On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:03:20 -0400, "X. Rayburn" <none@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>In article <9ut0f3dre360adtkf0d78ek68vb1m4i3v4@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Padraic Brown
><elemtilas@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:37:30 -0400, "X. Rayburn" <none@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>> >http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/ap_on_re_us/endangered_languages
>> >
>> >Here is a thought that crosses my mind sometimes: Maybe it would be
>> >more honorable to use one's linguistic skills to help keep one of
these
>> >endangered languages alive, rather than making up half-baked languages
>> >that no one will ever speak.
>>
>> Curious:
>>
>> Have you _ever_ entered a music oriented newsgroup and similarly
>> dismissively enjoined piano or clarinet players to "more honourably"
>> use their musical skills to learn and preserve ancient and fading
>> musics from around the world?
>
>My remarks are not anti-glossopoeic. I am a conlanger.
Understood. I am just wondering at this particular remark. You're not
the first person I've heard berating conlangers for their waste of
potential; you're not the first to proclaim "why waste time with fake
languages when you can rescue real ones?" As if we (conlangers) could
really rescue a natural language!
> (I post here
>under a pseudonym so that I can explore controversial topics without
>having peoples opinions of my conlangs be colored by any philosphical
>differences that are uncovered here.)
I use only one non-opaque pseudonym (in conjunction with my real
name), as I have no fear of the opinions of people in this or other
similar forums being "coloured" by whatever topic I happen to be
discussing. In other words, I think you're hiding for no good reason.
I won't think any less of you or your languages just because you
brought up a mildly controversial topic for discussion. In fact, I
think MUCH less of you for hiding your usual identity than for the
present topic!
>Can you honestly say you have never had doubts about the worthwhileness
>of conlanging?
Never once in the 20some years I've been engaging in the art. This is
because I am a) secure in my personality and artistic persuits and b)
in the nature of conlanging itself. It is first and formost an art,
and I have never seen it as anything else. The same intellectual
capacities that produce conlangs can also be used for utilitarian
ends, but the difference is like comparing the Mona Lisa to a well
painted bridge.
>Never said to yourself something like, "my tendency to
>make lists of things could better be used in managing an investment
>****tfolio or screening potential anti-cancer drugs"??
Never once. Investment management is not my strength -- I leave that
to professionals.
>I often have such doubts.
Everyone has doubts. I've met conlangers who for whatever reason
harbour doubts about their art. Perhaps they've been confronted by
others who can not understand it as art; perhaps they've been scolded
by a parent who couldn't understand why anyone would want to make up
lists of gibberish. Where do your doubts stem from?
>Likewise, when I consider lending sup****t to efforts to keep
>Volapük or Ido alive, I think to myself, why not Lakota or Muskogee
>instead.
In the end, you sup****t whichever language you feel best deserves your
sup****t. Now, the question becomes, which of the scores of dying
languages should be sup****ted first or most?
>Is no one else man enough to admit having such questions?
Personal insults only serve to lower you one more notch in my esteem.
Why are you not woman (or man -- how would we know?) enough to use
your real name here? It's bad enough hiding behind the artificial
anonymity of a computer terminal that is reality on Usenet, but a
hypocrite like you on the one hand hides yourself in a most unmanly
fa****on and then has the craven audacity to bait me for not being man
enough to admit similar doubts as you have?
Are you man enough to use your real name and list your conlangs? My
main one online is Kerno. Nothing special, just an average Romance
conlang.
Padraic
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