The Conlang-L FAQ

                             Conlang-L FAQ
                             May 19   2002
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There are currently 44 questions with answers

conlanger
    one who conlangs

artlanger
    one who conlangs

auxlanger
    one who auxlangs

Tolkien's secret vice
the secret vice
the vice
    making languages

lexicon
vocabulary
    the set of words in a language

a priori language
    the words are not derived from any natlang or well-established conlang
    but created from scratch

a posteriori language
    the words are derived, recognizable or not, from an already existing
    language; like all romance-langs and most auxlangs

IAL
    International Auxiliary Language, synonymous with auxlang

idist
idoist
    speaker/user/missionary of Ido

esperantist
    speaker/user/missionary of Esperanto

lojbanist
    speaker/user/missionary of Lojban

conculture
    constructed culture

esperantophone
    speaker/user, but not missionary of Esperanto

AFMC
AFMCL
    As For My ConLang

agulunulating
    funny misspelling of 'agglutinating'

1s
    1st person singular pronoun, I

2s
    2nd person singular pronoun, you

3s
    2nd person singular pronoun, he, she, it

1d
    1st person dual pronoun, I and you, we two

2d
    2nd person dual pronoun, you two

3d
    2nd person dual pronoun, they two

1p
    1st person plural pronoun, we

2p
    2nd person plural pronoun, you, y'all

3p
    2nd person plural pronoun, they

artlang
    art language, artistic language, artificial language

loglan
loglang
    logical language, like Loglan or Lojban

modlang
    model language, synonymous with conlang

romance-lang
    natlang, like French, or conlang derived from latin or other
    romance-lang, for instance Brithenig and its ilk

conlang
    constructed language, to construct languages

natlang
    natural language, not constructed language

tolklang
    language made by J.R.R. Tolkien

naturalistic language
    language designed to look like a possible natlang, spoken by human
    beings and/or human-like beings (often associated with a conculture).

alien language
non-human language
    language designed to be non-human, often impossible to learn for human
    beings. Often associated with a conculture of aliens.

FWIW
    For What Its Worth

AFAIK
    As Far As I Know

IMHO
IMO
IMVHO
    In My ((Very) Humble) Opinion

LOL
    Laughing Out Loud, Lots Of Laughter

ObConlang
    Obligatory Conlang, sometimes added to an off-topic message to end it
    with some conlang information, so that it doesn't look *that much*
    off-topic

YANC
YANCL
    Yet Another New Conlang

Linguistic term X is not in the faq
    This is supposed to be a faq for the conlang list, and not a generic
    dictionary of linguistic terms. See "Are there any online dictionaries
    of linguistic terms?" and "Are there any printed dictionaries of
    linguistic terms?"

Are there any online dictionaries of linguistic terms?
    There are several, here are three suggestions:
    * "A lexicon of linguistics at Utrecht University" at
      <http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon>
    * "SIL's glossary of linguistic terms" at
      <http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/contents.htm>
    * "Lebarbe's linguistic lexicon" at
      <http://users.info.unicaen.fr/~tlebarbe/linguistique.html>

    Try searching for linguistics, lexicon and glossary in your favorite
    search-engine, start with this: "Google results" at
    <http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&q=allintitle%3A+linguist
    ics+OR+linguistic+glossary+OR+lexicon&btnG=Google+Search>

Are there any printed dictionaries of linguistic terms?
    There are several, here are some suggestions:
    * "David Crystal: A Dictionary of Language"
      ISBN: 0226122034
    * "R. L. Trask: A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology"
      ISBN: 0415112613
    * "R. L. Trask: A Dictionary of Grammatical Terms in Linguistics"
      ISBN: 0415086280

Are there any other good FAQs on language and linguistics?
    A well known one is "the sci.lang faq" at
    <http://www.zompist.com/langfaq.html>

What is the relationship between LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU and Yahoo Groups?
Why can't you post from the Yahoo Groups site?
Why is the list both at Yahoo and listserv.brown.edu?
    Short answer:
    Ignore the stuff at Yahoo. Pretend it doesn't exist.

    Long answer:
    Once upon a time there was a place on the net known as Findmail.
    Findmail hosted mailing lists and provided a system for making
    archives of mailing lists on the web. The software that handles
    CONLANG-L didn't have web-accessable archives back then, so somebody
    arranged to have it archived with Findmail. This was good, for
    Findmail had a good feature-set and the people running it were wise.

    Unfortunately, Real Life with its Bean Counters encroached on the
    net, and to preserve the holy Profit Margin, Findmail merged with
    a competitor, Onelist. This was bad, as the feature-set chosen was
    that of Onelist, which was far inferior. Later, Yahoo! bought it
    all. This was a disaster, as the feature-set was even worsened,
    and the people running it were not wise, quite deaf to protests
    and complaints and not very nice at all, really. Thus we arrive at
    today's predicament.

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