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Sydney Language Festival 2015Lingualumina

Alan R. Libert, University of Newcastle

I. Introduction

Lingualumina is an a priori artificial language:1

The primary objects of this Language are two-fold -- International and Philosophical.First, to afford a more easy and perspicuous mode of International communication than any

that has hitherto existed, -- to furnish a vehicle of expression which, being based on the primary elements of logical and scientific thought, shall be perfectly free from the innumerable anomalies and traditional conventionalities which beset existing languages, -- and from that perplexing vagueness of definition, and multiplicity of meaning by which nearly every word is beclouded and encumbered.

Secondly, it is proposed to offer this Language as a more fitting vehicle of Philosophic and Scientific conception, record, and expression,-- replacing many of the lingering barbarisms which still obtrude themselves into our scientific nomenclatures by terms more fitting the present advanced state of positive knowledge -- less whimsical and arbitrary -- and more definitely expressive of fundamental truths.

2. To attain these important objects, it is proposed to discard, in the construction of a Scientific Language, all the etymons as well as grammatical structures and canons of existing tongues. […]

3. Nothing remains, therefore, but to make a fresh start from the beginning,-- to draw out the plan of a Language entirely new; to create its fundamental Roots, and combine them in all their multiplicity of requisite combinations.

4. The Principles adopted as the substantial foundation of this mighty work are, Number, Resemblace, Antithesis, Generalization, and Analysis (Dyer 1875:1-2)

II. Writing System

It should be remarked that it is certainly not intended that the New Language should be written and printed in the extremely awkward, lengthy, and cumbrous manner here employed. The method has been entirely necessitated by the phonetic imperfections of our existing alphabet, and the difficulty, or rather impossibility of otherwise conveying an unmistakable impression of quantity and pronunciation. The author has invented a Phonetic Writing Alphabet of remarkable brevity, simplicity, and ease, for the writing of the Lingualumina, but which it was impossible to give in this work, as it will require specially engraved plates. (Dyer 1875:31)

III. Word ClassesA. Transcendentals

6. These words are so names by reason of their general and abstract nature; transcending in these qualitities … They designate such general notions as Time, Space, Motion, Power, Existence, Occupancy, Order, Mutation, Quantity, Quality, Relation, &c., &c. They all consist of monosyllables only … Their number amounts to 450. […]

8. The mode universally adopted to denote opposite meaning is the reversal of the word, thus:--Ree = cause, Eer = effect, Roo = tendency, Oor = indifference 9. All the words of this class … which stand for the same class of abstract ideas, will possess

the same consonant, either beginning or ending the monosyllable word; thus --Lee = linear extension Lā = angular extension

1 Emphasis (with bold letters) in quotations is mine; italics are in the original.

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Lâ = areal extension or area Lō = volumeLoo = superficial extension Lur = space in general

so that L is taken as the generic representative of Space and its relations, and the particular vowel which accompanies it defines what that special relation is. (Dyer 1875:2)

Verbs can be built from transcendentals:“The next modification of Transcendentals we have to consider is that of Actionals, commonly … and

absurdly called Verbs”. Dyer 1875:7)

(1) Lee = extensionLee-run = to draw out to effect extension [Run ‘action’]Lee-ru = to undergo extension [Urr-ŭ ‘susception]Lee-bu = to be in a state of extn. [Bur ‘state or condition’]Lee-su -- to extend or reach [Sur ‘being or existence’] (Dyer 1875:7)

“almost any word may be converted into an Actional … and thus a rich and enormous variety of this class of words be most readily formed and acquired. All the repulsive and perplexing anomalies of Verbs Irregular, Defective, and Deponent will be cleared away” (Dyer 1875:8)

Adjectives can also be built from built from transcendentals, e.g. Sur ‘existence’, Sur-vl/vu ‘real

Adverbs can also be built from built from transcendentals, e.g.Mar ‘greatness’ Mar-kwu ‘greatly’ (Kwur ‘manner’)

B. ArithmologuesInnu ‘one’, Ennu ‘two’, Annu ‘three’, Onnu ‘four’ … Kol-un-āj-u ‘348,000,000’

C. MetronymsThis class of words … comprises all those which are founded on numerical basis, and will be

used to designate objects according to their quantitative relations or ascertained measurements/50. These include, among others,--

1. The name of Geographical Points, Tracts, and Regions.2. The names of Planets, Stars, Star-groups, Nebulae, and Constellations.3. The names of Chemical Substances, -- elementary and compound.4. The names of Persons. (Dyer 1875:14)

“The names of Places and of Geographical Tracts will be based on their Latitude and Longitude, and will consist of two significant syllables, in which the latitude will be expressed by the former, and the longitude by the latter.” (Dyer 1875:15)

E.g. Finn-a-pīl-u ‘41º N, 108º E’,Vinnu-bīl-u ’41º S, 108º W’

All places, geographically regardable as points, are the primary subjects to be named by their method;-- Capes, Inlets, mouths of Harbours, Cities, Mountain peaks, or Summits -- as well as the Sources, Mouths, and Confluences of Rivers, Islands, Lakes, and Inland Seas will be named from their mean latitude and longitude … […] Groups or clusters of islands will be designated from the name of their Chief Island; or if about of a size, from the mean latitude and longitude of the group or cluster. Gulfs and Bays will be named from the like geographical position of their most inland point.” (Dyer 1875:16)

By this means the learning of Georgraphy would be facilitated a hundred-fold; for at the barest mention of any place, tract, or region, we should by its very name alone have its exact position on the Globe stereotyped on the brain for ever. (Dyer 1875:16)

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“Political divisions … will receive the names respectively of their seats of Government or Chief Towns” (Dyer 1875:16)

72. The next and last application of the Metronym … is the naming of Persons. Here, in like manner, the existing chaos of unmeaning and often grotesque and ridiculous names, will be superseded -- or rather (at first) supplemented by a rational name-list of a mnemonic and instructive character.

73. Thus, in the case of a living person, the arithmologue will express the year, and if desired, the month of their birth. In a person deceased … the name will consist of two parts, the first expressing the year of their birth, and the second their Age at death … Then a person born in the year 1810, will be named, as a matter of course, Ileem-u; in 1820, Ilām-ŭ … (Dyer 1875:19)

D. Genonyms“This class of words is so called from their expressing the Genus to which any species belongs. They may otherwise, and with equal fitness, be termed Class-Names.” (Dyer 1875:20)

E.g. Lŭ-beem-u ‘Mammalia’, Lŭ-bām-u ‘Birds’, Lŭ-bamm-u ‘Reptiles’

E. SententialsThis class of words receives its name from the fact that no sentence can be formed without them; and deprived of them, would cease to exist. A Sentential, therefore, is a sentence-former, and its essential function is either that of Affirmation, Denial, Equiry, Solicitation, or Command. (Dyer 1875:26)

They seem to be copulas

(2) Present IncompleteNitt-u ‘I am’ Need-u ‘we are’Nett-u ‘thou art’ Nād-u ‘ye are’Natt-u ‘he/she is’ Nard-u ‘they are’Nott-u ‘it (concrete) is’ Nord-u ‘they (con.) are’Nōt-u ‘it (abstract) is’ Nōd-u ‘they (abs.) are’ (Dyer 1875:26)

There is one feature of vast importance in this special department of the Lingualumina, which will distinguish the language for exactness and perspicuity above all the languages of the earth . I refer to the expression of the Personal Pronouns. […] It is with regard to the Plurals that I wish to speak -- namely, the plurals we and you. These, in all existing languages, are extremely vague and ambiguous.” (Dyer 1875:30)

(3) Pronoun Incomplete Present Sentential1. We = thou and I In-enz-u Nirr-un-ett-u2. We = he (or she) and I In-anz-u Nírr-un-att-u3. We = ye and I In-āz-u Nirr-un-ād-u4. We = they and I In-arz-u Nirr-un-âd5. We = I, thou and he Azz-ĭĕnz-u Narr-iett-u6. We = they, thou, and I Arz-ĭĕnz-u Nerr-ĭărd-u7. We = ye, I, and he Az-ĭn-āz-u Nē-arr-un-ād-u8. We = ye, they, and I Arz-ĭn-āz-u Narn-ĭād-u9. We = a body of people Eez-u Need-u10. We = (in the last sense) and thou Enz-un-eez-u Nerr-un-eed-u11. We = we and ye Ee-un-āz-u Nee-un-ādu12. We = we, ye, and they Arn-a-uneez-u Narn-ē-un-ād-u (Dyer 1875:30, with minor changes)

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IV. Sample sentences (Dyer 1875:32)

(4a) Năl un-urz-u-mŭ? ‘Who is he?’

(4b) Zinn-u-peen-u ‘My associate’

(5a) Need-u fur-mu? ‘Where are we?’

(5b) Fee-ku lŏĭn-u ‘In a pit’

V. Opinions of Lingualumina

Anonymous review of Dyer (1889) in Lucifer, Vol. IV, No. 24:526):Into the source of Mr. Dyer’s knowledge we need not enquire. Suffice it to say that a professional philologist will consider him as a ripe scholar. He probably, like many other, good men before his time, is writing a few hundred years in advance of the instruction of his audience. This is like the lady’s speech in Sheridan’s play, very much to the credit of his charity, if not of his judgment. Still, he has attempted a teaching which is absolutely impossible to be accepted by the vulgar, and we must remember that it is the vulgar who form the majority of the speakers of any language. […] Lingua Lumina … is as inflectional as the most ardent advocate of Southern European languages may desire, and appears to be formed on a clear plan. There is much even for the trained philologist to learn in the pamphlet, which puts some of the difficult points of the philology of the future in a nutshell. The proposed scheme will probably be adopted long before Volapük, which was founded on far less philosophical principles. We are able to recognize in this work, what is really likely to be a strong plant in the philology of the future. It is intelligibly and well written, and will evoke thought, and stimulate enquiry into some of the puzzles connected with word-knowledge in the future.

Couturat and Leau (1903:79):Comme on le voit, ce système soi-disant logique est le comble de l’arbitraire, de la fantasie et de l’irrégularité. Il a en outre un défaut qui tient à la nationalité de l’auteur: jamais un Anglais ne pourra concevoir une phonétique correcte et internationale, à cause de la détestable prononciation à laquelle sa langue l’habitue. Quoi de plus absurde que de prononcer une lettre simple i comme 2 voyelles (aï), et de rendre un son simple i par 2 lettres (ea, ee)?

Monnerot-Dumaine (1960:180): “Vocabulaire absolument arbitraire. Conjugaisons arbitraires, fantaisistes, irrégulières.”

References

Couturat, L. and L. Leau (1903) Histoire de la langue universelle. Librairie Hachette et Cie, Paris.

Dyer, F. W. (1875) The Lingualumina or Language of Light: A Simple, Self-Evident, Easy, and Philosophical Mode of International Communication between All the Civilised Nations of the Earth. Industrial Press, London.

Dyer, F. W. (1889) The Lingualumina or Language of Light:A Philosophical Language for International Communication. Part I. General and Introductory. Mark H. Judge, London.

Dyer, F. W. (1893) The Lingualumina or Languageof Light; A New Vehicle of Scientific and Philosophical Expression. Part II: The Genonyms. Waterloo and Sons Limited, London.

Monnerot-Dumaine, M. (1960) Précis d’interlinguistique générale et spéciale. Librairie Maloine, Paris.