Re: Average life of a conlang

Hallo!

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:46:59 +0100, R A Brown wrote:

> Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:
> > Hallo!
> >
> [snip]
> > On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:38:22 +0100, R A Brown wrote:
> >
> >> [...] But what
> >> about the Briefscript Project? It began about 1958 and is still not
> >> finished!
> >
> > 50 years, and still working on it?!  That's indeed a long-running
> > project.  I wasn't even aroud when you started it.  See that you
> > finish it soon, otherwise it may be at your grandchildren to
> > complete it :)
>
> I think not. If I don't finish it, then either it will for ever remain
> unfinished or else some conlanger will discover it after I've quit this
> mortal coil and s/he will complete it.
Perhaps.

> Help? Could I then suffer the same fate as Jespersen? Memories of the
> Novial-wars come back when competing camps (at least 4 IIRC) were
> flaming each other, and at least one them claiming to know the mind of
> Jespersen himself! (It was during this internecine flaming I decided it
> was time to quit Auxland).
I sincerely hope that this sort of thing won't befoul you and
your language.  Novial is not the only case of that.  Look at
places like TolkLang or Elfling, and you see the same.  Quibbles
about reconstructions of unattested Quenya and Sindarin words
all the time, with many scholars taking the position that such
reconstructions are overall illegitimate.  Avoiding this alone
is a good motivation to develop a conlang to a fair degree of
completion before you pass away.

> Nah - I had better get the thing finished soon    :)
>
> As it happens, I've had two or three emails sent me privately about
> Piashi (the final incarnation of the Briefscript project). These have
> prompted me to turn back to the project again - and I have been working
> on it fairly seriously again in the past week.
Good to hear that you make progress with it.

... brought to you by the Weeping Elf

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