Re: ,Language' in language name?
| From: | Padraic Brown <agricola@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, November 27, 2001, 23:53 |
|---|
Am 28.11.01, Jörg Rhiemeier yscrifef:
> 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").
The (an) answer is: Esperanto. No conculture -> does not contain
"language". And there are all the examples (like Denden) that contain
"language" but have attached concultures.
> But as always, there are exceptions to the rule.
It seems to me that there are enough exceptions to argue that it isn't
really a rule.
> I think the correlation is significant, but not too strong.
It might take a survey to figure out what the correlation is. Or if
there even _is_ a correlation.
> And then, there are conlangs without a name in the language itself.
Especially for those with concultures, it may be a matter of not
having discovered what the natives call the language. [Irina just
found out (relatively recently) that Valdyan is, in fact, called
Ilaini by the natives. (Hope I got the spellings right!)] It took me a
while to find the old (and, actually, official) name for Kerno
(Bretadnecca).
> 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.
Which, of course, isn't _really_ a name at all. "Germans" aren't
really German - they're "Deutsch". The external name is only a matter
of convenience - a handy label - for the external observer.
> Jörg.
Padraic.
--
Bethez gwaz vaz ha leal.
Replies