While on the way to my doctor appointment, I had this idea for a new language. It's mathematic in nature, which has been done before, but I thought I'd take the idea a bit further. Each letter of the Alphabet corresponds to a numeric definition. To start off I simply used the number in the alphabet as the number for the new language. Therefore, per the chart below, you can see what number each letter becomes.
A B C D E F G H I J K L
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
M N O P Q R S T U V W X
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Y Z
25 26
Next I thought it would be wise to include variations. For example I added characters and symbols to organize the language better, including pronouns, nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs.
NOUNS= 0 FOR SINGULAR 00 FOR GROUPS/PLURAL NOUNS
PRONOUNS= {0} FOR SINGULAR {00} FOR GROUPS/PLURALITY
ADJECTIVE=.0 FOR SINGULAR ..00 FOR GROUPS/PLURALS
Then I decided to code gender into the language by using symbols to represent masculine, feminine or gender neutral terms. I also included another few symbols to indicate tenses.
MASCULINE= #
FEMININE= !
GENDER NEUTRAL= ?
VERBS= >
ADVERBS=, >
PAST= \
PRESENT=\/
FUTURE=/
Once I had all the above marked down I thought it would be interesting to play around with the language a bit. I decided to code quotations and paraphrasing in a simple manner that would clearly indicate their usage within the numeric coding of the language.
I followed this up by making adjustments for plurality, singularity, shortened forms of words. I decided it would also be neat to change the code up a bit when letters repeat consecutively within a numeric language strand.
QUOTATIONS REMAIN “” FOR DIRECT QUOTES. USE “@” FOR PARAPHRASING
WHEN MULTIPLE LETTERS APPEAR TOGETHER AS THE B IN RABBIT DIFFERENT RULES APPLY
VALUES
FOR 1-13, USE SINGLE VALUE WITH ADDITION OF * BETWEEN THE TWO VALUES
FOR 14-26 WE DOUBLE THE FIGURE, WHICH BECOMES THE SYMBOL FOR THE TWO TOGETHER.
EXAMPLES:
RABBIT= 0 18 1 2*2 9 20 FOR NOUN USE SINGULAR OR ,> 18 1 2*2 9 20 AS IN RABBIT PUNCH
ATTACK= 0 1 40 1 3 11 FOR NOUN .0 FOR ADJECTIVE AS IN ATTACK FORMATION, OR > WHEN WORD IS USED AS A VERB
WHEN USING PLURALITY FOR THOSE AFFECTING THAT WORD ALONE
SUCH AS RABBITS= 18 1 2*2 9 20(18 1 2*2 9 20)
FOR SITUATIONS WHERE TWO SINGULARITIES ARE JOINED TOGETHER SUCH AS THE RABBIT AND THE BEAR, THE WORD THE IS NOT DEFINED, RABBIT =18 1 2*2 9 20, BEAR= 2 5 1 18 TOGETHER THE RABBIT AND THE BEAR= 18 1 2*2 9 20 + 2 5 1 18
FOR WORDS LIKE OXEN WHICH CAN REFER TO THE SINGULAR OR THE PLURAL WE DIFFERENTIATE BY PLURALITY RULES WHEN REFERING TO MORE THAN ONE THEREFORE OXEN = 15 24 5 14(15 24 5 14) WHEN OXEN REFERS TO ONE THAN 15 24 5 14 WOULD BE USED.
IF YOU ARE USING THE SHORTENED VERSION OF A WORD, SUCH AS OX INSTEAD OF OXEN YOU WOULD SHOW THIS ABBREVIATED FORM BY SUBTRACTION 15 24 5 14 – 5 14 FOR SINGULAR OR FOR PLURAL 15 24 5 14(15 24 5 14)-(5 14) +5 14
DIVISIBLE DEFINITIONS WOULD BE DIVIDED.
EXAMPLE: HIS OPINION WAS CUT IN TWO =
{0 8 9 19} 0 15 16 9 14 9 25 14 \,>23 1 19 >3 21 20 9 14 0 20 23 15 WOULD BECOME {0#} \(( 0 15 16 9)(9 14 9 25 14))
A BOY TALKED TO A GIRL. HE LIKED HER LOOK. SHE SAID THE OPPOSITE. THEIR CONVERSATION STOPPED.
#;0 \>20 1 12 11 5 4 (20 15) !;0. {#0} \ 12 9 11 5 {!0} 0 12 30 11. {!0} “5 11 9 12 %.” {# + !;0} 0 3 15 14 22 5 18 19 1 20 9 15 14 >|19 20 15 32 5 4.
There's much more I could do with this language, I could add specific codes for intent, like softly spoken, yelling etc.. I could add coding for gerunds, jargon & slang, prepositions etc..
As with any new language it would be difficult to understand at first, but with time we'd grow accustomed to it and gain fluency. Like I mentioned earlier, there are numerous mathematic languages out there, in fact computing code is greatly influenced by mathematics, where computer code is in essence a language of its own.
I just thought it would be fun, and it was, as is it any time we push our mind into new directions. Sometimes you just have to get an idea out from within you. This is what I believe happened here for me. The idea was stewing inside me while at the doctor's office and then picked up steam on the car ride home. There's no way I could have simply let the idea float away, it had to be put down visually.
This last bit here is essentially why I decided to share this language experimentation. As creators we have a responsibility to ourselves. We are given these thoughts and ideas, perhaps they amount to nothing, but we need to find out. Most of the time the idea isn't anything worthwhile, but it's only through engaging the idea that we'll find this out. If we don't engage the notion, we would never know, and perhaps that notion you let slip by was something of value. Anyhow, hope you all enjoy playing around with the language exercise. It wasn't what I was initially hoping for, but it was fun and sometimes that's all we should hope for.
If you come up with your own language, project or what-not let me know, I'd love to check it out. But always, and I'll stress it again, AlWAYS allow your ideas their opportunity to shine, as you'll never know if they're able to unless you try.
