Hallo conlangers!

On Friday 17 August 2012 04:49:35 Jim Henry wrote:

> On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Jörg Rhiemeier <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote:
> > Here is something that I just came up with:
> It's pretty good, but it doesn't show clearly that the "a priori",
> "mixed" and "a posteriori" categories are orthogonal to the Gnoli
> Triangle categories.  My gzb is a mixed abstract artlang, and Lojban
> is an a posteriori logical engelang.  You could even have a mixed
> (partly a posteriori) exolang, if your aliens have borrowed a lot of
> words from human languages.

Sure, the a priori/a posteriori categories are orthogonal to
the triangle, and engelangs and abstract artlangs can also be
classified as a priori, mixed or a posteriori.  However, I feel
that this distinction is of primary importance in auxlangs,
takes a second rank after naturalism in artlangs, and after the
purpose of the language in engelangs.

In auxlangs, the distinctions "a priori/a posteriori" and 
"autonmous/naturalistic" do not seem to be orthogonal but
together form a spectrum:

Most schematic <------------------> Most naturalistic

A priori       Mixed     Autonomous   Naturalistic
                         a posteriori

Ars signorum   Volapük   Esperanto    Interlingua
   
In artlangs, they are orthogonal (don't forget that "naturalistic"
doesn't mean the same here as in auxlangs), as a priori artlangs
can be highly naturalistic (e.g., Quenya), and non-naturalistic
artlangs can be entirely a posteriori.

In engelangs, I think, the classification by purpose is the most
meaningful, but many purposes allow for both a priori and
a posteriori designs.

> On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 4:36 PM, Daniel Bowman <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote:
> > Your system makes a lot of sense, but I have one question:
> > 
> > What do you mean by "Abstract Artlang"?
> > 
> > Can you provide an example, or a description?
> 
> Larry Sulky's Qakwan, or my gjâ-zym-byn, would probably fit.

Yes, they are fine examples of abstract artlangs.

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