Re: classlang

>>What a fabulous idea, Matt!   How many students do you have,
>>and can you find out if any of them have ever thought of making
>>a language up on their own?  Or done it?
>
>There are about 35 students in the class - a rather large group,
>hence the idea of spinning a wheel to determine the major features
>of the language.  I have no idea if any of them are conlangers, or
>potential conlangers.  My suspicion is that none of them have ever
>given conlanging a second thought.  They all seemed rather surprised,
>even bewildered, and a little bemused, when I explained to them
>that we would be using our lab time to invent a language.  One
>student asked:  "Are we going to be inventing a logical language,
>which will demonstrate all the shortcomings and irregularities
>of English?"  Ah, such naivete!  I hope this experience of
>'forced conlanging' opens their eyes to the nature of language,
>as it has done for me.  It'll be exciting to see what happens...
>
>Matt.
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Matt Pearson
mpearson@ucla.edu
UCLA Linguistics Department
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543
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