Perspective On Conlangs!

[bloodyrosemccoy]

A tl;dr Q&A in the NY Times about conlangs

Not a very satisfactory “panel” there—Okrent’s not a conlanger but a sort of outside ethnographer, and Frommer’s a little tangled up in Na’vi right now. It’s most interesting to me as a sort of snapshot of how folks who never thought much about conlanging approach it.* I kind of like reminding myself that not everyone takes for granted the things I do.


*In a lot of cases, with an almost entertaining veiled hostility. Count how many of the questions subtly note that there are a lot of better ways a conlanger could be spending their time! It’s made me decide to start asking vaguely insulting questions about hobbies I don’t share! “Couldn’t you spend that time you use playing football to volunteer at a soup kitchen?” “Don’t you have enough quilts by now? Why make more?”** “Who’s going to look at this sketchbook, anyway?”

**Actually, somebody asked my mom this.

Comments

[chairman-wow.livejournal.com]

My mum and I have this conversation about once a month:

"Are you still drawing these days?"
"Yup"
"But you're still not doing anything with it, are you?"
(I know she means well, but nrrrgh.)


Oh, though while we're on the topic, I thought I'd thank you for introducing me to conlanging as a thing with a name! (As opposed to a vague hobby I had in middle-school.) I am doing some again these days, but I'm too embarrassed to show anyone (yet). So thanks. :)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

But if you sold your drawings, you could make money, and eventually buy an expensive car! Even if you already have a perfectly serviceable car! That just makes sense!

I'm glad you're getting back into conlanging! And yes, it's always fun when you discover that there's a name for that thing you do, isn't there? I still remember discovering it had a name when I was a teenager--and being thrilled.

I don't show 'em off much, either. But if you're having fun, then yay!

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

When I see comments like that I wonder how much time the complainer spends watching TV.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Hee hee! I do, too. If you have ever sat on your ass for four hours watching shows like The Biggest Loser and Ace of Cakes, you are not allowed to tell me that working out syntactical relationships between words is a waste of my precious time.

Granted, even Reading A Good Book--which people seem to think is a virtuous thing to do--doesn't really have a measurably productive impact on society. It's kind of fascinating to try to figure out what "wasting time" really means. Seems arbitrary to me.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

I thought it wasn't bad. At the very least, Okrent isn't as focused on auxlangs, and defends conlanging-for-conlanging's-sake.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

No, she didn't do too badly, but I keep trying to imagine how it would come across to an outsider. I was very glad she defended conlanging--she had the same arguments I have.

Something still felt like it was unbalanced, though. Partly it was that both questions and answers had a lot of focus on learning the conlangs--yes, there are groups of people who study others' conlangs, and conlangers themselves love to see other peoples' ideas--and were less focused on creating them. There was an assumption that it's done for recognition, or commercial gain, or ... some tangible social reason, and glosses over how so many who build the languages do it purely out of some artistic drive and love of language--and that pick up long before they discover that anyone else does it or find out that anyone would be interested in their own, so fame, fortune, and number of speakers aren't really the motivators.

I was glad she pointed out that your average conlanger is, of course, a language nerd. And I was very glad she sent folks to the Language Construction Kit. I think that would ultimately be the best resource for folks who want to try it themselves. And as for folks who don't get it, well, the defense is appreciated!

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

“Who’s going to look at this sketchbook, anyway?”

THE PORN IS FOR A SELECT FEW THANK YOU the rest is on Deviantart where I can use my powers for evil.

Also need more work on conlang sometimes I forget exactly how to speak it.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

*grin* I have a single soft-pornish drawing in my sketch repertoire right now. Perhaps four people have seen it, but despite its failure to bring me fame and money, I feel it was quite worthwhile, and not just because I learned a lot about coloring skin with that one.

Hell, I don't know how to speak most of my conlangs. I'm not bad with sprite language, but since I'm trying to artificially evolve it, that will quickly become obsolete. I'll be the last speaker of a dead conlang!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wastrel/]

“Couldn’t you spend that time you use playing football to volunteer at a soup kitchen?” “Don’t you have enough quilts by now? Why make more?”** “Who’s going to look at this sketchbook, anyway?”

I feel that way about everything I do.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Ah, but doing something for the express joy of doing it is one of the best things about being a human!

I just find it strange how people assign value to these different pastimes.