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

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

ASL came really naturally to me, too, when I was studying it. I did the first year of a four-year ASL interpreting course, so basically I learned one-third of ASL (three years of learning the language, one of interpreting). The syntax, word order, etc. make so much more sense to me than English.

I've always assumed this is related to how visual I am—I can't learn languages by hearing them and I can focus on IM conversations much, much more easily than phone conversations.

Unfortunately, I've forgotten all of it.