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Conlangs (Falsaj Lingvoj)

by dafyddmabblaidd, April 23, 2012

Messages: 26

Language: English

sudanglo (User's profile) April 24, 2012, 3:51:34 PM

Nowadays you can send any amount of information to billions of people for free in the blink of an eye.
Quite true, but how do you make them read it or take any action because of it.

You can take a horse to water, but you can't make it learn Volapuk.

razlem (User's profile) April 24, 2012, 10:50:35 PM

sudanglo:Quite true, but how do you make them read it or take any action because of it.
You can't. Just as you can't force someone to read a pamphlet or send 'promesoj' to their friends.

chrisim101010 (User's profile) April 27, 2012, 3:01:03 PM

I must have failed my beginner course in Esperanto; I never tried to design another language!

robbkvasnak (User's profile) April 27, 2012, 4:56:39 PM

I didn't mean that ALL beginners try to invent a new language but this is a phenomenon more common to beginners than to those who have mastered Esperanto. I am aware of the fact that Ido and its clones were designed by advanced Esperantists - but that took place at a time when Europe was the center of the world (for them)and they didn't understand the usefullness of the objective case for others. They found Esperanto too different from French, the most widely used language in Europe at that time.

Scratch (User's profile) April 27, 2012, 5:19:35 PM

I sometimes kick around the idea of making a conlang that uses base-12 instead of base-10 for one of its features.

Hyperboreus (User's profile) April 27, 2012, 5:54:00 PM

Forigite

robbkvasnak (User's profile) April 27, 2012, 6:45:31 PM

I am not saying that anyone should refrain from creating a new language - just that all attempts to trump Esperanto have been useless. As someone pointed out - a language requires supporters who tacitly agree on many points of usage. I would suggest that one acquire several languages that already exist to a high level before trying to create a new one. Zamenhof spoke several languages fluently.

erinja (User's profile) April 27, 2012, 7:32:56 PM

It depends also on the point of the new language.

I know several experienced Esperantists who have created another language not as a substitute for Esperanto, but as a fun hobby, a fun thing to play around with, an interesting thought experiment. Toki Pona has a similar origin. Such projects usually get a friendly reception from other Esperantists.

However, if a beginner has the idea of improving Esperanto and using this "improved Esperanto" to replace our existing Esperanto, the reaction is usually not friendly and welcoming. It's more of an exasperated "We're so sick of this so stop wasting our time".

sudanglo (User's profile) April 27, 2012, 8:17:13 PM

HB, the analogy with technical progress is quite specious. There was a good reason to invent the light bulb - it gives more light and it doesn't set the house on fire - as candles occasionally did.

Even if you could 'improve' on Esperanto, it wouldn't be comparable to replacing the candle with electric light, or replacing horse-drawn vehicles with automobiles.

Hyperboreus (User's profile) April 27, 2012, 8:33:25 PM

Forigite

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