So, I was talking to griffen.

[conuly]

He's apparently started to internalize ASL, which is just *so cool*, and I said it must be his "natural language". I just invented that to mean that this was easier for him to think in than many other languages, but it started me thinking - is it normal to have an internal cue towards a certain type of language structure - even when it's not your own?

Ages back, I started (but never finished, or even did very much with) a conlang that formed verbs from everything. Even though this never went anywhere, and I was done with it within a few days, since then I think things in terms of "bed-going" or "door-closing". It's just easier to say "I door-closed" than "I closed the door". Clearly, this isn't normal English structure. I'm a monolingual speaker (more's the pity...). So why do I find it easier to use this foreign construction? I shouldn't, should I? But I definitely do.

Comments

[amberite.livejournal.com]

Well, I know I'm absolutely no good at sign language, and can't even remember most of the basic signs they taught me as a kid -- they just went, uh, in one eye and out the back of the head, I guess. I even specifically tried to remember my friend merovingian's purposely silly phrase, "I turtle lesbian very," but now I'd be damned if I could repeat it. I know it has something to do with wiggling your thumbs.

But English, now, English I'm fabulous at. Furthermore, written English is more natural to me than spoken; I used to have mental images of text accompanying whatever I heard or said, and even now I can't remember a name without knowing a spelling for it, or being able to fabricate one. (And I just got accepted at University of Southern Maine's long-distance MFA program for creative writing -- eeeee!)

[conuly]

Congrats :)

I know what you mean about seeing spellings of words all the time. Bit distracting for me, though.