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Re: ,Language' in language name?

From:Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg.rhiemeier@...>
Date:Tuesday, November 27, 2001, 23:06
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Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> writes:

> Hi! > > How many people's conlang names contain the word for ,language' in > that language? I suspect that's around 100%, right? :-)
Far from that, judging from the material already posted, and indeed mine don't. The meaning of _Germanech_ ought to be obvious, namely "of/pertaining to Germania" (the Germanech name of the country is _Germanje_); _Nur-ellen_ means "Low Elvish". Daniel Andreasson <danielandreasson@...> commented on the issue:
> Could there be a correlation like this? > > developed conculture -> does not contain "language", > but rather a toponym or some word that describes > the people, or similar. > > no conculture -> contains "language", since there > is no culture to refer to.
Well, there might be a correlation. A conculture means a source of language names, and be it the name of the country where the language is spoken or the name of the people who speak it; without a conculture, one has no other source for a name than the bare bones of the language itself (if in doubt, use the language's word for "language"). But as always, there are exceptions to the rule. I think the correlation is significant, but not too strong. And then, there are conlangs without a name in the language itself. My own projects often start with an "external" name assigned to it, especially as long as it's little more than a cloud of ideas and I can't say what the fictional speakers call it. For example, I still don't know much about what Macaronesian (a sister language of Nur-ellen) will look like, let alone what the Macaronesians call their language; hence I simply call it "Macaronesian", after a little-used term for the Canary, Azores, Madeira and Cape Verde Islands where the language is spoken in an alternative timeline. Some day, I will know what the Macaronesians call their own language, and then I shall use that name. Jörg. .

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Padraic Brown <agricola@...>