Univocalic

A univocalic is a type of lipogrammatic constrained writing that uses only a single vowel, "A", "E", "I", "O", or "U", and no others.

Examples

• One of the best-known univocalic poems was written by C.C. Bombaugh in 1890 using "O". Bombaugh's work is still in print. An example couplet:

No cool monsoons blow soft on Oxford dons,

Orthodox, jog-trot, book-worm Solomons

• The Austrian poet Ernst Jandl composed his univocalic poem "Ottos Mops" (Otto's Pug) from German words with only the vowel "O".
• A contemporary example of English-language univocalic poems is Canadian poet Christian Bök's text Eunoia, published by Coach House Press in 2001. Each chapter is restricted to a single vowel, missing four of the five vowels. For example the fourth chapter contains only "O". A typical sentence from this chapter is "Profs from Oxford show frosh who do post-docs how to gloss works of Wordsworth.".^[1]
• An example of a univocalic novella is Georges Perec's Les Revenentes (sic), in which the vowel "E" is used exclusively.
• Höpöhöpö Böks by Icelandic poet Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl is a univocal lipogram using only the vowel Ö. It is composed as a tribute to Christian Bök's Eunoia.^[2]
• Eszperente is a univocalic form of Hungarian in which no vowels can be used other than "E". This task is eased somewhat as "E" is a common vowel in Hungarian. In fact the letter e can denote two similar but distinct vowels. There are poems and even some books written in Eszperente, mostly for children.
• Argentinean folk singer Leon Gieco released a novelty song in 1997 called "Ojo con los Orozco" ("Be Aware of the Orozco Brothers"); only the vowel O is featured in the song's lyrics; no other vowels are used.^[3] Its describes the personalities and proclivities of eight fictional corrupt politicians, all brothers within the same family. The rap song is in Spanish, with a heavy dose of Lunfardo, some English words, and a few pop culture references (among others, Don Johnson, Bon Scott, John Lennon and Yoko Ono are mentioned). The song's video makes heavy use of surrealistic images.

References