Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 10:49:17 -0800
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From: mrouse@cdsnet.net (Michael A. Rouse)
Subject: CONLANG: New Conlanger
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     I am new to this group, and (after reading the conlang/lojban
material) find I have a confession to make: I am guilty of being a
"computer nerd," "sci-fi buff," and "interested in logic and semantics"
(Ralph Dumain's charge in the LOJB_ESP.TXT file). I wouldn't be on
the Infobahn if computers didn't interest me, my first exposure to
constructed languages and what I call the "Super-Strong Whorf-Sapir
Hypothesis" was Samuel R. Delany's _Babel-17_, and as for the third
charge -- well, I'd hardly join the conlang discussion if language
construction didn't interest me.
     I'm writing a SF book (working title _Mental Software_) on my
computer about a constructed language designed on ANOTHER computer,
and the language has many lojban-like qualities (logic and arbitrary
precision), so I have Ralph Dumain's three strikes against me anyway :-)
Considering that I wrote the outline and the first two drafts of the
book without ever hearing of a conlang other than Esperanto/Ido, Basic
English, and Interlingua, the similarities between lojban and lincosha
(from lingua cogita, my fractured Latin version of "the language of
thought") are striking.
     Would it be appropriate for me to post my thoughts on "optimal"
conlangs in this group, or is there another area where such a
discussion would be more appropriate? I don't want to post in the
wrong spot, and get a flame from a polyglot ;-) I must warn you that
the theoretical structure of lincosha runs for several pages, and I'd
need to type up the whole thing from my notes.
     Assuming that a) I get this book finished and b) I get this book
*published*, would it be possible for me to use a smattering of lojban
vocabulary in my book? I will make certain that lojban receives credit
for it in an "author's note" or afterward, so think of all the free
publicity (grin).
     Finally, a question that *is* appropriate for this discussion:
Why not replace the ' character with "h," and replace stress (the kind
that invokes the capitalizing rule) with the ' (apostrophe)? Since I
have barely started learning about lojban, I know I'll make a mistake, but
here goes: Taj Mahal goes to taj my'AL in lojban rather than taj my'hal
(the latter uses ' as a signal that the next syllable is stressed).
taj my'AL is shorter than taj my'hal, but you must have access to another
complete character set (capitals) in order to make this possible.
Esthetically, taj my'hal looks better to me.

                                          Michael A. Rouse
                                          mrouse@cdsnet.net

P.S. I use "lojban" rather than "Lojban" because (as I read it) lojban
seems to prefer to use lower case with penultimate stress. I am not
emulating e.e. cummings.