Thursday, May 8, 2008

I can has light?

So the Lolcat Bible will likely induce eye-rolling for most people, but I think it's kind of an interesting linguistic phenomenon. Lolcat is a brand new language, spawned by the Internet. Is it a natural language or an artificial language? Semi-synthetic, maybe?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm really not convinced that Lolcat is a language at all. It's more a collecxtion of here-today, gone-tomorrow jargon.

If you're interested in a (relatively) new planned language which belongs to no one country or group of states. Take a look at www.esperanto.net

Esperanto works! I've used it in speech and writing in a dozen countries over recent years.
Indeed, the language has some remarkable practical benefits. Personally, I've made friends around the world through Esperanto that I would never have been able to communicate with otherwise. And then there's the Pasporta Servo , which provides free lodging and local information to Esperanto-speaking travellers in over 90 countries. In the past tear I have had guided tours of Berlin and Milan in the planned language. I have discussed philosophy with a Slovene poet, humour on television with a Bulgarian TV producer. I've discussed what life was like in East Berlin before the wall came down, how to cook perfect spaghetti, the advantages and disadvantages of monarchy, and so on. I recommend it, not just as an ideal but as a very practical way to overcome language barriers.

Bondezirojn! Best wishes!

Margaret Taylor said...

Yes, I've heard of Esperanto. I think artificial languages are way cool, and I mean to learn it one day, but I haven't had the time yet.

Maybe Lolcat is a sort of creole? Creole languages certainly weren't considered respectable when they were new, but over time they evolved into actual languages.