On Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 1:31 PM, Padraic Brown <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Some further thoughts on the question.
>
> Also consider this: I hold that conlanging is an artistic pursuit; but I
> don't believe that the conlang in and of itself is the objet d' art.


For me, the conlang itself *is* the objet d'art. Masterpieces of conlanging
for me include Rick Morneau's Latejami/Katanda, and Ithkuil. Lojban and
Klingon don't fit the bill as well for me. My criteria are subjective, to
be sure, but they include a feeling of awe at the complexity, detail, and
self-consistency, as well as being different from other languages. Another
possible criterion is the feeling that the creator "got it right", that
improvement is not really possible or desirable.

stevo

The
> conlang itself is simply the medium which the conlanger has created *in
> which* the artist will now write a masterpiece of language art.
>
> What *really* distinguishes Kerno from English? Except for one being a
> created language and the other being a natural language, I hold that there
> are no substantive differences. If I've done my job well in crafting the
> language, Kerno will be able to express any thought or emotion or describe
> any thing or discuss any idea that is humanly conceivable. It won't do it
> in the same exact way English does (but then, what's the sense in actually
> reinventing English itself?); it will do all that in its own way. But I
> think the artistic part of it comes in what I've written *with* the
> language, not the language itself.
>
> This is why I, at least, hold that conlanging is one tool or one activity
> within a larger armamentarium. What is a language if not a means of
> communication between intelligent beings? Thus the natural pairing of
> creating languages with creating cultures that use the languages. So,
> making the language is only part of the story, and therefore part of the
> masterpiece. It is when we combine a language with its proper culture and
> in its proper place (a country, a world, and entirely different set of
> dimensions) that, at least in my opinion, we can find our masterpieces.
>
> From my perspective, the masterpiece is not "Sindarin" nor even is it "A
> Elbereth", but rather the masterpiece is the whole legendarium -- all the
> component parts that fit together in a single, artistic whole. Like an
> opera or a ballet where you have music, song, dance, choreography,
> costume design, set design and all that goes into presenting the whole
> masterpiece. Seeing the grammar of a conlang is sort of like looking at
> a Magic Flute reduction for piano.
>
> Padraic
>