Re: history of conlanging

On Mon, 22 Nov 1999, Ed Heil wrote:

> I read those same Dragon magazine articles (still have copies!) and
> got interested in conlanging then, but didn't actually try it until I
>
> ran across the concept again on the web somewhere.  (Where, I have no
>
> idea.  I think it just came into my head one day to look up
> artificial
> language resources on the web, and soon I found this list.)
What?  Here I thought I was responsible for the infection!  :)

I, as a child, used to make up artificial languages all the time, but
never really got off on Tolkein (as much as I love fantasy), so don't
think I was influenced by him.  When I got to college it came time to do
my senior paper on something and I chose Artificial Languages -- the paper
is terrible (although it got me into grad school, so I ain't bitchin'), as
was my first language attempt.  Hatasoe is probably just about a year and
a half old?  I'm not sure.  And I've been kicking around an idea for the
alien Advenae who are (probably) responsible for the Hataso presence in
the first place.  I've also considered, of course, a future
English-Spanish-Japanese mix, which would complete the triad of necessary
languages in my happy little universe.  Unfortunately, I'd have to learn
Japanese, and I don't have the time (and French is next on my list).

Of my early attempts, some time in high school, was a language without a
name that consisted of triliteral roots.  I only remember one phrase in
it, though:  "Naki mash hok" (without fear, fight).  I recall that the
imperative form was unmarked, and each person of the indicative form was
marked with a vowel, but I can't remember which vowels.  I don't remember
nouns, either (although I do recall that "mash" is actually a negative
imperative verb "naki mash" don't fear).  Its stupidest feature, I
remember, was that I wrote up every possible arrangement of its alphabet
in triliteral roots, and then provided each occurance with a meaning.
Made for an incredible amount of work; a pity that I threw it all away.

--Pat