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Re: Most developed conlang

From:Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
Date:Wednesday, April 18, 2007, 22:27
On 4/18/07, David J. Peterson <dedalvs@...> wrote:
> Harold wrote: > << > 1. Lexicon must be greater than 2000 (and contain essential words) > 2. Lexicon must be "a priori". (some loans are acceptible) > 3. Lexicon must be accessible on the internet. > 4. Grammar must be complete. > 5. Grammar must be able to be learned on the internet. > 6. Language must be speakable. > >> > > One thing I've always found problematic about questions of this > sort is that there seems to be a caveat, stated explicitly in numbers > 3 and 6 up there. If you go to the original question: > > John Crowe: > << > Which conlang is the most highly developed (in terms of lexicon, > grammar, > usability, etc.) that is not intended in any way to be an auxlang? > >> > > Items 3 and 6 shouldn't have anything to do with the answer. > Nevertheless, it seems to be implicitly understood that it does-- > that a language doesn't "count" unless everything about it is on > the internet (a disadvantage to those whose HTML skills are > nonexistent, or who don't have all the time in the world--or > who simply prefer another method of language documentation).
I understood Harold's inclusion of these two items (internet presence, speakability) to be purely practical. The first because it is difficult to find descriptions of constructed languages otherwise, and the second I suppose because we are all used to "speaking", as opposed to emitting odors, or flashing light patterns, etc. I would hate for this thread to devolve into a "gee, that's a stupid requirement" kind of discussion. The more interesting problem for me was the issue of "word". I appreciated Harold's clarification that the 2000 word count referred to the English glosses. But still, the issue of "wordhood" is worth thinking about, so Teoh's post is very relevant. Dirk

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David J. Peterson <dedalvs@...>