Conlang-L FAQ

A brief history of the list

[One of you who've been around longer please fill this out --Sai 01:09, 19 July 2006 (PDT)]

Subject Topic Tags

In the subject line of a post, you can mark the post with one of the following tags. Tags are only recognised if a colon follows and not other decoration (e.g. brackets) are used. Any 'Re:' etc. is irrelevant -- the software skips it.

Good tag syntax:

 CHAT: Is the world really round?

Bad tag syntax:

 [CHAT]: Is the world really round?

These are the official tags the listserv software can be instructed to filter automatically. There are currently exactly three:

• CHAT: off-topic stuff of the conversational sort
• USAGE: natural language usage (all of the YAEPT and similar should use this)
• THEORY: linguistic theory discussions

Only the above three tags are official and configured for filtering. However, most advanced mail clients can be set to have extra filters, such as for the following unofficial tags:

• OT: should not be used, use CHAT instead as some software had problems with 'OT'
• OFFLIST: not actually seen on-list, this tag is added to make explicitly clear that you are taking a subject offlist (i.e. you're emailing someone directly about it)

The following are explicitly not included in the list of filterable tags:

• META: threads about CONLANG-L itself
• TECH: technical issues (e.g. email programs, list-related technical problems, etc)

Finally, there are two meta-tags:

• [CONLANG]: This should not be actually added when starting a new subject; you can make the listserv prepend it automatically to all email (so that you can set your mail client to filter all list traffic)
• WAS: used to change the subject, or more commonly, to indicate that the subject of a thread changed a while ago and you're no longer pretending it's about the original topic

Example:

 JAMA says flat earth leads to flat [@] (WAS: CHAT: Is the world really round?)

Note that tags ARE included after the WAS, but RE: is NOT, nor is [CONLANG].

Acronyms

List of acronyms specific to the Conlang Mailing List:

• AFMCL - "As for my conlang.."
• ANADEW - "A natlang's already dunnit, except worse"
• ANADEWism - Something you thought was unique, but ANADEW
• LCC - the Language Creation Conference
• NLF2DWS or NLWS - Non-linear [fully 2-dimensional] writing system
• YAEPT (the original acronym) - Yet Another English Pronunciation Thrread
• YADPT ... Dutch Pronunciation ...
• YAGPT ... German Pronunciation ...
• YAEGT ... English Grammar ...
• general pattern: YA(Language)(Topic)T

Other conlang-specific vocabulary

From here and here:

__lang

• a language characterised by ___ (generally a contraction)

artlang

1. A language constructed for the beauty or fun of doing so. [From art(istic) + lang(uage)]
2. (See conlang) [From art(ificial) + lang(uage)]

auxlang

• A language constructed to replace or complement natlangs to facilitate cross-linguistic communication. [From aux(iliary) + lang(uage)]

concultural [From con(structed) + cultur(e) + al]

• Adjective form of "conculture".

conculture [From con(structed) + culture]

• A fictional culture created as a backdrop to a conlang. See also "conworld".

conlang [From con(structed) + lang(uage)]

1. n. A constructed language
2. v. To construct a language

CONLANG (all caps), conlang-l, Conlang-L, or CONLANG-L

• A very active conlang mailing list hosted by brown.edu, and currently operated by Henrik Theiling

conworld [From con(structed) + world]

• A fictional world created to host a conlang or conculture. See also "conculture".

engelang /endZlæŋ/

• A conlang that is designed to certain criteria, such that it is objectively testable whether the criteria are met or not. This is different from claiming that the criteria themselves are 'objective'. For example, the Lojban/Loglan roots are designed to be maximally recognisable to the speakers of the (numerically) largest languages in the world in proportion to the number of speakers. It is not a matter of taste whether this criterion is met; it is something that can be tested. (by John Cowan) [From eng(ineered) + lang(uage)]

etabnannery /ra:mnænəɹi/

• The state of appearing entirely unpredictable, but, upon closer analysis, failing at even being that. [From Etá̄bnann(i), a conlang by Tristan McLeay, which was supposed to have an unpredictable orthography, but ended up just having a confusing one. Damn people trying to make patterns everywhere. At least it's a bugger to typeset!... errm... back to the derivation + -ery]

maggelity /mə"gɛ:lIti/ [From Maggel, a conlang by Christophe Grandsire which has a rarely predictable orthography]

1. The state of being entirely unpredictable. (Tristan McLeay)
2. The state of being regularly unpredictable, such as to horribly confuse anyone unfamiliar with the language, lulling them into a full sense of security before pointing out, cartoon-character-style, that the ground no longer exists where they're standing. (Tristan McLeay and H. S. Teoh)

Maggel's Paradox

• Your radical ideas have already occurred to others. (Muke Tever)

natlang [From nat(ural) + lang(uage)]

1. A natural language, i.e., one that naturally developed in the world, as opposed to a conlang.

ObConlang

• Just before something about conlanging in an otherwise off-topic post.
• From ob(ligatory) + conlang (i.e., an obligatory on-topic comment about conlangs just so that the post isn't completely off-topic).

translation relay

• A game similar to Telephone, wherein the participants translate a passage one at a time, in serial, into their own languages - and then marvel at how far from the original the translations have gotten.

CXS (Conlang X-SAMPA)

A version of X-SAMPA for use on the CONLANG mailing list. X-SAMPA is a way to write the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) using normal plain-ASCII text that everyone can read.

• Theiling Online: Conlang X-Sampa (CXS) - includes CXS-to-IPA conversion chart
• CXS (Conlang Modified X-SAMPA)

Resources

• Arthaey's Conlang FAQ
• LangMaker - repository of many conlang "biographies" [<-- edit me to say something smarter]
• Frath Wiki - a similar site, and host of the Conlang-L (wikified) FAQ
• Omniglot - which has information on more writing systems than you thought could exist