From: cbmvax!uunet!mullian.ee.Mu.OZ.AU!nsn
  (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for <conlang@buphy.bu.edu>); Mon, 23 Sep 1991 14:51:02 +1000
Message-Id: <199109230451.AA25993@munagin.ee.mu.OZ.AU>
To: "Mark E. Shoulson" <shoulson@sirius.ctr.columbia.edu>
Cc: jrk@information-systems.east-anglia.ac.uk, conlang@buphy.bu.edu,
        nsn@mullian.ee.Mu.OZ.AU
Subject: Re: Text samples 
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 20 Sep 91 10:37:23 EDT."
             <9109201437.AA20632@BU.EDU> 
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 91 14:51:01 +1000
Status: RO

Quoth Mark:

>Jabberwocky isn't the greatest of samples, though it is certainly something
>interesting, and I'd be interested in seeing translations of it.  Fact is,
>it's not a very good sample of English!  Doesn't prove much to me if you
>can make up "nonsense"/weird portmanteau words in your conlang!

Portmanteaux that are evocative of other words as effectively as in Jabberwocky?
It is too a great sample - too great, in fact, for an AL. I remember the stares
of incomprehension of Espists confronted with a Jabberwockish canto from Auld's
Infana Raso - actually no I don't, but I hear most are bewildered by it. The
acquisition of the poetic function of language by the entire community, as 
opposed to an elite, may well be tested by how well a Jabberwocky-equivalent
goes over.

Oh, and the Esp Jabberwocky in the PLS is pretty poor, IMO.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Nick Nicholas, Melbourne Uni, Australia.  nsn@{munagin.ee|mullauna.cs}.mu.oz.au
"Despite millions of dollars of research, death continues to be this nation's
number one killer"  - Henry Gibson, Kentucky Fried Movie (love the last scene!)
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