Re: Yitzik's catalogue of conlang ideas (was: Reply to Yitzik)

Jan van Steenbergen scripsit:

<<<<<<<<<<
> [E] - an idea, a conlang at Embryonal stage
Does that mean that you just have an idea, but that there is nothing on
paper
yet? I have never made such a list of my own conlangs, let alone considered
making a list of my ideas for conlangs. I certainly have some ideas for
future
projects, perhaps I should list them once.
>>>>>>>>>>
No. Pure ideas are not mentioned. "Embryonal" means I have scraps of notes
on paper or comp files with rudimental phonology, a list of 10-20 words, 3-4
grammar rules or paradigms. Sometimes it means a note with 15-20 short
sentences with translation (I hate interlinears!)

<<<<<<<<<<
> [N] - a posteriori (Naturalistic)
Well, strictly speaking, an a priori language can be naturlistic as well.
But that was just a little nitpick, of course!
>>>>>>>>>>
At least you understood what I meant. Sometimes I feel hard to put an idea
into compact English words.

<<<<<<<<<<<
> #01 -[N, A]- Rumiya (Rumean).
[...]
A great language! What else is there to say?
>>>>>>>>>>>
Shukrã! (thanx)

<<<<<<<<<<<<
> #02 -[N, E, D]- an unnamed slaviconlang. The only representative of
> Central Slavic languages: lying between W. and E. with slight admix of S.
This one really made me wake up. No notes at all yet? Have you ever
considered a North Slavic language?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Since it is frozen on the preliminary research stage, it may change...
I'll think over your proposal...

<<<<<<<<<<<<
> #06 -[S, B, D]- an unnamed Caucasoid. Weird experiments with phonology.
> Sample phrases:
[...]
Oh, I remember that one. You posted about it shortly after I joined the
list. I couldn't read those messages, though, due to encoding problems. But
they are
still in my mailbox, and on this (new) computer, I might give it a try.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You can have a look. But without knowing spelling conventions it still won't
help much <evil grin>. Unf, I'm not sure about all that schmampa stuff
above. One of the ideas is that the lang has *two* sets of dental
consonants: one is pure dental, the other is (post)alveolar. But in
fricative row you have not /T/ vs. /s/ or /S/, but *two* types of /s/ and
*two* types of /S/! Afaik, the Soviet linguistic school speaks about "double
articulation" in such cases...

<<<<<<<<<<<<<
> #07 -[N, M, D]- Eðelenglisc. Old English survived (with certain changes)
> till nowadays free of French influence. A purely Germanic English with
> Icelandic as a prototype!
May I invite you to elaborate on this language on Germaniconlang? (not only
because the group seriously needs some input, but also because AFAIR you
never posted anything "substantial" about it.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I promise to do it one day, but not very soon: a new semester starts on
Monday! And remember: it's very very raw!

<<<<<<<<<<<<
That reminds me: yesterday a strange thought occurred to me. I know about
several conlangs that attempt to strip English from its Latin and French
influences. But has anyone ever tried to do the reverse? To make English
into a romlang?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Not my cup of tea.

<<<<<<<<<<<<
> #09 -[N, E, D]- Do you remember annoyant Mr.Zhong?
> This is an anti-Zhongist jokelang!
[...]
Not a bad idea for a pidgin!
>>>>>>>>>>>>
He he he.

<<<<<<<<<<<<
> #12 -[N, E, D]- an unnamed attempt to design one more IE conlang out of
> traditional groups, close to Germanic-Baltic-Slavic triangle with certain
> Italo-Greek parallels.
Well, add Tocharian to the triangle and you have quite a good idea what
Hattic is about. I hope this language will ever outgrow the embryonal stage.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
If I had had better sources on PIE, it would have grown faster...

<<<<<<<<<<<<
> #17 -[N, E, D]- Russian Pidgin inspired by Kyakhta
Well, the Kyakhta you posted earlier was amazing! But N, E, D? I thought you
had elaborated it more!
>>>>>>>>>>>>
It needs just a couple of days free of any other occupations (as any other
project, inter aliam)

<<<Is there a difference between merging and consuming?>>>

Yes, there is. The former means the components come on equal terms, the
latter means that one is taken as basic, and the others just do some
contribution.

<<<<<<<<<<<
Why not merge #20 and #21? That's what I would probably do. But then, I now
very very little about Altaic languages. How different is Proto-Turkish from
Proto-Altaic?
>>>>>>>>>>>
Very different.

<<<<<<<<<<<<
> #22 -[N, E, G]- an unnamed project with Siberian flavor. Starting point is
> a Proto-Tungus Swadesh List, and nobody knows what shall be mixed to it.
> Ugric? Korean? Suggestions are welcomed.
One of (my) premises in IB's Russia, is that Siberia was colonized to a far
lesser extent than *here*. As a direct result of this, the indigeneous
languages of Siberia are in a far better state.
Perhaps it is the word "Siberia" that cought my attention too much, but I
would certainly not forget about Ket, Nivkh, Yukagir, etc.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Constructed worlds do not attract much of my attention, but if it can help
to the respectful community... Unf, the resources about Siberian languages
are so scarse...

<<<<<<<<<<<<
> - a private language Sanggari Falar, designed together with my wife Elena
> in 1993 and completely lost in computer crash. Till now I remember
> only a few phrases like "Me aymari ten" (I love you) and "Usmá bil
> san hao" (Everything's gonna be all right);
You had a computer back in 1993? That is quite remarkable! When I was in
Ukraine in 1992, 1994 and 1995 I got the impression that they were a real
rarity!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes, they were rare. Yes, we had one, if you can call a monster like
"Poisk-1" a computer. CGA monitor, 5 1/2" floppy drive formatted at 720 kB,
no hard disk, operates under DOS booted from a floppy, operative memory 512
kB...

<<<<<<<<<<<<
It's a shame that you lost this language. The name is beautiful. "Me aymari
ten" makes me think of a romlang, but the second sentence looks rather
Asiatic.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
It was not styled in any particular way, but designed to be nice, easy, and
incomprehensible for students of Liguistic Department. I need to have a look
through my papers stored in a bix box; there may be some outprints there.
I'm really sorry for this lost. It was quite a usable lang, with all
necessary basic grammar and a vocabulary of about 300 words!

<<<An impressive list! I stored it on my computer "for further reference">>>

:-)) so did I :-))
And I have not yet found my favourite one...

> Jan
Yitzik
~~~~~~~~~~~~~