April 2004 Weblog

April 2004 Weblog

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This Month's Posts: Flagging More Animal Names for Regions · Broqen Links · Minimal Minoan Info · Remorse · Jordon Wades In · Esperanto Estas Giganto · Animal Tagalong · Synthetic Men of Mars · Directions for Redirections · You're My Obsession · Rhymes with al Fresco · Language Extinction · Language Loss

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Flagging More Animal Names for Regions - 4/26/04 - 10:23 pm

Clint Jackson Baker suggested more Animal Ideas for Country & Region Names.

These animals come from the flags of these countries, or from the coats-of-arms on their flags.
Andorra: bull
Anguilla: dolphin
Cayman Islands: sea turtle
Dominica: sisserou parrot
Mexico: eagle or rattlesnake
Moldova: eagle or bull
Uganda: crested crane
Zambia: eagle
I've been going through their flags. I was also thinking of a fish for the Holy See/Vatican City--St Peter the fisherman. The conch would be good for Jamaica--a part of their cuisine.

Broqen Links - 4/25/04 - 10:01 pm

Tip of the hat to Marq "with a Q" Thompson for updating a ton of conlang profiles. You can help report broken links too by clicking the "Update This Information..." button on each profile and checking the "Broken Link" checkbox. But before you do that, see if the page has moved:

The first thing to do is to check shorter versions of the URL, to see if a higher-up page on the site will point to the new page. Just keep deleting the page or directory until you get to the top of the user's page:
- https://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9028/conlang/fyrismonlaryn.html
- https://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9028/conlang/
- https://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9028/
If that doesn't work, try Googling for the language and/or author name. If you find it, then click "Update This Information..." and copy and paste the new URL.

Thanks for helping keep our Conlang Profiles the most up-to-date on the Web.

Minimal Minoan Info - 4/24/04 - 4:53 pm

Norma writes, "I'm writing a novel set in 'Minoan' Crete. As no-one seems sure what language Cretans of this period (c. 1500 BCE) spoke, I'm having some problems with names and terminology. Do you know of anyone who has created a proto-Greek language that I could look at? Please." Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any. Contact me if you know of one that has escaped the Conlang directory.

Remorse - 4/16/04 - 2:52 pm

The Morse Code is being updated for the first time in 60 years. The new code is for the symbol of the Internet: @.

Jordon Wades In - 4/10/04 - 3:22 pm

Jordan Kay, author of Brandonian and Omnesian, wrote,

"I am a contributor to your site, and I was wondering about a new feature that could be added to Langmaker. Much like one does with movies and video games, users could review model languages by writing their comments about that language and then rating it out of 10. Of course, all reviews would be screened to ensure maximum credibility. The reviews could be accessed in a Reviews section. Also, whenever a model-language page is viewed, it would display that language's average rating. Please tell me what you think of this idea."

I have often wanted to do something like this, but there's just not enough interest from Langmaker.com visitors. Currently any visitor can submit a review of a book or video using the Review field of the forms in the Books section, yet almost no one does. People can also submit comments about languages in the "Interest of Others" field, and no one does that either. I do plan to introduce ratings of the web presence of conlangs, but I need more volunteers for that project.

Esperanto Estas Giganto - 4/09/04 - 2:54 pm

MAS writes, Hi - I know you probably get a lot of mail, but I have a question and was hoping you'd be able to help me out: There have been a lot constructed languages, but which ones have communities or groups of speakers? If I go to the trouble of learning a conlang, I'd like to be able to use it. Esperanto is the most obvious one - with international congresses, books, movies, clubs, etc. But which of the other IALs do the same thing, and to what extent? Are there any Glosa or Ido groups? I've seen photos of an Interlingua get-together, but I really have no idea how many people actually use the language. I suppose that Klingon must still have groups that get together, if only at sci-fi conventions? I've studied Vulcan and Elvish, but quickly lost interest as there was no venue to practice it. Perhaps this could be a question for your FAQ, or maybe add a field to your list of languages like estimated number of speakers/users or something. Many thanks for any info.

Saluton! Sadly, theres no need for such a field in my conlang profiles, as no language except Esperanto has more than 10,000 speakers. Not even Klingon. A few IALs have small mailing lists where you can chat with dozens of others. Yet if you really want to write and speak with people using a conlang, no other language is in the same class as Esperanto, which has 500,000 to 2 million people to speak with, and tens of thousands of texts to read. Ive made fun of Esperanto in the past, and I'm not saying its the best designed IAL, but its the only conlang Ive ever tried to become fluent in, and the one Tolkien and I recommend. Start with the Esperanto correspondence course, and hang in there.

Animal Tagalong - 4/08/04 - 2:08 pm

Barry Garcia writes, "For the Animal ideas, here's some for the Philippines: tarsier, binturong (bearcat), tamarau (Philippine water buffalo)."

Synthetic Men of Mars - 4/07/04 - 2:18 pm

The movie John Carter: A Princess of Mars is in the works, which is great news for all us fans of the Barsoomian language. Here's an amusing exchange from an Ain't It Cool News discussion of the movie:

Mr. Beaks: Let's talk Tharks. Real actors or CG?
Harry: What 15 ft tall, 4 armed tusked actors did you have in mind?
Mr. Beaks: Forced perspective? I dunno.
Harry: 4 armed actors?
Mr. Beaks: SAG has a wide variety of differently abled actors out there. Really... how can you brush off the notion until you've looked?
Harry: Mhmm... I don't want to alienate the green 4 armed tusked actors - I suggest they email me, this is their Wizard of Oz.

Directions for Redirections - 4/06/04 - 2:58 pm

Aaron Morse wrote in, "I read Nick Kalivoda's questions, and I just had a quick tip for conlanging webmasters. CJB.net provides free URL redirection, along with a forum and guestbook, and forwarding e-mail addresses @username.cjb.net. So if you have a site at Geocities or Angelfire, or even Tripod, and the address is too long, you should try CJB."

You're My Obsession - 4/05/04 - 3:02 pm

Too funny! And I thought I misused my free time.

You are most likely Jeffrey Henning! Your
obsession with LangMaker is extreme (and
perhaps worrisome).

How Obsessed Are You With LangMaker.com?
brought to you by Quizilla

Rhymes with al Fresco - 4/04/04 - 2:17 pm

The cartoonist Hilary Price illustrates another neologism in Rhymes with Orange.

Language Extinction - 4/03/04 - 1:27 pm

ACZJ5 wrote in:

Every morning there is a question on the local radio station, and I thought this particular question and answer might be good for Langmaker.
Q. There are over 6,500 of these in the world, and one of them becomes extinct every two weeks.

A. A language.
This would mean that in about 50 years, only the languages that are accepted by entire civilizations will survive!

Not only are these languages disappearing, but so are the complete cultures that gave rise to them. Check out 6,000 Languages: An Embattled Heritage and the Foundation for Endangered Languages.

Language Loss - 4/02/04 - 1:54 pm

"When you lose a language, it's like dropping a bomb on a museum." - Kenneth Hale

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