[conlang_learners] Food for thought

[Brett Williams]

On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 2:27 PM, James Montgomery <dreamripple at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I agree with respecting the owner's wishes concerning adaptation allowances.
> If the evolution is something we would like to see, then shouldn't those languages
> that allow for such adaptations be given greater weight at decision-making time?
> I'm not saying we would have to have the authority to make the changes, as the
> creator could do that if s/he so chooses to (or not).


I do think that being flexible and adaptable (as well as simple/easy)
should be considered a plus, especially for this first round where
we're still unsure of our footing and figuring out how to do this.
There are languages which I think would be very good choices even
though they're complicated or inflexible or both (there are a lot of
different factors to consider), but all else even, I would prefer a
language which will adapt more to accommodate the needs of its strange
new population.

Gentleness can take practice.  I wouldn't be surprised if as a group
we are quite rough with the first language we try this on.  So we
should find a durable, resilient language for our first attempt, one
that can benefit from disorganized mob action.


2009/6/23 kate rhodes <masukomi at masukomi.org>
>
> the inflexibility is precisely why i didn't bother to keep up with Toki Pona.
> I appreciate its philosophy but the fact that there are problems (like the
> total inability to indicate the center of a circle)  but you have zero hope
> of the language growing or changing to compensate for them, is very
> frustrating. All languages have failings, but all living languages evolve
> to handle problems and new concepts.


Toki Pona has actually been surprisingly successful at finding a way
within its own quirky limitations.  From what I understand (I still
have only a mediocre reading comprehension) over the years they've
developed a lot of idiomatic phrases, so that there's actually a
reasonable vocabulary hidden in there.

That's why I think that motivation is by far the most important thing.
 Where there's a will, there's a way.  Toki Pona's success as a
language, even if it's arguably only a partial success, shows that any
of the languages we're considering are more than adequate to sustain
worthwhile communication and community.  We just have to meet some
language with whatever motivation and commitment it will require to
find a way through it.

There's no reason we need to choose a challenge of a language for this
project.  Since this is our first time, and we have a lot of languages
to choose from, I feel we should choose a language where many of the
stars are aligned to guarantee our success.  But I have no doubt that
any of the languages under consideration could be living useful
languages, if we really put our minds and hearts into them.


<3,
brett
aka
mungojelly