@nERau, Senoi,
Kamele, Funarja, Kono, Kontoko, Kinsi Rorotan, Rolexxaghe, Latuko, Nvwl,
<that language with only vowels, i can't remember the name of it>,
Gweðes, and Dgsrdmaphkaskrht.
> So what is unappealing about the Indo-European model for conlanging?
> Or
> Tolkien's Elvish?
nothing that i know of...
> How did you start conlanging? What was your initial inspiration?
Tolkien
> Did you know about Tolkien's inventions? Read the books, the
> appendices?
> etc. Or not?
yep
> What language types have you modeled your language(s) after?
IE and Tolkien's languages, but Kontoko and Kinsi Rorotan are completely
a priori. Dgsrdmaphkaskrht is largely inspired by Maggel.
> What features of these languages or language types appeal to you?
i know IE and Tolkien's languages relatively well.
> 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?
What in angamando is "mellifluous"?
> For how many of you, though, is beauty and/or efficiency a factor in
> your
> language? Or elegance? How would you define these terms?
well, efficiency is definitely a factor in Kontoko and beauty is a factor
in Kinsi Rorotan.
> For how many of you is the "exotic" a desired feature of your
> invented
> language?
it is definitely a desired feature of Kontoko, Kinsi Rorotan, and
Dgsrdmaphkaskrht.
> How many of you invent a non-human language? And if so, how alien
> are its
> sounds and constructions?
i've invented one non-human language (Rolexxaghe). the only really alien
part about it is the fact that it has a glottal trill.
> 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.)
i do both, but i think a priori languages are definitely much more fun.
> How many of you invent a language based on a particular type
> (Ergative,
> Accusative, Trigger, etc.)?
i usually make languages that are either ergative or accusative, but
Kontoko is a mixture of both.
> 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?
it depends on the language. Kontoko is designed to have a very irregular
grammatical system, Dgsrdmaphkaskrht is designed to have a very irregular
orthography, and Kinsi Rorotan has some very strange uses for the case
that i call "dative".
> To what degree is accessibility, efficiency, and regularity
> important to
> your conlang? What natural language "faults" are you correcting?
Kono is completely regular because conhistorically it was developed as an
IAL.
> How many of you invent logical languages?
not me
> How many of you invent IALs?
only the one that is part of the conhistory that i've created.
> How many of you have invented non-Tolkienesque or non European
> concultures
> and what are they like?
i have invented a non-Tokienesque and non-European conculture, but it
would take a very long time to describe it (and i want to get to bed at a
reasonable hour tonight - i have to go to school tomorrow)
> How many of you started out by pulling words out of the air,
> originally?
not me
> How many of you have chosen a more methodic form of vocabulary
> building?
not me
> 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.)
i try to make words that sound like what they mean.
> 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's fun!
> 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?
all of the above <G>
> If it is a communicable language, to whom do you speak it?
people who think they're smart
> 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.)
i don't quite understand the question.
> This is a difficult question: how is it that a word sounds "right"
> to you?
i have no idea.
> We recently discussed this. To what extent are you finding righter,
> better
> words for the world in your conlang? (Perhaps unanswerable).
not much
> 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.)
i've done most of them, too.
> How many of you have a special script in your conlang?
me
> If you use Roman script, how recognizably "phonetic" is your writing
> system?
for Kontoko, the roman orthography is completely phonemic (like the
native script), and therefore not very recognizably phonetic. for
Dgsrdmaphkaskrht, the orthography is almost not recognizably phonetic at
all. most of my other conlangs have very recognizably phonetic writing
systems.
> In other words, do you use unconventional letters to represent
> sounds?
yes
> Why?
because it's fun
> 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?
i write poems, songs, and stories in some of my languages.
> How many of you sing in your language and have invented songs for
> that
> purpose?
i have.
> How many of you started conlanging when you were a teenager and have
> stuck
> to the same language over many years? Why?
i'm a teenager now, so i guess this question doesn't really apply to
me...
> How many of you change conlangs regularly, developing structures for
> many
> languages but not sticking with any one for very long? Why?
i develop structures for many languages and stick with most of them
(that's how i end up having five conlangs that i'm working on at a time)
> 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?
not for me
> 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).
that was what i originally made my first conlang (m@nERau) for this
purpose.
> How many of you can speak your language, at least to yourself and
> your pet?
> child? spouse? <G> To what extent?
i can speak Kontoko and Kinsi Rorotan very well, but AFAIK no one else
can speak either of them.
> How many of you have put up websites where your language can be
> showcased?
> If so, what is the website address?
http://kuvazokad.free.fr/ (a little outdated, i haven't put up stuff
about Dgsrdmaphkaskrht yet and it seems that ms word put a line through
most of it - i really have to start from scratch and do it right some
time)
> How many of you have made soundbytes of your language so the rest of
> us can
> hear it? If so, give the site.
not me (i would, but my computer doesn't have a working sound card right
now)
> 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"?
i talked to some of my friends and they thought it was really cool that i
could actually make a language that could be used for communication.
> 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?)
>
> 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?
"conlangs are real languages."
> PART V: GENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS:
>
> What is your age (optional--and can be general: 30-40, for
> instance).
17
> 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)?
high-school student
intended major: computer science
> What is your gender?
male
> What is your nationality and your native language?
US, english
> What natural languages do you speak or have studied?
speak: spanish
have studied: old english, finnish, hungarian, latin
can read but not write or speak: most romance and germanic languages,
some other IE languages
plan to study in the future: japanese, hawaiian
> How many of you have chosen a profession in linguistics because of
> your
> interest in inventing languages? Or plan a profession in
> linguistics?
i plan to minor in linguistics, does that count?
> What have you learned from conlanging?
a lot about languages...
> What texts on language and linguistics have you consulted to help
> invent
> your language?
a lot...
> 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).
one of my friends was drawing in a notebook and writing things in IPA and
i asked him what he was doing. he said that he was making a language.
this was about half a year before i made my first conlang and i haven't
talked to him about it since then.
> Can you give me a short sample of your language with interlinear
> description
> and translation?
i can, but i don't have the time to give samples of all the conlangs that
i'm working on.
> 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.
of course not.
> Ev send poto, yry poy poy firrimby!
???
> Sally Caves
Robert Wilson
han_solo55@juno.com
http://kuvazokad.free.fr/