First Language Creation Conference UC Berkeley - MLK 5th Floor - 23 April 2006 9am-5pm Tickets $5-25 as able (no one refused for lack of funds) FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO REGISTER: http://conlangs.berkeley.edu/ What Is the 1st Language Creation Conference? The Conference is a set of talks and panel discussions about various issues related to language creation, from several different perspectives. It includes both fairly academic linguistic discussions as well as more general sociological ones; voices from many parts of the conlanging community; and people from all over America. The conference is open to the public; preregistration requested. Lunch and snacks will be provided. What Is Language Creation? Language creation (or "conlanging" -- "conlang" is short for "constructed language") is the process of inventing and (usually) describing a new language. Though the extent to which a language is created varies, creators might include sound systems, grammars, and writing systems for their languages. Some creators are also interested in cosmogenesis: the creation of cultures and worlds in which their languages are used. What's the Point? People create constructed languages for a number of reasons. Artistic languages are often included in fictional works: for example, Tolkien's Quenya in The Lord of the Rings or Klingon in Star Trek. International auxiliary languages (auxlangs) are intended for communication between people of different native languages, usually to prevent one being elevated over others or to making learning easier; some famous examples are Esperanto, Ido, and Interlingua. Logical and philosophical languages are used to test linguistic (and other) theories; Loglan and Lojban are well-known examples of the former, and Suzette Haden Elgin's Láadan is an example of the latter -- which she incorporated into the Native Tongue series of novels. Talks Doug Ball: "Conlanging and the Linear Aspects of Syntax" Jeff Burke: "Language as Growth-in-Time" Sally Caves: "The Medium and the Internet Conlanger: Vision, Venue, and Play" John Clifford: "Semantic Primes: aUI to Esperanto with Stops Along the Way" Sai Emrys: "Non-Linear Fully 2-Dimensional Writing Systems" Matt Pearson: "Case, Aspect, and Argument Structure: One Conlanger's Investigations" David Peterson: "Down with Morphemes: What Word and Paradigm Morphology Can Teach Us" John Quijada: "Applying Concepts from Cognitive Linguistics to Your Conlang" Panels Conlang Teaching; Conlang Aesthetics; The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and Its Implications Sponsored by ASUC & Language Creation Society. Wheelchair accessible. FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO REGISTER: http://conlangs.berkeley.edu/ Print-ready version of this flyer at http://conlangs.berkeley.edu/flyer.pdf Please forward this to all relevant mailing lists, message boards, or people you know. Thanks!