[C18-L] imaginary grammars

[Robin Hamilton]

I'm not sure this is what the questioner was asking for, but it immediately
sprang to mind (and may have been what Swift was objecting to given the
general anti-Royal-Society context of his description of the Laputan
project):

            John Wilkins, _An Essay towards a Real Character, and a
Philosophical Language_ (London, 1668)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essay_towards_a_Real_Character_and_a_Philosophical_Language

Outside the temporal remit of the question, but cool if you haven't come
across it, is Luigi Serafini's _Codex Seraphinianus_ -- not just an
immaginary grammar but an entire encyclopedia, a la Borges.  There's even a
Rossetti Stone page.

Robin

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 8:52 PM
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: [C18-L] imaginary grammars

> ---------------------- Information from the mail
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: [C18-L] imaginary grammars
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On a list of 18th-century mavens and afficiondos:
>
> At 10/26/2010 02:35 PM, Ruth MENZIES wrote:
>>I was wondering whether anyone on the list could point me towards
>>imaginary voyages/utopias that present more or less detailed
>>grammars purporting to illustrate perfect languages (the kind of
>>thing Swift derides in Gulliver's Travels).
>>I am familiar with French texts of this sort (Veiras, Foigny, Tyssot
>>de Patot) but less so as regards works in English.
>
> I'll pass on any responses to the other list.
>
> Remember, the writer is almost certainly interested in the period
> before, say, 1850 -- so don't give me "Star Trek, Voyager".
>
> Joel
>
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