Re: USAGE: No rants! (USAGE: di"f"thong)

On 6/1/06, Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> wrote:
> I think it is time to speak another Machtwort as in the Great Sundering,
> and explicitly ban all discussions of spelling reforms (of whatever
> language) and English pronunciation from the CONLANG list the same way
> we have banned auxlang advocacy a decade ago.
What the hell?  Why do you all find the YAEPTs (or YA?PTs for other
values of ?) so damn offensive?  Who cares?  If you don't want to read
them, don't read them!  There are plenty of messages I don't read
because the subject line doesn't interest me, and that's what the tags
are for...

I am honestly completely flummoxed by the vehemence some of you seem
to feel on this topic.  What is the big deal??

> Spelling reforms are a form of prescriptivism, and don't we all agree that prescriptivism is
> the diametral opposite of conlanging?
Well, no, we don't all agree on that.  Prescriptivism and conlanging
have pretty much nothing to do with each other, aside from concultural
decisions about prescriptivist tendencies. And the written language is
secondary to the spoken; prescriptivism about speech is one thing, but
prescriptivism about writing is rather necesesary in order for
far-flung interlocutors to be able to understand each other at all.

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>