Lambuzhao wrote: ↑02 Aug 2018 07:08
First, kudos to Sal. Extremely thoughtful response. I thoroughly grokked with that idea of "betweenness" encapsulated in the image of the Mona Lisa. Indeed, Sal!
No language, natural or constructed, that has any life in it is never really free of 'developmental hell'.
As with previous posts, I also endorse using one's conlangs to really get a feel how they run.
Maybe find a "Positive Thought for Every Day", "A Prayer for Every Day", "A Sutra for Every Day", "A Grook for Every Day", "A Hadith for Every Day" or "A Randy Limerick for Every Day" calendar, or whatever floats one's boat, and translate
those. Short translation exercises that will push one to fill in some unexplored nook or cranny of grammar &/or vocab can be utterly satisfying. Plus, it's something small that one can walk away from and know that one has in fact completed it.
I think a lot of frustration in conlanging is that we as conlangers learn so many things exponentially about language and linguistics, and even moreso thanks to fora like CBB and ZBB, that 'modern' conlangers feel this need to shoehorn so much into
one loanguage. IMHO one thing a lot of people miss about language-creation in general is that there rarely exists or has existed ONE of any language. For every language, there are often prestige and non-prestige, slang/argot, rural/urban, central/outlier dialects. And I don't mean multiplying the workload to fully flesh out
entire grammars and vocabs and grimoires and chrestomathies of every mother-loving idiolect we whip up. Far from it.
Just an 'Other Mother's' world; just a few details, and the rest, like when walking away from Other Mother's house in
Coraline.
And just like that, when you walk far enough away, you find that you have come right back (!)
For example, I have hints and some details for what would amount to 6 dialects of my conlang Sadraas. Are they fully fleshed out - heavens no! Who's got time for that? But every now and again, if I wanted to make a comparison, or make a
comparative Swadesh of cognates for these dialects, with some time and effort, I can do so. Enough rules are there to make it a not unprofitable exercise. The language I construct and use and call Sadraas is a prestige dialect on a continuum of dozens of dialects.
Like in Ælfwine's case, I would stop breaking my last arse (sorry to phrase it that way) over whether to nudge Mannish closer to a more Conservative Norwegian, or Folkspraakish, or whatever linguistic axis is bringing such glossopoetic angst. Why not let there be 2 dialects of Mannish? Scribble up some details/incunabulae/marginal notes about
each, and choose to proceed with one or the other.
Live and let live & the more the merrier, I say!