Re: Why grammar is so complex a subject

Jim Henry skrev:
> On 12/28/05, Chris Peters <beta_leonis@...> wrote:
>
>>>>Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> writes:
>
>
>>>>>...  Therefore conlangs should not be "designed", they should be
>>>>>"used into existence." ...
>
>
>>... Has anybody on this list attempted this ... by teaching their conlangs
>>to their children?  That seems an obvious way to test the "speakability" of
>>a conlang, if a child is able to be raised bilingual in a conlang plus a
>>natlang.
>
>
> This seems like a bad idea, simply
> to use one's children as experimental
> subjects to test whether a language design
> is workable or complete.
Indeed.  I decided not to speak Quenya with my son
on those ground.

> It could be
> fun and useful for a family to have its
> own language for speaking privately
> in public, etc.;
I also decided that this was a bad idea:
it would create a weird bond between me and
my son, and create an awkward social situation
for him only for my amusement.

--

/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch at melroch dot se

    "Maybe" is a strange word.  When mum or dad says it
    it means "yes", but when my big brothers say it it
    means "no"!

                            (Philip Jonsson jr, age 7)