Re: "Conlang" and "Artlang" in German

Hi!

Jörg Rhiemeier writes:
>...
>> Hehe.  My esthetics have to rest when I talk about Conlangs in German.
>
> Why?  Why use awkward anglicisms if one can resort to nice German
> words? ...
Because some are missing.

>> The lack of proper technical terms is a fact, and the people to whom I
>> do talk in German about Conlangs are not many, so there is no real
>> basis for the creation of and agreement on German terms.
>
> How many technical terms do we really need?  I think it is better
> to use the plainest wording that is possible, rather than using
> pretentious technical terminology.
Probably I misphrased, sorry.  I was not talking about my problems
finding pretentious and confusing vocab no-one understands, but I was
talking about trying to use natural words for discussing my conlang
work in German with other conlangers who know the topic quite well.

> ... And easily understood German
> words like "Kunstsprache" or "Sprachenerfinder" are good enough
> to convey the meanings. ...
Definitely.  And I use those that feel natural to use.

>...  and terms such as 'self-segregating morphology' can be
>translated (_selbstabgrenzende Morphologie_ ...
That's exactly the problem: it *can* be translated that way. But
'self-segregating morphology' is *the* term for that beast, while your
German example is merely one attempt to find a German name for it.
The first thing in a conversation would be to clarify what you mean
exactly: probably by just giving the English name.  Now, don't get me
wrong: that's not a bad thing.  But it's sometimes more annoying than
just calling the beast what it is by using the English term until the
whole world (or at least the parts interested in such conversations in
German) have agreed on a German word for it.

>...
>> Technical terms are only useful when you're talking with someone who
>> knows what you're talking about.
>
> Indeed.  They are often used to obfuscate scientific communication
> against non-specialists.  That's a bad habit, I must say.
Absolutely.  And actually, I think I can talk to my non-conlanger
mother quite well and naturally about conlanging, because I don't want
to *discuss* self-segregating morphology with her.  Maybe *explain*
it, but then, of course, I would not need to call the beast by its
proper name anyway, because then there'd probably be no need to
explain it.

**Henrik