George Boeree | Re: [LFN] Re: Fwd: Lingua Franca Nova Enthusiast
- Autor: George Boeree (“cgboeree”)
- Tema: Re: [LFN] Re: Fwd: Lingua Franca Nova Enthusiast
- Data: 2010-10-31 12:36
- Mesaje: 3204 (a supra, presedente, seguente)
I think you have pinpointed the situation nicely. I would add that the countries of the world are way too busy trying to keep their heads above water - now more than at any time in the last half century or so - to pay much attention to the issue. But at least we can add an option for future consideration. Regarding the other languages out there: When I was a teenager, I became interested in the issue and looked at the various options out there (which wasn't easy in the days before the internet!). Most of the information available was about esperanto, of course, and I proceeded to learn it. But I would come across such, frankly, dumb things that I would then improve upon. I got rid of the letters with diacritics (there are several very easy ways to do it), dropped the adjective agreement, dropped the accusative ending, etc. Of course, by the end, it wasn't esperanto anymore. I know that esperanto lovers probably will never admit it, but esperanto will never become "the" IAL, no matter how many millions enjoy it. The best way I can express it is that is simply looks like something from the Victorian era! Sort of like a steampunk language. Ultimately, though, it doesn't really matter what language becomes the international language, just that one does. Jorj On Oct 30, 2010, at 11:10 PM, ravendon wrote: > The superior thing doesn't always win. > Dvorak keyboard, BetaMax & Nintendo N64 come to mind. > > LFN, from what I've been learning so far, seems vastly superior to > anything else out there. I thought for a while that Ido & > Interlingua had potential, but as I studied them further, they > drifted further away. I couldn't seem to get into them. They made > strange decisions such as double letters, keeping the r trill > mandatory, etc. > > But, no auxlang has any chance of being anything but a niche > player, unless large, governmental organizations such as the Red > Cross, the United Nations, the US State Dept and similar > oganizations agree on using one common aux lang as the default > standard. > > Things have to get bad enough for them to want change. > > The current de facto standard is English and it functions well > enough i.e. business, science, that nothing else will be able to > move in and displace it. Unfortunately, for those of us who wish > for a simpler, more scientific & more universal answer. > > --- In LinguaFrancaNova@yahoogroups.com, Paul Bartlett > <bartlett@...> wrote: > > > > On Fri, 6 Aug 2010, Steven Lynch wrote: > > > > > Dear George,  In spite of what was said in that message, to > me, of > > > all the languages I have investigated, LFN is the only one that > could > > > possibly work as a Lingua Franca, precisely because of its > > > simplicity. I certainly will use no other, and in fact I truly > wish > > > I could use it in my normal life as a first language! How much > > > simpler life would be for everyone. > > > > I am not George, and he must speak for himself. However, I have been > > around the constructed international auxiliary language (conIAL) > field > > for many years, and sadly, perhaps, it is not the linguistic > > characteristics of a language that lead to its success. Several > years > > ago I addressed this matter in my online essay "Thoughts on IAL > > Success" at http://www.panix.com/~bartlett/thoughts.html . I do not > > claim that this is the last word (far from it), but I have > pointed out > > that it is not theoretical linguistic characteristics that have a > lot > > to do with whether any one conIAL succeeds or does not. I myself > think > > well of LFN (and I mean that sincerely), but if it is to succeed, it > > has a long row to hoe. > > > > -- > > Paul Bartlett > > > I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it. — Mae West  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]