Subject: Re: [lojban] Why constructed languages?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2000 11:04:00 EDT

In a message dated 00-06-03 09:48:24 EDT, aulun wrote:

<< I'd be interested in hearing your opinions. E.g., was Lojban/Loglan
inventor's idea similar to Zamenhof's? (Z.'s 'Esperanto' was the
*Hope* 
getting people(s) united in freedom, peace and 'understanding'. >>
Nope! He originally (and to the end, officially) designed the language as a 
tool for testing the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (roughly that certain features of 
the language you speak determine/limit/affect the view of the world you 
inhabit). This early got hooked up with computerites in one way or another: 
I proposed using Loglan as an interlingua for machine translation in 1961 and 
I may not have been the first, others have sugested Loglans for spoken 
computer programming languages at various levels , still other have suggested 
it as an auxiliary language for special projects where lack of ambiguity is 
desirable along with the possibility for normal conversation (patent law got 
the most attention recently). I don't off-hand know anyone who (publicly) 
advocates a Loglan for an Esperantoish role across the board. And, while 
some people might think that talking a logical language and one without 
built-in cultural biases would make for a less hostile world, no one has 
(publicly) claimed this sort of result -- rational discussion instead of 
fiery rhetoric at the peace table, for example -- would surely flow from 
adopting a Loglan for general or diplomatic use.