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----- Original Message ----- From: "Benct Philip Jonsson" <bpj@hidden.email>
To: <romconlang@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 9:35 AM Subject: Re: [romconlang] Northern Romance chronology and phonology
I sure hope I haven't achieved even near philological omniscience. For one thing the leading passion of my life would be spent already in mid-life,
mid-life? pessimist! and for the other I know best how many books I've read only
cursorily or not at all --- I do hope they were not written in vain! I'm sure I can come across as a nitpicky bore --- or even boor I'm afraid. I have no right, of course to hold others playing the game to the same rules of perhaps excessive naturalism as I hold myself to.
Nitpicky-ish, maybe. But not boring.
To me the laws of linguistic universals and phonetic plausibility in a sense *are* the rules of the game of altlanging, and perhaps the point of the game to me is to explore the limits of those laws in a way that mere observation of their operation in real life cannot afford. I once said that I wouldn't accept a hypothetical prehistoric linguistic change which didn't have an attested parallel in the known history of some language, but as a rule for artistic development that might well be too limiting.
Yes. I'm playing around with this because I want a reasonably plausible answer to the question "What might 'German' look like if it was a romance tongue?" If I just wanted a German-like romance language I'm sure I could rattle something off pretty quickly, but that's not the point.
To other artlangers aesthetic expression, be it euphony or cacophony, is the only principle, and that is of course their prerogative. What to me is plain dadaism or even stale formalism may to its creator be the height of whatever they are out to express, and if so more power to them of course!
Starting to sound like a text book again there... ;)
When people develop a game together they must of course all have a say over the rules, and it is natural that at times there is disagreement. As soccer developed they came to the realization that it was a good idea not to have trees and bushes growing on the field, but some found the no hands rule too restrictive, and so rugby parted company. If my rules don't fit your lang you should by all means say so!
Oh I will. However, I also look at it from the point of view of willingly surrendering some control, in order to benefit from your greater linguistic knowledge. Symbiosis, I suppose.
- The Cat Herder.