The ConLang Confession
Anxiety.
It “weighs down the human heart.” That’s what the Bible says, in Proverbs 12:25. But “a good word cheers it up.”
But what if you can’t find a good word?
That’s the problem that 28-year-old Sonja Kisa faced when she was working as a translator in Toronto. She was feeling depressed and overwhelmed, and none of the words she knew in French, English, German or Esperanto were giving her any relief.
So she created her own language, something simple to ease her mind and clarify her thoughts.
According to The Los Angeles Times (August 24, 2007), she called it Toki Pona — “good language” — and gave it just 120 words.
“Ale li pona,” she said to herself. Good words meaning “Everything will be OK.”
This new language helped to ease her mind, and then, much to Sonja’s surprise, the language took off. There are now more than 100 Toki Pona speakers — people who sing Toki Pona songs, write Toki Pona poems, and chat with a Toki Pona vocabulary.
Maybe someday there will be a Toki Pona Bible.
This is all part of a strange and surprising surge in new languages. Back in the day, only Star-Trek-loving Klingon imitators and J.R.R. Tolkien fans got excited about invented vocabularies. But now constructed languages are flourishing on the Internet and creeping into the real world. A website called Langmaker.com lists over 1,900 made-up languages, and it gives credit to more than 1,000 language creators.
Not surprisingly, these inventors have created a word for what they do: ConLang. It’s short for “constructed languages.”
Matthew 16 is full of invented vocabulary, including the words that Simon Peter speaks to Jesus in a ConLang Confession: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (16:16). From start to finish, this passage presents a fresh language for faithfulness, one that can continue to give us the new words we need.
It “weighs down the human heart.” That’s what the Bible says, in Proverbs 12:25. But “a good word cheers it up.”
But what if you can’t find a good word?
That’s the problem that 28-year-old Sonja Kisa faced when she was working as a translator in Toronto. She was feeling depressed and overwhelmed, and none of the words she knew in French, English, German or Esperanto were giving her any relief.
So she created her own language, something simple to ease her mind and clarify her thoughts.
According to The Los Angeles Times (August 24, 2007), she called it Toki Pona — “good language” — and gave it just 120 words.
“Ale li pona,” she said to herself. Good words meaning “Everything will be OK.”
This new language helped to ease her mind, and then, much to Sonja’s surprise, the language took off. There are now more than 100 Toki Pona speakers — people who sing Toki Pona songs, write Toki Pona poems, and chat with a Toki Pona vocabulary.
Maybe someday there will be a Toki Pona Bible.
This is all part of a strange and surprising surge in new languages. Back in the day, only Star-Trek-loving Klingon imitators and J.R.R. Tolkien fans got excited about invented vocabularies. But now constructed languages are flourishing on the Internet and creeping into the real world. A website called Langmaker.com lists over 1,900 made-up languages, and it gives credit to more than 1,000 language creators.
Not surprisingly, these inventors have created a word for what they do: ConLang. It’s short for “constructed languages.”
Matthew 16 is full of invented vocabulary, including the words that Simon Peter speaks to Jesus in a ConLang Confession: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (16:16). From start to finish, this passage presents a fresh language for faithfulness, one that can continue to give us the new words we need.
posted by Henry Brinton | 9:59 AM
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