invention and innovation

[Andrew Strader <strader@decode.is>]

Stephan wrote:
>also esperanto speakers often refer to the canons of the inventor. 
>seemingly no one wants to criticize him, but he himself said that 
>esperanto is the language of the esperanto speakers (as far as i 
>know). did MO say something similar to this? or is it solely you 
>decision to follow MO's canons? but what if he's wrong?

Whereas Esperanto is an attempt at a kind of linguistic perfection, Klingon 
is mainly an emulation of culture. As such, it can be just as "wrong" as 
Okrand wants it to be, as any natural language is. It is completely 
fabricated. I think we do criticize Okrand freely in our own ways. For 
instance, I think he has been "wrong" about the label of -'e'. I personally 
think he just didn't know the difference between topic and focus. 
Nonetheless, it is a real suffix demonstrated with particular usages, so the 
best we can hope for is an eventual deduction of its "true" function. Okrand 
has said something to the effect that he likes that people are thinking up 
their own ideas on the language. It's in one of his HolQeD interviews, I 
forget which one. This is encouraging to hear from him, because a few people 
around here develop an unhealthy Okrandian fundamentalism, which ultimately 
makes things unfathomably dull for the majority of us.

-- 
Andrew Strader