aUI (language)
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aUI | ||
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Created by: | John W. Weilgart | 1962 |
Setting and usage: | Designed so that ideally, the meaning of each phoneme would tie into its properties | |
Total speakers: | — | |
Category (purpose): | constructed language logical or philosophical language aUI |
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Language codes | ||
ISO 639-1: | none | |
ISO 639-2: | art | |
ISO 639-3: | – | |
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. |
aUI is a constructed language credited to John W. Weilgart, created in the beginning of the 1960s. Because of its structure it is clasified as a logical language or philosophical language.
[edit] History
aUI first appeared in the 1962 publication "aUI: The Language of Space: Pentecostal Logos of Love & Peace" and is described by Weilgart to be a purely logical and rational language.
John W. Weilgart, a psychiatrist from Iowa of Austrian origin claims to have learned the language from a being of outer space. The word "aUI" means (in aUI) "mind-space-sound". Other books by the same author analyzing this language more deeply are "aUI: The Language of Space: For the First Time Represented and Adapted to the Needs of This Planet" (1967) and "Cosmic Elements of Meaning: Symbols of the Spirit's Life: A Cosmology for Mankind's Survival in the Atomic Age of Space" (1975).
[edit] Characteristics
aUI has 42 phonemes (including nasalized variations on the vowels for numbers), each with an associated meaning:
- a (pronounced like a in about): 'space'
- e (pronounced like e in bend): 'movement'
- i (pronounced like i in win): 'light'
- u (pronounced like u in bush): 'human'
- o (pronounced like o in port): 'life'
- y (pronounced like ü in German fünf): 'negative'
- q (pronounced like eu in French jeune): 'condition'
- A (pronounced like a in water): 'time'
- E (pronounced like ai in hair): 'matter'
- I (pronounced like ee in sleep): 'sound'
- U (pronounced like oo in soon): 'mind'
- O (pronounced like o in go): 'feeling'
- a*: 1 (asterisk indicates that the sound is short, nasal and stands for a numeral)
- e*: 2
- i*: 3
- u*: 4
- o*: 5
- A*: 6
- E*: 7
- I*: 8
- U*: 9
- O*: 10
- y*: 0
- b: 'together'
- c (pronounced like sh in short): 'being'
- d: 'through'
- f: 'this'
- g: 'inside'
- h: 'question'
- j (pronounced like s in television): 'equal'
- k: 'above'
- l: 'round'
- m: 'quality'
- n: 'quantity'
- p: 'before'
- r: 'positive'
- s: 'thing'
- t: 'toward'
- v: 'active'
- w: 'power'
- x (pronounced like ch in Bach): 'relation'
- z: 'part'
The language was designed so that ideally, the meaning of each phoneme would tie into its properties. The phoneme /b/, for instance, meaning "together", is pronounced with the lips pressed together. The short i, which means "light", takes the brightest, highest-frequency sound, while the long I, which means "sound", takes longer to say, because sound travels more slowly than light.
Each phoneme also has a character that represents its meaning. The symbol for a, meaning "space", for instance, is a circle to enclose an open space. The symbol for e, meaning "movement", follows the movement of a spiral nebula. The u, meaning "human", is a caret shape, suggesting two legs. The o, meaning "life", is represented by the shape of a leaf, plants and photosynthesis forming the basis of all life. The v, meaning "active", is represented by a lightning bolt, the most active thing in nature. The character for g, meaning "inside", is a dot inside a circle. The character for t, meaning "toward", is a split arrow shape pointing towards the right.
aUI attempts oligosynthesis.
[edit] External links and references
- Alan Libert, A Priori Artificial Languages. Lincom Europa, Munich, 2000. ISBN 3-89586-667-9
- The "Language of Space"