Conlanging And Audience Question

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LWFlouisa
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Conlanging And Audience Question

Post by LWFlouisa »

I'm well under way with development of Ahusacos, with a specific grammar pattern in mind. Although there are specific features, like an expansion of word genders for nouns. 4 sets of three word genders.

When finding language to borrow words words, has anyone else encountered a thing where the actual audience for it was different from what you were initially expecting?

For example, mine is closer to artificial creole / pidgen language derived from Western romance ( French in this case ), and Japanese. Although it evolved into a language in its own right at a later point.

And if the setting is already developed with its own history, will it cause issues marketing works in that language if the audience ends up being from that seemingly unlikely place over the sums of each country where the loan words came from?
Salmoneus
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Re: Conlanging And Audience Question

Post by Salmoneus »

I don't quite understand your questions, I don't think.

Do you mean that you've decided to create a conlang that borrows words from real language (French and Japanese), and are employing this in a novel (/webcomic, whatever)? And that you want to sell copies of this product to people who speak actual French and Japanese, and you're concerned how they will react to the conlang? As you hadn't anticipated this when making the conlang?

[except, you're still making the conlang, so...?]

If so, I wouldn't worry. Obviously, if you're making a conlang that draws from French and Japanese, your target 'audience' are going to be French and Japanese people, and ideally people who speak both languages. These will be the people who have the most interest in those languages, and who can appreciate the use you've made of their languages the best. It's like setting a novel in Latvia - obviously Latvians will be more inherently excited by that than anyone else will be. Non-Latvians won't understand all the references to this district in Riga or that household custom.

There is of course the problem of disappointing people - you don't want to appear exploitative, disrespectful, ignorant, or unimaginative. And when ou get people's hopes up and don't meet them, people can get frustrated. But - while imagination cannot be ensured - presumably you've extensively studied these languages before, or in the process of, making the language, so there'd be no grounds for disgruntlement.


I'm not sure what you mean by 'marketing works in that language' - presumably you don't mean works in the conlang? Nobody buys works in conlangs, because they can't understand them. I mean, there's been a couple of books in Klingon printed I think, but that's pretty much it, and, with respect, you're not Star Trek.
[I suppose there have been some songs in conlangs, but with very niche audiences. I don't know if anyone cares about the lyrics to most songs anyway, so...]

I also don't see where the history of the setting enters into this. So, to go back to the beginning, I'm not sure I really understand your situation.

[I mean, for a start, the idea of 'finding a language to borrow words' is a bit weird to me. Most conlangs don't borrow their words from real languages, and those that do have that as their central concept - if your concept is "make a French-Japanese creole", then you don't have to go find a language to borrow words from, it's right there in the concept which languages you need to be borrowing from...]



[Incidentally, a creole IS a pidgin that have 'evolved into a language in its own right'; that's the difference between a pidgin (an ad hoc invented communication system for speakers of two different languages with little or no bilingualism) and a creole (an actual language, with native speakers, that descends from a pidgin). If you speak German and try to work out how to communicate with a neighbour who is Indonesian, that's a pidgin; if you and your neighbour teach your pidgin to your respective children and they use it as a regular language, it then becomes a creole]
LWFlouisa
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Re: Conlanging And Audience Question

Post by LWFlouisa »

In fact that's kind of what I had in mind, basically it's a kind of Art Creole, that evolves into a full Pidgen, but with influences from other languages. Although the spelling is slightly different from either base language. A fictional dialect based on an alternate history timeline.
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