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jazzy_daveDavid J. Peterson "The Art of Language Invention" (Penguin Books)
This book was an awe-inspiring look into a level of geek to which few aspire, but those who want to try their geek credentials should attempt to read.
While getting extremely technical (a background/interest in or even passing knowledge of linguistics is highly recommended), Peterson drops in bits of humour that allow for at least some readability for the layperson (e.g., his rant about evil onions and the tidbit that "keli," the Dothraki word for "cat," is his cat's name). Since I do not know much about linguistics and some knowledge of semiotics, the first section on sound was painful to get through, but as the book went on I was able to appreciate the content more.
What was the most fascinating aspect to me was the intricacies of how natural human language works and how serious conlangers (from different sounds and grammatical structures to the evolution of the language) must take all of it into consideration.
One of the things I learned was that, quite possibly, conlanging is one of those things from which I need to put my hands up and back away slowly, because I could far too easily become interested, find myself sucked down a rabbit hole, and *poof* would go vast tracts of time I should be spending on one of the things I'm already involved with. I don't know if I would ever take the plunge – but I have too many hobbies and potential hobbies and projects and distractions than are good for me. Until I learn to do without sleep, I need to keep my distance from anything else that might suck me in.
What would have made this book better, was an audio recording to actually hear how the numerous examples of his (and the natural) languages are pronounced.
This book was an awe-inspiring look into a level of geek to which few aspire, but those who want to try their geek credentials should attempt to read.
While getting extremely technical (a background/interest in or even passing knowledge of linguistics is highly recommended), Peterson drops in bits of humour that allow for at least some readability for the layperson (e.g., his rant about evil onions and the tidbit that "keli," the Dothraki word for "cat," is his cat's name). Since I do not know much about linguistics and some knowledge of semiotics, the first section on sound was painful to get through, but as the book went on I was able to appreciate the content more.
What was the most fascinating aspect to me was the intricacies of how natural human language works and how serious conlangers (from different sounds and grammatical structures to the evolution of the language) must take all of it into consideration.
One of the things I learned was that, quite possibly, conlanging is one of those things from which I need to put my hands up and back away slowly, because I could far too easily become interested, find myself sucked down a rabbit hole, and *poof* would go vast tracts of time I should be spending on one of the things I'm already involved with. I don't know if I would ever take the plunge – but I have too many hobbies and potential hobbies and projects and distractions than are good for me. Until I learn to do without sleep, I need to keep my distance from anything else that might suck me in.
What would have made this book better, was an audio recording to actually hear how the numerous examples of his (and the natural) languages are pronounced.
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