Re: "Coming out" about conlanging to people in Academia [was Re: Caryatic]

    I've never hid my interest in constructed languages from academics,
at least not those who are in linguistics, or who might be interested
for some other reason. Certain profs I would never tell, or I'd get an
immediate "So THIS is what you spend your time on? Don't you have a
Reading List to be working on?" (Of course I get that reaction from
studying ANY language they don't approve of).
    Linguists generally politely tell me that there are too many real
languages in this world to waste one's time on constructed ones. Some
say this more pointedly than others. With Professor Sihler it was
downright good-natured (he even suggested an idea for one of my conlangs
once, that I will get around to telling you some time.) [Another
digression- Sihler actually has a handout he uses to illustrate what
typically happens in two related languages which he illustrates with two
daughters of a proto-language that he made up. Of course the vocabulary
of this language could be no more than 20 words]
    As for non-linguists... most of the people I've discussed it with
either already know what a raving geek I am, or are themselves geeks, so
the reactions have generally been neutral at worst.
    The word Caryatic is still buried in the subject header somewhere,
so let me tell an anecdote: I first started working on Caryatic over a
winter break (I think it was '96 or so?). I had bought Sihler's book
relatively recently, but had been forced only to skim it due to the fact
that it was a required text for a class taught by one of the professors
from the first paragraph. I had had a fairly difficult semester, but now
I was going to go on a long leisurely vacation with my family. I took
along the book, and announced to them "Ah, it's so rare that I actually
have time to sit back and invent a language."
    This comment was of course designed to provoke laughter, and it did.
But my family were pretty interested and asked me about it from time to
time. They've mostly forgotten about it by now, except perhaps my aunt
who recently caught me working on it at her house (a friend of mine had
emailed a proposal for a Caryatic alphabet).

Now... don't I have a suitcase to be double-checking?
Justin

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