hamilton@aztec.osbusouth.xerox.COM (Bruce Hamilton) (10/13/89)
As far as I know, Loglan is the only widely known (among scholars) language which has attempted to start from ground zero and build an easy-to-learn, unambiguous language. As has been pointed out, Esperanto (and Interlingua) are highly Indo-European/ Latinate. See your library for more info on Loglan (short for "logical language"). (And it may pop up on sci.lang once in a while.) --Bruce CSNet: Hamilton.osbuSouth@Xerox.COM UUCP: xerox.com!hamilton.osbuSouth 213/333-8075
webber@porthos.rutgers.edu (Bob Webber) (10/13/89)
In article <291@aztec.osbusouth.xerox.COM>, hamilton@aztec.osbusouth.xerox.COM (Bruce Hamilton) writes: > As far as I know, Loglan is the only widely known (among > scholars) language which has attempted to start from > ground zero and build an easy-to-learn, unambiguous > language. As has been pointed out, Esperanto (and > Interlingua) are highly Indo-European/ Latinate. Actually I have been reading Ogden's The System of Basic English (Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1934) recently and one of the main points it makes is: No other existing language can be simplified to anything like the same extent. The chief difficulties of normal English are eliminated in Basic. One result of this analysis and simplification of normal English is that Basic is very similar in character to Chinese -- which gives it a special claim as a medium of communication with and in the East. > See your library for more info on Loglan (short for > "logical language"). (And it may pop up on sci.lang once > in a while.) As far as I know, the only thing a person can reasonably expect to find in a library on loglan would be the June 1960 Scientific American article on it. There is a substantial privately published literature on loglan, but libraries tend not to get books/magazines that aren't carried by major publishers. To the best of my knowledge, there are now two separate organizations for loglanists: The Loglan Institute, Inc (1701 Northeast 75th Street, Gainesville Florida 32061) and The Logical Language Group (President and Editor Bob LeChevalier, 2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031). The Loglan Institute was the original group and still publishes language overviews and dictionaries as well as carrying software to help learners (both IBM-PC and Macintosh versions). The 4th edition of Loglan 1: A Logical Language should now be out (599 pages, ISBN 1-877665-0-2, $21.50) [by way of comparison, the 1975 3rd edition was 300 pages]. Both organizations have regular newsletters, etc. --- BOB (webber@athos.rutgers.edu ; rutgers!athos.rutgers.edu!webber)
jans@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Jan Steinman) (10/14/89)
<As far as I know, Loglan is the only widely known (among scholars) language which has attempted to start from ground zero and build an easy-to-learn, unambiguous language.> Although they already had a spoken language they liked, a Korean king (Sejong?) commissioned scientists and linguists to create the written form of Hangul. I think this was in the early 1500s. This is the only case I know of a language transcription system in common use being invented, rather than evolved. Hangul is completely phonetic. I spent a year in Korea, and was able to read street signs and restaurant menus within a week of arrival, meaning I could pronounce the words properly. Unfortunately, simple syntax and semantics are not spoken Hangul's stong point, but the success of written Hangul (Korea's 100% literacy rate is higher than most western nations) might serve as an example that something more ambitious, like Loglan, could get off the ground. (Now we just have to get a king behind it!) Jan Steinman - N7JDB Electronic Systems Laboratory Box 500, MS 50-370, Beaverton, OR 97077 (w)503/627-5881 (h)503/657-7703
peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) (10/17/89)
In article <6142@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM> jans@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Jan Steinman) writes: > This is the only case I know of a language > transcription system in common use being invented, rather than evolved. The written form of the Indonesian language was developed at Sydney University, I believe. Also, many preliterate languages have deliberately adopted phonetic subsets of the English alphabet (Hawaiian, for example). There was also an American Indian language whose written form was similarly derived. (more info on these welcome, of course) -- Peter da Silva, *NIX support guy @ Ferranti International Controls Corporation. Biz: peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180. Fun: peter@sugar.hackercorp.com. `-_-' "That particular mistake will not be repeated. There are plenty of 'U` mistakes left that have not yet been used." -- Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)