Does anyone here study other IALs?
ca, kivuye
Ubutumwa 32
ururimi: English
Kraughne (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 11 Rusama 2011 20:14:43
I've been studying Ido in the last few months, and it's remarkable in its own way. It was tailored for euphony, and it makes distinctions in meaning that you can't find in most other languages. It has a few excellent prepositions: one to indicate possession, one to indicate the agent of a passive verb, one that means "in the presence of," and even one meaning "on this side of."
Then there's Lojban, which to me seems so contrived and inaccessible that the only point in studying it is to kill a Sunday afternoon. This language was apparently based on principles of logic. It has things called "attitudinal indicators" that show how a speaker feels about something, but that's the best part about Lojban.
The last IAL I've dabbled in is the fantastic Solresol, an early constructed language which will doubtless be of interest to some of you. Solresol is made up of only seven syllables, and by combining these syllables in various ways, different words are made. Each syllable is alternatively represented by a musical note and by a color of the rainbow, meaning that the language can be communicated without speech or writing.
But the best IAL I have ever known is Esperanto, the language of friends.
Besides, the major downside to those other IALs is that their communities aren't as widespread or as closely knit as ours!If any of you have studied any constructed languages other than Esperanto, it'd be interesting to know how that went for you.
razlem (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 11 Rusama 2011 20:46:57
I liked Lojban and Solresol for being innovative, and Esperanto/Ido/Interlingua for being easy. I dabbled in Lojban and Ido for a bit after looking at Esperanto, but that's pretty much the extent of my studying. I just wish there was a larger conlang/IAL community in general (I only know of one other person IRL who enjoys conlanging).
But then college hit, so I've had to postpone my IAL studies to focus on Spanish, German, Chinese, Arabic, and the others
ceigered (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 12 Rusama 2011 03:07:57
Interlingua's my favourite, mostly because it's like a Romance language, but regularised (to a degree at least).
My problem with that and Esperanto though is that in the end I can get my romance-language fix from Italian, French etc. But none of them are neutral (e.g. italian is pronounced one way, spanish another), so interlingua still has some purpose in a sense as it's sort of a modernised Latin representative of all the places affected by Rome and not just by one region of Italy (which is why Italian being called "modern latin" is not 100% correct I guess).
Volapuk though (can't do the umlaut on this newfangled windows computer), I really like that, and it has a very strong character. But there's now very little purpose for it
Interlingua is easy to pick up due to how, well, easy it is to westerners, Esperanto the same, but Volapuk had a bit too much character which means it needs proper study, which if you did you could theoretically learn Turkish in the same amount of time I guess (Turkish is actually an "easy" language for the untainted mind, which none of us adults have). Kraughne (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 12 Rusama 2011 04:33:43
ceigered:Solresol is cute, but I never get enough time to remember any of itCute?! Solresol is adorable. It's a furry kitten of the linguistic world. And hey, there are no other languages expressed with color or music. ^_^ It does take a great deal of dedication to memorize its vocabulary, though, especially since all the words are so alike.
Interlingua's my favourite, mostly because it's like a Romance language, but regularised (to a degree at least).
My problem with that and Esperanto though is that in the end I can get my romance-language fix from Italian, French etc. But none of them are neutral (e.g. italian is pronounced one way, spanish another), so interlingua still has some purpose in a sense as it's sort of a modernised Latin representative of all the places affected by Rome and not just by one region of Italy (which is why Italian being called "modern latin" is not 100% correct I guess).
Volapuk though (can't do the umlaut on this newfangled windows computer), I really like that, and it has a very strong character. But there's now very little purpose for it
As for Interlingua, eh. You're right that you can get your Romance-language fix from other sources, and Interlingua really did come in a little late in the game. So there aren't as many didactic materials present about it as about Esperanto, etc., etc., etc.
Also...ü.
ceigered (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 12 Rusama 2011 06:58:57
Tomo S. Vulpo:This probably limits the vocabulary a bit, doesn’t it?Does indeed. Actually, come to think of it... How many words would be possible? about 600 with a cap of 4 syllables each? Not that over that is particularly important, but Esperanto would have to have much more than that and even then it can be a bit restrictive.
Lojban wise, it's certainly something you need to get used to isn't it? I think sometimes it's needlessly artificial for its purpose.
@ Kraughne - Bout Interlingua, that all said, it doesn't quite need as many teaching materials for its target group, which is quite good. But yes, while it certainly can be used in many ways, any language needs time so, meh, I guess it's really something for those interested in it.
While me and Sudanglo disagreed about this many times before, I do think that perhaps "language project" better describes Interlingua - it's more a "language within the languages" than something unique. If you already know enough of all the languages it's based on, it's sorta useless
And Solresol a kitten... That imagery works quite well
Mike (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 12 Rusama 2011 08:27:47
When I rediscovered Eo on the web back in '02, I stumbled across all sorts of other interesting constructed languages. I've piddled around with Toki Pona, Lojban, and Klingon at various points. I was very amused when the "Avatar" fanboys started trying to reverse-engineer Navi, just from the small snippets of dialogue in the movie.
If I ever manage to get to the level of fluency that I'd like in Esperanto, I'd probably tackle Lojban next. Klingon seems cute and all, but already seems to be fading along with Star Trek fandom. Besides, the only "great literature" produced in Klingon are just translations of Shakespeare and Sun Tzu.
sudanglo (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 12 Rusama 2011 10:20:01
For something to count as a language there must be a sufficient body of speakers to create social consensus about meaning and usage.
ceigered (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 12 Rusama 2011 10:30:31
sudanglo:Yes, Ceiger, and Sudanglo still hasn't changed his view on the sloppy use of the term language to refer to language projects.Well, in Interlingua's case there strictly is that (a language only needs 100+ to make a decent community anyway, although people with 500+ facebook friends might find 100 a bit small). But that point of contention aside, what do we say about a language that, at least according to the makers, is actually a "language in the languages"? Would that be a language project treated as a proper language (provided your mention of body of speakers and social consensus are present)? Or is it then a "dialect project", since its existence is not independent and it's in fact tied to the fate of the western european languages (e.g. if they change, interlingua must/should change to reflect what's actually commonly spoken) - a risky feature in fact, but without it interlingua serves little purpose or at least wouldn't live up to its name.
For something to count as a language there must be a sufficient body of speakers to create social consensus about meaning and usage.
erinja (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 12 Rusama 2011 11:38:12
darkweasel (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 12 Rusama 2011 16:17:33
Tomo S. Vulpo:far... is still erroneous.