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!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-03-13 03:18 am (UTC)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!