Re: are artificial languages scientifically interesting

["Arthur W. Protin Jr." (GC-ACCURATE) <cbmvax!uunet!PICA.ARMY.MIL!protin>]

Bab,
    you said:
> pautler@ils.nwu.edu (david pautler) says (12 Mar 91 15:59:02 GMT):
>>        I did not say that ALs have no good use.  I said there's nothing
>>particularly interesting about them (from a scientific viewpoint - this is
>>a `sci' group) *because* they're artificial.  Some interesting sociological
*1
>>behaviors may appear if these languages come into widespread use, perhaps
>>even some interesting linguistic phenomena if enough spontaneous innovation
>>occurs (although AL enthusiasts seem to want to prevent this).  But there
*2
>>certainly doesn't appear to be anything interesting about them now, because
>>AL enthusiasts in this group prefer to argue over which of several (truly
>>arbitrary) conventions are "better".
*3

*1) The list of scientifically interesting aspects of a designer language 
has a length which is proportional to the fineness of distinctions you can
represent; but even with a very course sieve the following will be found:

    1) If you accept even the weakest statement of the Wharf-Sapir
        hypothesis, a good DL will aid you in the representation and
        manipulation of problems in all areas of science.

    2) A DL is a useful tool to aid in the study of human thought because
        of the small perturbations that a DL can introduce.

    3) A DL is also good for the study of communications.

*2) The willingness of speakers to forgo spontaneous innovation (or to at
least forgo lasting incorporation of that spontaneous innovation) will be
indicative of the appreciation of the design of the DL.

*3) While for an Artificial Language the various conventions are arbitrary,
a Designer Language has, by its very nature, design criteria that valuate
the conventions (and everything else in the specification of the language).
(I believe) we, lojban enthusiasts, are only interested in other AL's and
DL's as they aid us in the design of lojban and what they teach us about
languages in general.

(I have to go, so I guess that this is as good a place to break it off as
any.)


Arthur Protin <protin@pica.army.mil>
These are my personal views and do not reflect those of my boss
or this installation.