Re: Language superiority, improvement, etc.

On Tue, 13 Oct 1998, Matt Pearson wrote:

> > Amen. It may not be easy, it may take many many versions, but here at
> > conlang we are all blazing the trail of accelerated language evolution.
I think what whoever wrote this meant was not so much the evolution of an
improved or "logical" language, Matt, but a language that has an
artificial history.  In order to bail myself out from under the furious
snow of postings, I've been deleting this probably fascinating thread, but
one way to look at the rapid development of Teonaht over the past thirty
years (and especially in the last two) is as an accelerated language
evolution.  I like to think of the changes I've made to Teonaht
as something that could have happened over hundreds of years,
were it not so obvious that Teonaht evolved from a primarily
anglocentric language to a quasi Indo-European whatever.  Otherwise
I agree with you entirely, Matt, regarding your remarks below.

>
> Are we?  That's news to me.  Myself, I'm trying to create something which
> mimics as closely as possible the complexities and eccentricities of
> naturally occuring human languages.  As far as I can tell, there's nothing
> about Tokana which makes it more or less 'evolved' than the natlangs which
> it emulates.  I certainly wouldn't say it was more 'logical' than any
> natlang.  In fact, there are aspects of Tokana grammar, rules which need
> to be followed, that even *I* don't completely understand.  They just
> 'feel' right for the language.
You know that I feel exactly the same way about Teonaht.  I want spelling
and pronunciation conventions to be quirky.  I want borrowings from
different invented (and mysteriously unrecorded) languages.  I eschew
simplicity and logic.  I pursue the baroque and the ornamental.  I revel
in words like _tatilynakose_, "disgust." /'tatIli'nakuse/ without having
to explain its origins.  I want irregular verbs.  I like cities with
twisting alleys.  I haven't the slightest bit of interest in learning or
speaking Esperanto.  Or even, I'm sorry to say Gerald, NGL.  I have no use
for "ideal" languages which pare their words of dark, abberant, irregular,
morally offensive constructions and concepts.  I wish Teonaht were less
regular than it is.  I wish I could keep up with its demands and remain
sane, get my other work done.

>
> I wonder if other people on this list have had that experience, of being
> carried along by some semi-conscious aesthetic impulse, arriving at a
> particular set of choices which even the conlanger himself does not fully
> comprehend.  I find myself 'discovering' new things about Tokana all the
> time.  Rather than being a consciously directed exercise in 'language
> evolution', it often feels like it has a life of its own and I'm merely
> a passive observer or recorder...
>
Stories do that to me, and so does Teonaht, yes, of course.  Words often
come to me unbidden, or in dreams.  I tried to force it into the ergative.
It protested and coughed up something different at me.  I think this is a
common artistic experience.

Sally
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sally Caves
scaves@frontiernet.net
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teonaht.html