On 22 =C4=C5=CB, 16:32, g10sha <g10...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> This is a response to Rick Harrison's blog on conlangs being "in the
> shop." I suppose I'm not the only one who tweaks their conlang. I even
> have a list of "tweaks" needed or planned or made that I need to
> remember. I'm just curious to hear from others how much of this goes
> on and how you deal with it.
>
> In my case, Tsajan, I've spent years and years tweaking it. I actually
> thought I had it finished at one point - about a year ago - and I
> started dreaming up conlangs II,III and even IV, V and VI. Then, I
> got looking at my original conlang, the one I'd spent all those years
> perfecting, and suddenly realized I didn't like it. I didn't like the
> way it sounded. With some reluctance, knowing, as Rick said, how
> difficult it would be to live without it while it was "in the shop"
> for major repairs (in this case), I had to stop using it was fixed.
>
> Well, actually, I didn't stop using it. I just quit using it as much,
> knowing anything I wrote would need to be changed once I figured out
> how I really wanted it to sound. Anyway, it took me... Oh, maybe six
> months to a year, I guess. I was in a hurry, of course, but I knew to
> be patient, and just let it come naturally. And then just a couple
> weeks ago, I made some final tweaks, and realized I'd actually
> finished it. Okay, finished is such a strong word. But the tweaks now
> are so very minor - I can attribute them to the natural growth of a
> language over time (so what if my language evolves over weeks and
> months instead of over years and centuries?) But now it's "out of the
> shop" and I can use it again. And I like it even more now than I ever
> did.
>
> Anyone else care to share their story? I'd also be curious to hear if
> anyone else's conlangs have a set of fundamental rules or a guiding
> philosophy that are unassailable - no matter what other tweaks or
> changes you might think of, these are never challenged. They're like
> the core of what makes that particular conlang what it is.
Perhaps evolution of a language goes faster if the author is not the
only person who ponders over it. If there are co-authors, learners and
just people who help you with advice, then all kind of uncertainties
are sorted out much quicker. I for one can say that if not my co-
authors and our experience with teaching Lingwa de Planeta to several
people, I'd still be in early stages and hesitating whether I may
already show what I have to other people. But now that we use LdP
among us and even can teach others, I'm sure that there is nothing
really crazy in it :)
Dmitry Ivanov
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