archives of the CONLANG mailing list
------------------------------------


>From white@elf.dircon.co.uk Sat Jan  1 21:12:00 1994
Subject: Speedwords
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 1994 21:12:00 +0000 (GMT)
From: Jim Finnis 

Speedwords:

E bel, i r us c mu, i pu..

A couple of things. You mention that nouns don't inflect when preceded
by an adjective of quantity, but you don't mention how the plural is
formed otherwise. Appending an 's'?

Also, I can't see any means of emphasis in there - i.e. no "very". Does
one just use "mu" instead?

=============================================================================
Jim Finnis                     |       "Lpiq an lpiq asaqc, as upqca si enq"
white@elf.dircon.co.uk         |       ...!uunet!pipex!dircon!elf!white
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'"I am that merry wanderer of the night"? I am that giggling-dangerous-
totally-bloody-psychotic-menace-to-life-and-limb, more like it."
=============================================================================





______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From 71174.2735@compuserve.com Sat Jan  1 23:37:41 1994
Date: 02 Jan 94 04:37:41 EST
From: Rick Harrison <71174.2735@compuserve.com>
Subject: Speedwords

 2: Plurals can be indicated by lack of the singular article _u_
 3: or by adding the suffix -z.  The idea of "very much" (to a
 4: high degree) can be expressed by the augmentative/intensive/
 5: expansive suffix -e.
 6:  
 7: Does anyone have information on the pronunciation of
 8: Speedwords?  How to pronounce words such as "J", "K", "&c",
 9: and "x" is less than obvious.
 
You can tell it's getting late, this wretched line editor is
completely out of my control.  -RH




______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From elf!white@felix.dircon.co.uk Sun Jan  2 20:47:23 1994
Subject: Re: Speedwords
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 1994 20:47:23 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Jim Finnis" 

> 
>  2: Plurals can be indicated by lack of the singular article _u_
>  3: or by adding the suffix -z.  The idea of "very much" (to a
>  4: high degree) can be expressed by the augmentative/intensive/
>  5: expansive suffix -e.
>  6:  
>  7: Does anyone have information on the pronunciation of
>  8: Speedwords?  How to pronounce words such as "J", "K", "&c",
>  9: and "x" is less than obvious.
>  
> You can tell it's getting late, this wretched line editor is
> completely out of my control.  -RH
>

Been there, done that, bought the damn T-shirt... :-)

I'm not sure speedwords is intended to be pronounced because of the very
lack of such a pronunciation guide, and the emphasis on textual rather
than acoustic data compression. It is, it seems to me, primarily a
language for shorthand dictation.

In fact, after reading your notes, I played around with it and expanded
the bandwidth considerably by adding cases and verb moods/tenses using
reserved punctuation marks... although it's hardly a dictation language
after this, more a shorthand note-keeping language, which is what I
intend to use it for.

example:

I should have gone to your place with the books at the end of the year
J {$go >ep 'v l+bu$ l@ed l'an


Do you want my notes on this?

=============================================================================
Jim Finnis                     |       "Lpiq an lpiq asaqc, as upqca si enq"
white@elf.dircon.co.uk         |       ...!uunet!pipex!dircon!elf!white
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'"I am that merry wanderer of the night"? I am that giggling-dangerous-
totally-bloody-psychotic-menace-to-life-and-limb, more like it."
=============================================================================




______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From pnh@world.std.com Tue Jan  4 06:41:41 1994
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 11:41:41 -0500
From: pnh@world.std.com (Peter Harbo)
Message-Id: <199401041641.AA24157@world.std.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: Speedwords
Cc: pnh@world.std.com

It is obvious from reading these messages about Speedwords that Hogben was
very influenced by Dutton in creating Interglossa (including some borrowing
such as domi -> Interglossa postfix -do and camera -> -ca).  The extreme
agglutinate character of the vocabulary reminded me of Volapuek to a certain
extent...

Rick, thanks so much for making this info available.  How are you proceeding,
are you planning to scan the texts, or create abstracts of the information
and post them?  Also, could we obtain photocopies of the materials you 
are working from?

---
Peter Harbo | pnh@world.std.com


______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From elf!white@felix.dircon.co.uk Tue Jan  4 19:00:14 1994
Message-Id: <199401042223.AA18788@felix.dircon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Speedwords (rapmotz)
To: conlang@diku.dk
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 19:00:14 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Jim Finnis" 
X-Date: Today is Prickle-Prickle, day 4 in the season of Chaos, 3160.

Rick writes:

>  
> "Jim Finnis" white@elf.dircon.co.uk writes:

> > Do you want my notes on this?
>  
> Yes.  BTW, the notes that I posted were very sketchy and preliminary.
> Gimme some time to get something more complete ready to post before
> you start memorizing the vocabulary or doing anything equally
> drastic.  Here's some material that I've recently added to my notes...

OK, I've chopped them a bit to make them agree with the new stuff you
posted, more or less. The more case-based paradigm of the resulting
language takes a while to get used to, but I've been using these
modifications in my own shorthand (basically vowel-omission based;
nothing special) for a while now.

-------------------------------
Speedword Adaptations-

I've adapted the language to be considerably more complex, with a
different grammar to English utilising punctuation marks as case
markers, etc. This language will be useful to me for keeping notes
(especially in limited length fields) and might come in useful as an
on-line conversational language, much like Hakspek in the '80s hacker
community.

Anyway, here are the rough changes:

Verbs
=====

	Past and future tenses indicated by { and } verb prefixes respectively,
	with the perfect tense formed with the verb "e" (to be).
	
	examples
		I went	(imperfect)
		J {go

		I will go	(future)
		J }go

		I have gone	(perfect)
		J {e go

		I had gone	(pluperfect)
		J {e {go

	Imperative isn't marked at all, just use the infinitive.
		Do what you want
		fa z v vo

	The Conditional (would/could) is represented with a ? prefix. Examples:
		I would have gone with you, but...
		J ?{go +v, b...

		I could do that!
		J ?fa!

	"Ought/Should" (I forget the proper term) is indicated with a $ prefix
	($ for $hould!):
		And I should have known!
		& j ${sa!

	Verbs are negated by use of the -x or -o suffix, as below.
		I should not have done that
		J ${fax
	
	Passive voice can be indicated with -d.
	
Nouns
=====
	
	Plural indicated by a -z suffix (as in the original). The singular article
	is omitted (if Welsh doesn't need it, then I don't :-)

	adjectives to follow nouns, to allow easier use of...

	cases marked by punctuation _prefixes_
		'	:	genitive (apostrophe used as genitive marker in English)
				(of, about)
				(you can also the the original's '-suffix)
		>	:	dative (for or to)
		<	:	ablative (from, out of, made by)
		@	:	locative (at or in);
		+	:	associative (with, or using)
		-	:	disassociative (without)
		*	:	terminative (up to, until, before)
		:	:	prolative (via, by way of)

	This renders several words redundant.
	
	An example:

	I will go to your place with the books at the end of the year.

	I will-go to-place of-you with-the-books at-the-end of-the-year
	J }go     >ep      'v     l+buz          l@ed       l'an

	Of course, you could say "J }go >ep From hrick@world.std.com Wed Jan  5 01:33:55 1994
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 06:33:55 -0500
From: hrick@world.std.com (Richard K Harrison)
Message-Id: <199401051133.AA04338@world.std.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: Speedwords

 
pnh@world.std.com (Peter Harbo) writes:
 
> It is obvious from reading these messages about Speedwords that 
> Hogben was very influenced by Dutton in creating Interglossa 
> (including some borrowing such as domi -> Interglossa postfix -do 
> and camera -> -ca).
 
Well, hard to say who influenced whom.  Interglossa was published
in 1943.  It's not clear to me when Speedwords first went to press;
the Teach Yourself book was first published in 1951, yet Dulichenko
claims Speedwords got press in 1943, although Dulichenko's
bibliographic citations are undated... go figure.
 
In any event, there's always the possibility of two conlangers
reaching the same conclusion independently.  Many of the 3-letter
words in Speedwords are identical to words in my own defunct
project, Vorlin -- bel = beauty, ber = carry, cen = hundred, etc.
I had never heard of Speedwords when I started on Vorlin.
 
> are you planning to scan the texts, or create abstracts of the 
> information and post them?  Also, could we obtain photocopies of 
> the materials you are working from?
 
I'm abstracting the information into an article which I will post
here and publish in Journal of Planned Languages.  (This results
in a public domain file that can be distributed freely.)  
 
-- Rick Harrison
hrick@world.std.com, etc


______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk Wed Jan  5 12:43:21 1994
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 12:43:21 GMT
Message-Id: <10541.9401051243@s5.sys.uea.ac.uk>
Received: from [139.222.4.119] (jrk.sys.uea.ac.uk) by s5.sys.uea.ac.uk; Wed, 5 Jan 94 12:43:22 GMT
To: conlang@diku.dk
From: jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk (Richard Kennaway)
Subject: Re: Speedwords

On a whim, I started typing in the Speedwords dictionary.  Below is an
example of the format I decided on.  The hyphens are only there for the
convenience of computer programs, they're normally written as single words.
 I've got up to the letter e so far, the remainder will happen as and when
the fit comes upon me to process a few more pages.

As for pronunciation, I remember reading some brief remarks somewhere, but
I can't remember where, or find it in TYDS or the dictionary.  All I know
is that there was a standard pronunciation for the whole language.  I few
details remain in my mind.  The prefix u-, indicating present participle,
was pronounced by appending "ing".  One of the suffixes was pronounced
"ish".  Ampersand was pronounced "and".  Unwieldy consonant clusters could
be broken up with "uh".

For those who have the Speedwords materials, a question I haven't found an
answer to: where does the "st" element of "artryst" (architect) and "ekst"
(pastor) come from?  It looks like an undocumented suffix (derived from
English "-ist"), meaning "person who does".  I would have expected the "-r"
suffix (person).  Note that "salesman" is "acor", not "acost", so a
distinction seems to be being made.


&	and
&-e	etcetera

a	at,to
a-c-u	thereto
a-o	away

ab	about,concerning,re,regarding
ab-e	concern(n.)
ab-i	infer,relate

ac	buy,purchase
ac-o	sale,sell
ac-o-e	wholesale
ac-o-p	market
ac-o-r	salesman,vendor
ac-o-t	retail
ac-r	customer

ad	add,addition
ad-e	sum
ad-i	also,besides,further,moreover,plus,too
ad-l	extra,supplement
ad-o	deduct,subtract
ad-o-l	discount
ad-op-o	auxiliary
ad-pa	bonus
ad-s	accrue,accumulate


--                       ____
Richard Kennaway       __\_ /    School of Information Systems
jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk      \  X/     University of East Anglia
                        \/       Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.



______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From hrick@world.std.com Wed Jan  5 18:24:57 1994
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 23:24:57 -0500
From: hrick@world.std.com (Richard K Harrison)
Message-Id: <199401060424.AA07163@world.std.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: Speedwords suffixes

 
 Richard Kennaway inquires:
 
> For those who have the Speedwords materials, a question I haven't 
> found an answer to: where does the "st" element of "artryst" (architect) 
> and "ekst" (pastor) come from?  
 
>From the speedword _ist_?  (Dictionary page 20)
 
> It looks like an undocumented suffix 
 
Dutton says there are 20 suffixes, and I think I have found his
explanations of most of them, but there also seem to be some
undocumented ones: -st, as you mention, and -t (diminutive?).
Perhaps you will discover more as you comb through the vocabulary.
 
Dutton's suffixes are quite vague and his use of them is very
idiomatic and unpredictable, in my opinion.  Never in a million
years would I refer to a school as _ryu_ or to winter as _pea_.
 
---
Rick Harrison                                         hrick@world.std.com
 

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From C.J.Fine@bradford.ac.uk Fri Jan  7 15:30:29 1994
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 15:30:29 GMT
Message-Id: <18759.199401071530@discovery.brad.ac.uk>
Received: from Colin Fine's Macintosh (colin_fine.comp.brad.ac.uk) by discovery.brad.ac.uk; Fri, 7 Jan 1994 15:30:29 GMT
From: Colin Fine 
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: Re: Ptideep and Speedwords

I experienced a remarkable deva vu when I read the following in Rick's 
posting:

+++++++++>
	"The very-high-frequency words tabulated by Professor Horn are
expressed in Dutton Speedwords by single alphabetic letters standing
alone.  The next highest in his order of frequency are alloted two-letter
speedwords, and so on."
<++++++++

Many years ago (I would estimate close to 30) I saw part of a
satirical television play about a super-efficient language called
Ptideep. The satire was about organisational control - this thing was
introduced into a company in the name of efficiency, but the boss
wasn't allowed to go on a course to learn it because the application
had to be in it, or something. (To tell the truth I was a bit young
for the satire - maybe 11? Also I was young enough to be overruled
when somebody wanted to watch something else, so I don't know what
happened in the end).

But the bit I have always remembered is that the more common a word
was the shorter: the shortest defined word was a two-letter word
meaning 'productivity' - there was a one-letter word, but it was
unassigned, in case somebody should discover a word with a higher
incidence than 'productivity'. The longest word in the language was
the word for 'wombat', which had 319 letters.

Had the writer of the play come across Speedwords, or is this
independent creation?

	Colin Fine


______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From LEAVITT@Waisman.Wisc.Edu Fri Jan  7 05:27:20 1994
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 1994 10:27:20 -0500 (CDT)
From: Lewis Leavitt 
Subject: Re: Ptideep and Speedwords
To: conlang@diku.dk
Message-Id: <01H7EC13OHS2B8KT3H@Waisman.Wisc.EDU>

the name of the language was ptydepe
the play was called the memorandum 
and the author: slawomir mrozek



______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk Fri Jan  7 17:51:09 1994
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 17:51:09 GMT
Message-Id: <17409.9401071751@s5.sys.uea.ac.uk>
Received: from [139.222.4.119] (jrk.sys.uea.ac.uk) by s5.sys.uea.ac.uk; Fri, 7 Jan 94 17:51:09 GMT
To: conlang@diku.dk
From: jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk (Richard Kennaway)
Subject: Re: Ptydepe and Speedwords

>the name of the language was ptydepe
>the play was called the memorandum 
>and the author: slawomir mrozek

Vaclav Havel, actually.  It's available in English translation, in a volume
which also includes a play by Mrozek, which may be the source of the error.
 From the on-line library catalogue:

 Author:         Hay, Julius
                 Mrozek, Slawomir
                 Havel, Vaclav, 1936-
 Uniform title:  Das pferd, English
                 Tango, English
                 Vyrozumeni, English
 Title:          Three East European plays; [introduced by Martin Esslin]
                 The horse; translated by Peter Hay
                 Tango; translated by Nicholas Bethell and Tom Stoppard
                 The memorandum; translated by Vera Blackwell
                 Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970
 Series title:   Penguin plays
 Notes:          Contents: The horse/Julius Hay. - Tango/Slawomir Mrozek. -
                 The memorandum/vaclav Havel
 Subjects:       Drama--1901-2000--20th century--Anthologies

The sample of Ptydepe which begins the play looks just like what Speedwords
would look like if Dutton were Polish.

--                       ____
Richard Kennaway       __\_ /    School of Information Systems
jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk      \  X/     University of East Anglia
                        \/       Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.





______________________________________________________________________
 
 
 
>From hrick@world.std.com Tue Jan 11 18:24:55 1994
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 23:24:55 -0500
From: hrick@world.std.com (Richard K Harrison)
Message-Id: <199401120424.AA18250@world.std.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: World Speedwords Textbook

 
Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords focuses mainly on using Speedwords
stenographically, to encode English text.  Dutton hints that more
info about the grammar and pronunciation of the auxiliary language
version of Speedwords can be found in his _World Speedwords Text-book_.
Perhaps we should begin searching for said book.  Has anyone here
seen this book?  I'll be doing some searches in on-line library catalogs;
I encourage others to do the same.  It's got to be out there somewhere.
 
BTW, Dutton's full name was Reginald John Garfield Dutton.
 
---
Rick Harrison   hrick@world.std.com

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From KNAPPEN@VKPMZD.kph.Uni-Mainz.DE Wed Jan 12 16:55:00 1994
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 14:55 +0200
From: KNAPPEN@VKPMZD.kph.Uni-Mainz.DE
Subject: klingon-language-faq
To: conlang@diku.dk
Message-Id: <01H7LKV2GMVK0003E8@VzdmzA.ZDV.Uni-Mainz.DE>

In article <1994Jan11.144808.6314@nynexst.com>, baruch@nynexst.com (Robert Baruch) writes:
:Archive-name: klingon-language-faq
:Last-modified: Tue Jan 11 09:43:03 EST 1994
:Frequency: monthly (more frequently when unstabilized by additions)
:
:        Informational Posting on the Klingon Language
:
:                    alt.startrek.klingon
:
:This document attempts to store information on resources for the
:Klingon Language.  Any additions/corrections may be e-mailed
:to baruch@nynexst.com (Robert Baruch).
:
:All prices mentioned herein are as up-to-date as possible.  All
:trademarks are the trademarks of their respective legal entities.  All
:copyrights are copyright their respective legal entities.
:
:jabbI'IDvam DamughlaHchugh vIchel
:
:Qapla'
:
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
:
:Contents / Dochmeyvam ngaS Dochvam
:
:1.  So you want to speak Klingon.
:    vaj tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh 'e' DaneH
:
:2.  The Klingon Dictionary.
:    tlhIngan Hol mu'ghom
:
:3.  Klingon Language tapes.
:    tlhIngan Hol qawHaq
:
:4.  The Klingon Language Institute.
:    tlhIngan Hol yejHaD
:
:5.  The Klingon Language Postal Course.
:    tlhIngan Hol navHIjghach SoQ
:
:6.  Other Klingon Language Institute sponsored projects.
:    tlhIngan Hol yejHaD numlu'ta'bogh jInmolmey pIm
:
:7.  Klingon Language mailing lists.
:    tlhIngan Hol HablI'mey
:
:8.  The Klingon writing system.
:    pIqaD
:
:9.  Klingon language translation programs
:    tlhIngan Hol mughwI'mey
:
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
:
:1.  So you want to speak Klingon.
:    vaj tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh 'e' DaneH
:
:  All those neat harsh-sounding words, saliva flying everywhere,
:and no words for "please" or "thank you".  You knew you just 
:*had* to learn this language, if only to weird out your friends.
:
:  You need to get a hold of some serious resources.  This document
:will tell you all about those resources.  Plan on spending some
:money.  And getting a large supply of napkins.
:
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
:
:2.  The Klingon Dictionary.
:    tlhIngan Hol mu'ghom
:
:  This is the first reference any student of the Klingon Language
:should purchase.  Half of it is a Klingon-English / English-Klingon
:dictionary containing approximately 1850 words.  The other half
:is an explanation of Klingon grammar.
:
:  Make sure you get the 1992 version.  This version contains an
:addendum.
:
:  Purchasing information follows:
:
:    Title:               The Klingon Dictionary
:    Author:              Marc Okrand
:    Publisher:           Pocket Books / Simon & Schuster Inc.
:    Year of Publication: 1992
:    ISBN:                0-671-74559-X
:    Price:               US $10
:
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
:
:3.  Klingon Language tapes.
:    tlhIngan Hol qawHaq
:
:  Yes, S&S realized the financial potential of all those
:weird Trekkies.  Instead of saying, "Get a life!" they said, "Get
:a tape!"  And so we now have two fine cassette tapes, "Conversational
:Klingon" and "Power Klingon".
:
:  "Conversational Klingon" is a humorous, extremely condensed form 
:of The Klingon Dictionary.  Nevertheless, given that you get to actually
:hear Marc Okrand, the inventor of the Klingon language, get a sore
:throat over his Klingon consonants, and given that Michael Dorn, who plays
:Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation, narrates, this is one tape
:not to be missed.
:
:  "Power Klingon" is the successor to "Conversational Klingon".
:While CK taught the basics of the language, "Power Klingon" moves
:ahead to provide you with rich details of Klingon cultural events
:and rituals.  My favorite part was the one about mating rituals --
:Hey!  Slow down!  It'll still be there when you get there!
:
:  Purchasing information follows:
:
:    Title:               Conversational Klingon
:    Author:              Marc Okrand
:    Publisher:           Simon & Schuster Inc.
:    Year of Publication: 1992
:    Tape Nr:             79739-5
:    Price:               US $12
:
:    Title:               Power Klingon
:    Author:              Marc Okrand and Barry Levine
:    Publisher:           Simon & Schuster Inc.
:    Year of Publication: 1993
:    Tape Nr:             87975-8
:    Price:               US $12
:
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
:
:4.  The Klingon Language Institute
:    tlhIngan Hol yejHaD
:
:  Rather than describing the KLI myself, I'll let this excerpt from
:the introductory letter of the KLI do the job:
:
:    Now in its second year of operation, the Klingon Language
:  Institute continues its mission of bringing together individuals
:  interested in the study of Klingon linguistics and culture, and
:  providing a forum for discussion and the exchange of ideas.  Our
:  membership is diverse, including Star Trek's fans with curiosity
:  and questions about Klingon language, RP gamers wishing to lend
:  some authenticity to a Klingon character, as well as students and
:  professionals in the fields of linguistics, philology, computer
:  science, and psychology who see the Klingon language as a useful
:  metaphor in the classroom or simply wish to mix vocation with
:  avocation.  Though based in the USA, the Institute is actually an
:  international endeavor, presently reaching thirteen countries on
:  six continents.
:
:  Now doesn't your heart speed up when you read that?  The KLI's director 
:is Lawrence M. Schoen, PhD.  The KLI publishes the Journal of the Klingon 
:Language Institute, HolQeD. It is sent out four times per year.  Various 
:other things, such as sponsored projects, are available through the KLI, 
:and are mentioned elsewhere in this document.
:
:  Purchasing information follows:
:
:    Membership:    Klingon Language Institute
:    Director:      Lawrence M. Schoen, PhD
:    Address:       PO Box 634
:                   Flourtown, PA  19031-0634
:                   USA
:    Contact:       angghal@aol.com
:    Price:         US: $15  Canada: $18  Elsewhere: $21
:                   Institutional:  US: $24  Canada: $27  Elsewhere: $30
:                   US funds only.  All checks payable to
:                   Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen, KLI.
:    Benefits:      Subscription to HolQeD, annual KLI Directory,
:                   KLI membership card
:
:    Title:         HolQeD [The Journal of the 
:                   Klingon Language Institute]
:    Publisher:     The Klingon Language Institute
:    Editor:        Lawrence M. Schoen, PhD
:    ISSN:          1061-2327
:    Frequency:     Four times per year
:    Price:         Free w/membership to KLI.
:                   $4 per copy
:
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
:
:5.  The Klingon Language Postal Course.
:    tlhIngan Hol navHIjghach SoQ
:
:  The Klingon Language Institute is sponsoring an excellent free course
:by mail.  Here's the way it works.  To begin, send a self-addressed
:manilla envelope, big enough for 8-1/2" x 11" papers, stamped with enough 
:postage for a little over one oz. to David Barron, whose address is below.  
:You will get back Lesson One. Learn the lesson, and answer the questions 
:at the end.  Send your answers, along with another SASE, back to Mr.
:Barron.  You will get back Lesson Two, along with your corrected answers
:to Lesson One.  The cycle continues until the lessons run out.  There
:are currently about ten lessons.
:
:  This course presents much of the material of The Klingon Dictionary
:in a more "bite-sized" form, allowing students to gradually increase
:their knowledge of Klingon rather than giving it to them a la fire hose.
:
:  Purchasing information follows:
:
:    Title:         Klingon Language Postal Course
:    Publisher:     David Barron
:    Address:       PO Box 37
:                   Eagle, ID  83616
:                   USA
:    Contact:       barron57@aol.com
:                   (208) 939-4287 Tue-Fri 9h-17h MST, Sat 10h-14h MST
:    Price:         Free (except for postage)
:
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
:
:6.  Other Klingon Language Institute sponsored projects.
:    tlhIngan Hol yejHaD numlu'ta'bogh jInmolmey pIm
:
:  The KLI currently has four sponsored projects other than the 
:Klingon Language Postal Course.  They are the Klingon Writing
:Project, the Extended Corpus Project, the Klingon Bible Translation
:Project and the Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project.
:
:  The Klingon Writing Project accepts fiction, nonfiction, and peotry
:written in Klingon.  There is a proposed annual supplement for KLI
:members, which presumably will contain the best works.
:
:  The Extended Corpus Project is "an effort to compile a comprehensive
:glossary of a Klingon names, terms, and phrases from the multitude of
:canonical fiction published."
:
:  The Klingon Bible Translation Project is a project to translate the Hebrew
:and Christian Scriptures (AKA Old and New Testaments) into Klingon.
:
:  The Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project seeks to translate
:Shakespearean prose from English into "the original Klingon".
:
:  Information on these projects follows:
:
:    Project:       Klingon Writing Project
:    Coordinator:   Lawrence M. Schoen, PhD
:    Address:       PO Box 634
:                   Flourtown, PA  19031-0634
:                   USA
:
:    Project:       Extended Corpus Project
:    Coordinator:   c/o David Sturn
:    Address:       PO Box 2832
:                   Auburn, AL  36831-2832
:                   USA
:
:    Project:       Klingon Bible Translation Project
:    Coordinator:   Kevin Wilson
:    Address:       409 Prospect Street, Box 330A
:                   New Haven, CT  06511
:                   USA
:
:    Project:       Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project
:    Coordinator:   Sarah Ekstrom (joyleaf@vnet.net)
:    Address:       730 Lamar Ave.  [ may change -- use e-mail ]
:                   Charlotte, NC  28204
:                   USA
:
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
:
:7.  Klingon Language mailing lists.
:    tlhIngan Hol HablI'mey
:
:  A Klingon Language mailing list is available for those with access
:to Internet mail.  Send e-mail with Subject: subscribe to
:
:  tlhIngan-Hol-request@klingon.east.sun.com
:
:  The FAQ for the mailing list will be mailed to you upon subscription.
:Information relating to translation is present in that FAQ.
:
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
:
:8.  The Klingon writing system.
:    pIqaD
:
:  There have been several Klingon writing systems published, but
:there is really only one which is correct.  Basically, there are
:three types of writing systems -- the Mandel set, the Paramount set,
:and everything else.
:
:  The Mandel set is reputed to be the first Klingon writing system.
:It is in one-to-one correspondence to the English alphabet, which
:makes it unsuitable for writing in Klingon.  It is solely used for
:artistic appeal.  This set should not be used.
:
:  The Paramount set is the correct Klingon writing system.  It is in
:one-to-one correspondence with the Klingon phoneme set.  As such, 
:it can be used for writing in Klingon.  The KLI supports the use
:of this set.  Displays in Star Trek movies and ST:TNG which use this
:set don't really say anything in Klingon -- the letters are used
:for artistic appeal.
:
:  Everything else is basically a sorry attempt to fit the English
:alphabet to Klingon.  They never work, and should not be used.
:
:  A Postscript font on disk of pIqaD -- both the Mandel set
:and the Paramount set -- is available through the KLI for US $13.
:Mac/Type I and Mac/TrueType are also available.
:
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
:
:9.  Klingon language translation programs
:    tlhIngan Hol mughwI'mey
:
:  No, really.  They're very difficult to write, especially for us
:amateur linguists ;-)  There are several translation programs being
:worked on.  I am working on a C++/yacc E-to-K version in my spare time.
:Too bad I have had so little spare time recently...
:
:  If you would like to be listed as a translation program developer
:here, please e-mail me.  Try to use the format for developers below,
:but don't restrict yourself to it.  If you have something which 
:doesn't fit easily into the format then break out of the format to
:tell me about it.
:
:  Developer information follows:
:
:  Name:         Robert Baruch (baruch@nyenxst.com)
:  Direction:    English to Klingon
:  OS:           UNIX
:  Program Name: parse (so far)
:  Summary:      Uses C++ and yacc to parse English sentences.  Can
:                handle ambiguous translations by outputting multiple
:                translations for each interpretation.
:  Devel. Stat:  Under development
:  Archive:      N/A
:  Most impressive sentence translated:
:    "my definite friends can not see your supposed big blue serpents"
:    gharghmeyqoqraj tIn SuD leghlaHbe' juppu'na'wIj
:    gharghmeyqoqlIj tIn SuD leghlaHbe' juppu'na'wIj
:
:
:  Name:         Rick Klement (rick@infoserv.com)
:  Direction:    Klingon to English
:  OS:           UNIX (but pretty much generic C)
:  Program Name: mugh (of course)
:  Summary:      Uses C and a data file with the words (by type) in it.
:                I started in lex but the compiles were getting too long.
:                It understands verb prefixes and all verb and noun
:                suffixes in order, and tries for the best match.
:                It makes no attempt to produce good English, but just does
:                the lookups for you.
:  Devel. Stat:  Complete; adding more words.
:  Archive:      none
:  Most impressive sentence translated:  N/A
:



______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From chalmers@violet.berkeley.edu Sat Jan 15 01:52:25 1994
Received: from violet.Berkeley.EDU by odin.diku.dk with SMTP id AA03952
  (5.65c8/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Sat, 15 Jan 1994 18:52:27 +0100
Received: from localhost by violet.berkeley.edu (8.6.4/1.33r)
	id JAA00909; Sat, 15 Jan 1994 09:52:25 -0800
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 09:52:25 -0800
From: chalmers@violet.berkeley.edu (John H. Chalmers Jr.)
Message-Id: <199401151752.JAA00909@violet.berkeley.edu>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: Morneau address, etc.

Does anyone have a currently active address for Rick
Morneau? Both ram@netcom.com and mnu@inel.gov bounced
recently. I am interested in obtaining a copy of his long-
promised essay on lexical semantics.  Has it ever been
posted to conlang? Are you reading this, Rick?

BTW, on the news recently was an interview with a young
student of the Klingon language. While I didn't hear all of the
feature, evidently he has translated the story of Jonah and the 
Whale into Klingon and may do the rest of the Old Testament.
Missionary societies, the Summer School of Linguistics, the
Bible Society, and the like should rejoice.  

Does anyone know of translations of the Bible into other 
conlangs? I've heard only of an Esperanto version.

--John
	

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From donh@netcom.com Sat Jan 15 03:05:47 1994
Message-Id: <199401151905.LAA28082@mail.netcom.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Cc: Don Harlow 
Subject: Re: Morneau address, etc. 
             <199401151752.JAA00909@violet.berkeley.edu> 
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 11:05:47 -0800
From: Don Harlow 


> BTW, on the news recently was an interview with a young
> student of the Klingon language. While I didn't hear all of the
> feature, evidently he has translated the story of Jonah and the 
> Whale into Klingon and may do the rest of the Old Testament.
> Missionary societies, the Summer School of Linguistics, the
> Bible Society, and the like should rejoice.  
> 
Only if they are planning on sending missionaries to Klinzhai.

> Does anyone know of translations of the Bible into other 
> conlangs? I've heard only of an Esperanto version.
> 
About a dozen books of the Bible were available in Interlingua in 1990, 
but not the entire Bible -- and the work of translating, which was being 
done by one person, seemed to be going quite slowly. I'm not sure what 
the current situation is.

Given who the inventor of Volapuk was, I would have supposed that the Bible 
would have appeared in that language, but in Stojan I found no mention of it, 
though I did find a translation of Thomas a Kempis. Maybe I just overlooked 
it. Stojan also did not list a bible in his list of translated literature 
in Ido, but perhaps one appeared later.

In addition to the regular Esperanto edition of the bible (published 
by the British and Foreign Bible Society in Edinburgh or some such place),
there are new versions of the four Gospels available in Esperanto, in 
translation by Gerrit Berveling. Like the Interlingua products, they are 
being sold as four separate books.

(Incidentally, the two names quoted in the Chicago Tribune -- I think it 
was -- article about the Klingon translation of the bible both belong to 
members of the Esperanto League for North America. Mark? You there?)

Don Harlow			donh@netcom.com
Esperanto League for N.A.       elna@netcom.com (800) 828-5944
Mi ellitig^as c^e l'tagig^o         | I rise from bed at dawn
Kaj c^e la sunsubir' ripozas;       | And go to rest at sundown;
Teron mi plugas por min nutri,      | I plow the earth to feed myself,
Por trinki mi mem puton fosas;      | To drink, I dig my own well;
Kion mi devas danki al la suvereno! | For what have I to thank the sovereign!
 -- Early (2400 B.C.) Libertarian poem...



______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From shoulson@ctr.columbia.edu Mon Jan 17 12:31:08 1994
From: shoulson@ctr.columbia.edu (Mark E. Shoulson)
Received: from localhost (shoulson@localhost) by startide.ctr.columbia.edu (8.6.4/8.6.4.788743) id RAA07582; Mon, 17 Jan 1994 17:31:08 -0500
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 17:31:08 -0500
Message-Id: <199401172231.RAA07582@startide.ctr.columbia.edu>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: Morneau address, etc.

>Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 19:19:47 +0100
>Comment: Issues related to constructed languages
>From: chalmers@violet.berkeley.edu (John H. Chalmers Jr.)

>BTW, on the news recently was an interview with a young
>student of the Klingon language. While I didn't hear all of the
>feature, evidently he has translated the story of Jonah and the 
>Whale into Klingon and may do the rest of the Old Testament.

That would be me.  I translated Jonah into Klingon, yes, and was recently
on the New York WABC station being interviewed about it.  It's a project
someone started up (Kevin A. Wilson, to be precise) and it's been seeing a
lot of coverage on the Klingon list.  Glen Proechel (another Klingon
bible-translator and director of last year's Klingon camp) apparently gave
the story to the AP, and my name's been popping up everywhere since then.
I hope I won't be expected to do the whole OT! :-)  I have been officially
made the Old Testament editor for the project, for whatever that's worth.

As I said in the interview (one of the few lines they kept), when I heard
about the project, I wasn't sure how doable it was (and still have my
doubts).  But I decided that if it's to happen, I'd rather it happen with
me than without me.  If anything comes of the project and I'm not involved,
it will bother me.  Moreover, if anything comes of the project and I'm not
involved, I think the project will suffer: honestly speaking, I doubt there
is another person around who speaks both Klingon and Hebrew as well as I
do.  So I decided to jump in.

>Missionary societies, the Summer School of Linguistics, the
>Bible Society, and the like should rejoice.  

Missionary societies?  That wouldn't be my idea...

>Does anyone know of translations of the Bible into other 
>conlangs? I've heard only of an Esperanto version.

I suspect there are a fair number of at least partial ones.  People take
you more seriously if you can translate the Bible (probably a major impetus
in producing this one).

>--John

~mark

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From dean@anubis.network.com Mon Jan 17 11:06:33 1994
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 17:06:33 CST
From: dean@anubis.network.com (Dean C. Gahlon)
Message-Id: <9401172306.AA06769@anubis.network.com>
Received: by orion.network.com (4.1/SMI-4.1)
	id AA20434; Mon, 17 Jan 94 17:06:31 CST
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: Morneau address, etc. 

I don't believe that a Volapu:k translation of the complete Bible was
ever published; _The Book Of A Thousand Tongues_ (a marvelous book
listing all the Bible translations known to the American Bible Society
with samples from each) claims that only certain books were translated
into Volapu:k. (Since I collect foreign-language Bibles, I have this
information on the tip of my mind.)

Dean Gahlon
dean@network.com



______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From shoulson@ctr.columbia.edu Tue Jan 18 12:29:07 1994
From: shoulson@ctr.columbia.edu (Mark E. Shoulson)
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 17:29:07 -0500
Message-Id: <199401182229.RAA10688@startide.ctr.columbia.edu>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Cc: iad@cogsci.edinburgh.ac.uk
Subject: Forthcoming: Visible Speech in METAFONT

Well, I've finally succeeded in making a METAFONT font that looks
reasonable enough to distribute.  I've recreated Alexander Melville Bell's
phonetic alphabet, the Visible Speech, in a METAFONT file.  I'm working on
making am explanatory file for those who didn't get copies of the book from
me, and I'll soon be uploading the package to wherever it is that METAFONT
fonts are stored (there's a central place, ftp.shsu.edu, I think, that gets
mirrorred all over the place).  So METAFONT-users, take warning: another
font you need to have is on the way.

~mark

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk Wed Jan 19 10:47:36 1994
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 10:47:36 GMT
Message-Id: <2803.9401191047@s5.sys.uea.ac.uk>
Received: from [139.222.4.119] (jrk.sys.uea.ac.uk) by s5.sys.uea.ac.uk; Wed, 19 Jan 94 10:47:36 GMT
To: conlang@diku.dk
From: jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk (Richard Kennaway)
Subject: On-line Speedwords dictionary

I now have the whole Speedwords dictionary transcribed.  The file is about
50k, so rather than post it here, I've put it on ftp.  Site
ftp.sys.uea.ac.uk, directory pub/kennaway, file speedwords.dict.  The A-D
part includes some corrections since the version I posted.

Here are some corrections to the list of radicals that Rick Harrison
recently posted:

>ft      girl [TYDS only]
Listed in the dictionary as a contraction of "fem-t".

>pi      may [TYDS only]
In dictionary as non-primitive "p-i"

>x       if [TYDS only]
"x", "xi", and "y" are in the dictionary, but out of order, between "w" and
"we".

>z       as, then [dic], than [TYDS]
"Than" is in the E-S half of the dictionary, but not the S-E half.

--                       ____
Richard Kennaway       __\_ /    School of Information Systems
jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk      \  X/     University of East Anglia
                        \/       Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.



______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk Wed Jan 19 10:52:10 1994
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 10:52:10 GMT
Message-Id: <2887.9401191052@s5.sys.uea.ac.uk>
Received: from [139.222.4.119] (jrk.sys.uea.ac.uk) by s5.sys.uea.ac.uk; Wed, 19 Jan 94 10:52:11 GMT
To: conlang@diku.dk
From: jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk (Richard Kennaway)
Subject: Re: Speedwords-English dictionary, A-D

Peter Harbo writes:
>BTW, I am getting increasingly curious about the way the 'grammer' is presented
>in TYDS (that is why I have been asking whether anyone was planning to make
>photocopies of these books available).  Did Dutton describe the grammar in a
>connected way, or are his grammatical comments just sprinkled inbetween the
>word lists, or is there a unified presentation,

The latter.  TYDS is directed mainly at the shorthand/notetaking market, so
the grammatical tidbits are presented as note-taking conveniences ad hoc,
rather than in any systematic way.  The dictionary has one or two hints in
its preface, but no more.  I imagine that the World Speedwords book, which
I haven't seen, might take a more systematic approach.

--                       ____
Richard Kennaway       __\_ /    School of Information Systems
jrk@sys.uea.ac.uk      \  X/     University of East Anglia
                        \/       Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.



______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From ram@eskimo.com Tue Jan 18 19:39:38 1994
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 03:39:38 -0800
From: ram@eskimo.com (Rick Morneau)
Message-Id: <199401191139.AA05496@eskimo.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk, ram@eskimo.com
Subject: Re: Morneau address, etc.


John Chalmers writes:
>
> Does anyone have a currently active address for Rick
> Morneau? Both ram@netcom.com and mnu@inel.gov bounced
> recently. I am interested in obtaining a copy of his long-
> promised essay on lexical semantics.  Has it ever been
> posted to conlang? Are you reading this, Rick?
>

Yes.  My current email address is "ram@eskimo.com".

The essay is still under construction and growing steadily.
It currently weighs in at about 179Kbytes (about 72 printed
pages), and I expect it to be at least twice as large when
finished.  I will NOT post it to conlang (it's too big), but
will let the list know when it's ready.  Don't hold your
breath - this is a fun project and I prefer to do it right
rather than do it quickly.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about,
never mind.  :-)

Regards,

Rick

P.S. Don't you hate it when your name is in the subject line?


*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
=*   Rick Morneau  ram@eskimo.com   "Be kind to nature -     =*
*=   Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA          brake for dinosaurs."  *=
=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From lojbab@access.digex.net Wed Jan 19 07:24:26 1994
From: Logical Language Group 
Message-Id: <199401191724.AA04348@access2.digex.net>
Subject: Re: Klingon (was: Morneau address, etc.)
To: conlang@diku.dk
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 12:24:26 -0500 (EST)

Mark Shoulson writes:

> I suspect there are a fair number of at least partial ones.  People take
> you more seriously if you can translate the Bible (probably a major impetus
> in producing this one).

What about vocabulary?  Are you producing compounds, borrowing from Hebrew,
or what?  Because Klingon is notionally a "snapshot of a real lg" rather than
the typical conlang, its published vocabulary is small.

-- 
John Cowan		sharing account  for now
		e'osai ko sarji la lojban.

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From shoulson@ctr.columbia.edu Wed Jan 19 08:32:50 1994
From: shoulson@ctr.columbia.edu (Mark E. Shoulson)
Received: from localhost (shoulson@localhost) by startide.ctr.columbia.edu (8.6.4/8.6.4.788743) id NAA14053; Wed, 19 Jan 1994 13:32:50 -0500
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 13:32:50 -0500
Message-Id: <199401191832.NAA14053@startide.ctr.columbia.edu>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: Klingon (was: Morneau address, etc.)

>Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 19:19:58 +0100
>From: Logical Language Group 

>Mark Shoulson writes:

>> I suspect there are a fair number of at least partial ones.  People take
>> you more seriously if you can translate the Bible (probably a major impetus
>> in producing this one).

>What about vocabulary?  Are you producing compounds, borrowing from Hebrew,
>or what?  Because Klingon is notionally a "snapshot of a real lg" rather than
>the typical conlang, its published vocabulary is small.

Well, we consider it bad to invent new roots; after all, readers with only
the dictionary would be lost.  We do some compounding (sanctioned by the
language) and assorted circumlocutions, and occasional (reasonably
transparent) idioms.  You'd be surprised how big the vocabulary is, though.
There is also some transliterating, for proper nouns and all, and possibly
for some specific concrete nouns (jury's still out on that... should the
gourd in Jonah be a "fruit tree" or a "qIqayon"?  I'm not positive.
Hypothetically speaking, if we were translating a Klin gon text into
English, animal names would be transliterated, maybe we should do the
same.)

>-- 
>John Cowan		sharing account  for now
>	   e'osai ko sarji la lojban.


~mark

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From hrick@world.std.com Thu Jan 20 00:08:37 1994
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 05:08:37 -0500
From: hrick@world.std.com (Richard K Harrison)
Message-Id: <199401201008.AA08295@world.std.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: overview of Speedwords (1 of 2)

 
language profile: Speedwords
by Rick Harrison

	Reginald J. G. Dutton created Speedwords, a unique project
which can serve as either an international auxiliary language or a
stenographic system which allows one to take notes very quickly.
Unlike other "shorthand" writing systems, Speedwords uses only the
familiar letters of the Roman alphabet, with no unique symbols.
According to Dutton, "Because they are composed of ordinary alphabetic 
letters, speedwords can be typed on a typewriter as well as written by 
hand.  Speedwords typists are therefore able to attain typing speeds 
never known before.  Indeed, those with nimble fingers attain speeds up 
to 150 words per minute."

	In linguistics, there is a notion called Zipf's Law which
states that frequently-used words tend to be shorter than seldom-used
words.  Dutton took this principle to its logical extreme in designing
his project.  As he explained in the introduction to Teach Yourself
Dutton Speedwords:  "The word-lists are logically and methodically built 
up from Professor Ernest Horn's remarkable analysis of the frequency of 
occurrence of all words.  The Iowa University philologist and his staff 
examined and tabulated 15,000,000 running words of all classes of written 
and printed matter.  The very-high-frequency words tabulated by Professor 
Horn are expressed in Dutton Speedwords by single alphabetic letters standing
alone.  The next highest in his order of frequency are alloted two-letter
speedwords, and so on..."
	
	In addition to short words which can be written rapidly,
Speedwords also boasts a relatively small vocabulary of basic concepts 
("semantic primitives") which can be re-combined to express virtually any 
idea.  "Only 493 one-, two-, or three-letter word-roots have to be 
memorised: all other ideas are expressed through the medium of adding 
single-letter suffixes, or forming short compounds."  Dutton mentions
that he studied the 1000 categories of Roget's original thesaurus and
the 200+ radicals of which the Chinese characters are composed; these
influences are evident in his selection of vocabulary items.  So, it
appears the vocabulary was designed with two objectives that were
given nearly equal importance: to make the most common morphemes as
brief as possible, and to cover all of semantic space with the fewest
possible morphemes.

	The Speedwords vocabulary mainly consists of shortened
a posteriori borrowings: _gu,_ meaning "good," is related to German
_gut_ and English _good;_  _v,_ meaning "you," is from French _vous_
(and coincidentally resembles Esperanto _vi_); _sa,_ meaning "know,"
is from Spanish _saber._  Many of the 3-letter words are remarkably
similar to words found in other projects like Lincos and Vorlin: 
bel = beautiful; fem = woman; lin = language; lud = game, play.

	Although publishers and the book-buying public apparently
were more interested in Speedwords' stenographic uses, Dutton wanted
to focus on its potential as a neutral international language: "The 
author wishes to emphasize the fact that Speedwords has, above all, an 
international value, inasmuch as it constitutes the simplest, easiest 
and most adequate medium for the interchange of ideas between the 54 
United Nations, whose closer collaboration is at present hampered by 
linguistic differences.  By making themselves conversant with Speedwords, 
users of this book will not only add to their personal equipment and to 
their efficiency in both private and commercial affairs, but will also 
rank as pioneers in this method of advancing international understanding...

	"Many students of Dutton Speedwords have testified that they have
found the study of this new system to be a fascinating pastime, and in no
sense an arduous task.  The dual ability to take shorthand notes in
ordinary writing, and later -- if desired -- to enter into an international
correspondence without having to learn a foreign language, opens up quite
exciting possibilities."

	Although Dutton has been dead for several decades and his books
have long been out-of-print, Speedwords lives on.  Several people have 
reported to me that they use (slightly modified versions of) Speedwords 
in taking notes, in writing their diaries and so forth.  


==============
  vocabulary
==============

There are no synonyms among the root-words.  "One idea, one speedword."

Although it would seem that the radicals are already short enough,
frequent Speedwords can be abbreviated: ms = mus, pl = ple, js = jus, 
fn = fin.  "Kom is abbreviated to capital K when a business organisation 
is to be expressed."  

Below is a list of all the Speedwords root-words, plus important
contractions such as F and O.  Some words have two forms, for example
qid can be abbreviated to qd, so this item is entered as q(i)d.

&	and
a	to, toward, at
ab	about, concerning, regarding
ac	purchase, buy
ad	add, addition
af	business, trade {French affaires}
ag	field
ai	also [contraction of adi]
ak	attack
al	all, whole
alk	alcohol
am	love
amu	amuse
an	year
ang	angle, corner
ap	open {aperture}
aq	water
ar	friend
are	area, region, district
arg	argue, discuss
arm	arm
art	art
as	ascend, rise
at	expect, anticipate
au	hear
aut	authority, official
av	fly
ax	ask, inquire
az	always, ever [contraction of al oz]
aze	forever, perpetual
azo	never
b	but
ba	back, rear, behind
bar	obstruct, check
be	before, prior, previous
bed	layer, stratum, sheet
bel	beauty, beautiful
ber	carry, bear
bi	life, live {biology}
bib	drink
bid	command, order, tell
bil	account, bill
bit	piece, bit
ble	grain, corn
blu	blue
bo	tree
bod	body, trunk
bol	ballgame
bor	border, edge
bra	brave, bravery, courage, courageous
bri	shine
bru	brown
bu	book
by	by
c	this, these {French ce}
ca	room, chamber
cav	hollow
ce	receive {receive}
cel	heaven, celestial realm
cen	hundred
cer	certain, positive, sure
ci	decide, decision
cir	circle, ring
co	collect(-ion)
con	cone
cu	that [demonstrative adjective]
d	of, from {French de}
D	day #... (e.g. D1 = Sunday, D2 = Monday)
da	give, donate {Latin dare}
de	day
deb	debt, owe
def	define, distinguish
dek	right-hand side
dem	nation, people
des	desire, want, wish
di	say {diction, French dire}
dig	finger
dik	fat, thick
dio	God
dip	deep
dir	direction
dis	disc
do	live, dwell, reside
dok	document
don	pardon, excuse
dor	sleep
dos	2
dra	act, drama, a play
du	continue, keep on
dy	since {French depuis}
e	am, are, (to) be, is {Latin est}
eb	even {German eben}
ed	end, finish
ef	efficient, competent, capable
eg	equal
eis	ice
ek	church
el	electric(-ity)
ele	element
em	emotion
en	attention {attention}
eng	narrow
ent	enter
ep	place, position, location, to put
er	person
ern	earnest, serious
es	estimate, assess
est	appreciate, esteem
et	little, small {booklet, islet}
f	for
F	Madam [contraction of Femu]
fa	deed, act, to do, fare {Latin facere}
fab	fabric, material
fas	easy
fat	fat
fe	glad, happy {felicity}
fem	woman
fet	celebration, festival
feu	fire, burn, combustion
fi	filament, thread
fid	faithful, loyal
fil	son
f(i)n	find
fir	firm
fis	fish
fix	fixed, secure, tight
fla	inflammation (of a body part)
fle	flesh, meat
flo	flower, bloom
flu	flow, current
fo	front, in front of
fol	leaf
fon	origin(al), source
for	form, shape
fot	photograph
fra	brother
fru	fruit
fu	few
ful	full, fill
fun	5
fur	provide, furnish, supply
fy	render, -ify, cause, reason
g	them, they
ga	complete, completely {German ganz}
gar	keep, retain
gas	gas
ge	together, join
gel	yellow
gen	birth, yield, generate
gla	smooth
gm	gram (unit of weight)
go	go, goes
gom	rubber
gra	gratitude, to thank, thanks!
gre	degree, grade, stage
gro	grow
gu	good, well
gus	flavor, taste
h	has, have [also used as aux. verb, e.g. G h go = they have gone]
ha	possess, own
hab	common, habit(ual), ordinary, usual
han	hand
har	hair
haz	chance, luck, hazard
he	heat, hot
hem	half
hi	conceal, hide
ho	height, high, tall {German hoch}
hon	honest, sincere
hor	hour, o'clock
hu	having
hum	humble
hy	had
i	in, within
ib	possible {possible}
id	same {identical}
if	inform, tell
ig	general (shared by all)
ik	property, quality
il	particular, special
ilu	influence
im	idea, imagine, suppose
in	between, among {Latin inter}
ind	indicate
int	interest
ip	self, selves {Latin ipse}
ir	here
is	complement
isk	insect
ist	professional
it	implement, instrument, tool
ite	journey, travel, voyage
iv	associated with [indefinite preposition]
iz	herewith [contraction of ir ze]
j	I, me {French je, Scand. jeg}
ja	soon
je	every, each, per {German jeder}
jet	cast, throw
jm	everything [contraction of je om]
jr	everyone [contraction of je er]
js	[contraction of jus]
ju	judge
jun	young, youth
jur	law, legal
jus	fair, just, right
jut	jut, project(-ion), prominence
k	that [conjunction; akin to Esperanto ke]
K	company, firm
ka	head
kal	alkaloid
kan	sing, song
ke	credit, due
kem	chemical
ken	acknowledge, admit
ki	move, motion {kinetic}
kil	thousand
kin	kindred, relation
kla	class, kind, sort
ko	come {German kommen}
kok	cook
kol	neck
kom	company, accompany
kon	accord, agree
kos	world {Greek kosmos}
kot	cotton
kre	believe, belief
kru	cross
ku	enclose, include, contain
kub	cube
kup	guilt, culpable, fault
kur	curve
kut	cut
ky	eat
l	the {French le}
L	month #...
la	large, big
las	allow, permit, let {German lassen}
lat	side
le	letter (correspondence)
leg	leg
lek	lecture, oratory
len	gentle, mild
les	damage, harm, injure
li	liquid
lib	free, liberate, release
lim	bound(ary), limit
lin	language
lo	long, length
lob	praise
log	logic, sense
lon	lend, loan
lot	allot, allocate, assign, deal
lt	litre (unit of volume)
lu	month
lud	game, play
luf	air
lum	light, illuminate
lut	contest, a match
ly	long-and-thin
m	with {German mit, Scand. med}
M	Mr.
ma	make, produce, construct
mar	marry
mat	matter, material, concrete [adj]
mau	mouth
me	more, greater, increase
mek	machine
mel	sweetness
mem	memory, remember
men	mind, mental
mer	mother
mes	measure
met	metal
mi	midday, noon
mid	middle, medial
mik	microbe
mil	million
min	mineral
mir	wonder(-ful)
miu	minute (time unit)
mol	soft
mot	word
mr	meter (unit of length)
Ms	Ms.
mu	much, very
m(u)s	must, have to
muz	music
my	most {German meist}
n	no, not
na	of course, nature
nam	name, call
nar	story, narrat(iv)e, tale
nat	native
nav	ship {naval}
ne	take [in the sense of E-o preni, G nehmen] {German nehmen}
ner	nerve
nes	need, require, necessary
nm	nothing [contraction of n om]
no	look (at), notice, observe
nob	celebrated, honor, repute
nor	north
nov	new
nr	nobody [contraction of n er]
nu	now {Dutch and Scand. nu}
num	number, count, several
nur	food
ny	near(-ly), almost, approximately
nyn	9
o	on
O	sir [contraction of onu]
ob	get, acquire, obtain
od	manner, method, mode, way
odo	odor, smell
of	offer
og	eye
oil	oil
ok	right, correct, accurate
ol	receptacle, vessel
om	thing, article, object
on	man
op	against, contrary {oppose}
or	or
ord	order, arrange(ment)
org	organ
orn	ornament, decorate
os	bone
ost	east
ot	other
otto	8
ov	over, above
oz	occur, occasion, happen
p	can, be able to, have the power or potential to...
pa	pay(-ment)
pad	pad, cushion
pap	paper
par	part, portion
pas	ago, past
pat	paste
pe	period, a while
ped	foot
pel	clear, plain
pen	hang
per	father
pes	heavy, weight
pin	point
pi(r)	soul, spirit
pit	mercy, pity
pla	flat, horizontal, level
pl(e)	please, pleasure
pli	fold
po	after(-wards), post-
poe	poem
pol	polite
por	important, matter
pos	post(age)
pot	earthenware, pot(tery)
pov	poor, poverty
pre	prepare
pri	price, cost
pro	promise

< continued >
 

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From hrick@world.std.com Thu Jan 20 00:11:18 1994
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 05:11:18 -0500
From: hrick@world.std.com (Richard K Harrison)
Message-Id: <199401201011.AA08444@world.std.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: overview of Speedwords (2 of 2)


pru	prove
pu	think, thought
pul	powder
pur	clean
q	do ...? [in questions; akin to Esperanto c^u]
qa	how {Latin quam}
qar	4
qe	when
qi	who(m) {French qui}
q(i)d	what {Latin quid}
qo	where {Latin quo}
qu	that [relative pronoun], which...
qy	why
r	will [future tense flag]
ra	work, labor
rad	root
rag	anger, rage
rap	quick(-ly), rapid(-ly), fast
re	again, repeat
reg	control, govern, direct
rek	direct, straight
rel	religion
ren	meet-ing, rendezvous
rep	reptile
rev	revolve, rotate
rex	king, monarch
ri	write {write}
rit	rhythm
ro	list
ron	round, rotund, around
ru	remain, stay, rest, stop
rub	friction, rub
rud	red
ruk	crease, wrinkle
rup	break
ry	building, establishment, -ery {bakery, library}
s	he, him
sa	know, knowledge
saf	safe(ty), secure
sak	sacred, holy
sal	jump, leap, spring
san	health
sau	sauce, condiment
se	week {French semaine}
sed	sit
sek	follow, sequence {consecutive}
sem	seed
sen	feel, sentiment
sep	7
ser	look (for), search (for), seek
ses	6
sev	divide, division {sever}
sh	her, she
sha	sharp
sho	exhibit, show
shu	shoot
sig	meaning, significance, signify
sil	silk
sip	simple
sis	sister
sit	position, situation
sla	hit, strike, a blow
so	so, such
sok	social, society
sol	only, sole, single, alone
son	sound
spa	space, volume
spe	speak, speech, talk
spi	breath(e)
sq	square
sta	stand
ste	compass, extend, range, scope
sti	condition, stipulation, terms
sto	stone
stu	learm, study
su	better, improve
sub	substance
sud	sudden
suk	succeed, success
sup	exceed, excess, surplus
sur	surface
sut	maintain, support, sustain
sy	science
t	it
ta	late, tardy
tab	table
tat	condition, state
te	time
teg	cover
ten	hold, grasp
ter	earth, land
tes	test, experiment
tin	color
tir	draw, pull
to	amount, quantity
top	top
tra	transfer, transport
tri	3
tru	through
try	attempt, try, endeavour
tu	touch
tub	pipe, tube
tuf	tough
tur	turn
ty	10
u	a, an, one {French un}
ub	favorable, well
ud	many, numerous
ue	being
ui	musical instrument
uk	transact, undertake
ul	some, any
um	something [contraction of ul om]
un	negative
uo	another [contraction of u ot]
up	up
ur	return, revert
urb	town, urban
urg	drive, urge
us	use, utilize
ut	item, unit
uz	once
v	you {French vous}
va	war
vag	wander, aimless
val	value, worth
van	vanish, disappear
ve	vehicle, car
veg	vegetable
ven	blow, wind
ver	green
ves	garment, to dress
via	road, route
vib	vibrate, shake
vig	hard, strong, vigor(ous)
vik	instead, substitute
vis	force, power
viz	face
vo	willing
vok	cry, voice
vot	choose, pick, select
vu	see, sight, view
vy	advice, advise
w	us, we		  
we	purpose, intend, aim
wo	wool
wy	white
x	if
y	was, were
ye	yes
yr	would
z	as, than, compared to
za	dear
ze	send {Dutch zenden}
zi	because
zo	animal
zu	condition
zy	disease

Apparently the first versions of Speedwords were published in 1943 or
earlier; Hogben reportedly mentions the project in his book on Interglossa.
In the autumn of 1951, Dutton made some changes to his vocabulary.
He added the words con, ele, sub, and zy, and removed the following items,
replacing them with the new items shown in the second column:

deleted
item	replacement
----	----
grav	ern (earnest)          <--- 4-letter words shortened
iflu	ilu (influence)
krel	rel (religion)
ling	lin (language)
mato	pi(r) (spirit)
neur	ner (nerve)
sers	fin (find)
stat	tat (condition)

end	ed (end)               <--- 3-letter radicals shortened
bla	wy (white)
dax	ne (take)
hid	hi (hide)
hot	he (hot)
kap	ka (head)
lab	ra (work)
lan	wo (wool)
man	on (man)
mul	ud (many)
sin	mo (without)

sel	aco (sell)             <--- radicals replaced by compounds
lig	bos (wood)
mon	pam (money)
nig	wyx (black)
on	eri (one [impersonal pronoun])
onk	peri (uncle)
ra	zee (radio)
sim	idi (similar)

kav	cav (hollow)           <--- respellings and replacements
fin	fun (five)
ja	ye (yes)
ka	za (dear)
kar	qar (4)
kum	kom (company)
mo	ki (motion)
mus	muz (music)
na	ja (soon)
ne	na ("nature-ally")
pt	par (part)
ym	we (intend)


=================
  pronunciation
=================

Only one of Dutton's books, the World Speedwords Text-book (which I
have not been able to obtain), gives complete rules for the pronunciation 
of Speedwords.  His other books only mention that all Speedwords are 
pronounceable.  From hints given in Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords, we 
know this much:  The Speedwords letter _c_ is always pronounced like the 
English digraph "ch" in "church."  When a consonant is followed by _y,_ 
the y is pronounced /ai/; the speedword _ny_ sounds like the English word 
`nigh.'  Q is pronounced /kw/.



===========
  grammar 
===========

** general

A typical speedword word may be used as a modifier, verb or noun: hex = 
cold [noun or adjective], lob = praise [verb or noun].  Dutton claimed 
that it is not necessary to use particles or affixes to convert a word 
from one part-of-speech to another: "`Beauty' and `beautiful' are both 
conveyed by the one Speedword _bel,_ and `necessity' and `necessary' by 
the one Speedword _nes._ ...In this connection it is worthy of note that 
the Chinese have not, in thousands of years, found it necessary to 
differentiate between `beauty,' `beautiful' and `beautifully' ...Word-order,
both in Chinese and Speedwords, suffices to indicate the purpose of every 
word-unit."  However, if we carefully examine Dutton's word lists, we _do_ 
find instances of Speedwords using affixes to distinguish between nouns
and modifiers.

Compounding is used:  ca + dor (room + sleep) = bedroom;  ry + bu
(building/establishment + book) = library.  Note that these compounds
are in headword-modifier sequence, the opposite of what we find in
English, German, Chinese and Esperanto compounds.  Many of Dutton's
example compounds are not exactly obvious in their meaning, and some
of them make us wonder if his elevator went all the way to the top:
ky + luf (eat + air) allegedly means "picnic," soninum (letter/spell + 
number) supposedly means "algebra," and regnob (govern + honour(ed))
is translated as "senate."  


** verbs

The word _r_ indicates future tense, the prefix _y-_ indicates past 
tense: j sa = I know, j ysa = I knew, j r sa = I will know.  When used
as a free-standing word, _y_ is the past tense of _e_: sh y fe = she 
was happy.

The word "to" is omitted from infinitive verb expressions; thus
_ce_ = "receive" or "to receive."  

The continuous or progressive verb is expressed by copula + stem, e.g. 
S e pu = he is thinking;  be ze t = before sending it.  

The English verb "do" is not translated into Speedwords when it is 
superfluous: Qa v di t? = how (do) you say it?  J n sa = I (do) not know.  

Existential sentences do not contain the word `there': E 3 le ir f v = 
(There) are three letters here for you.


** pronouns

Pronouns are not inflected to indicate case: w = "we" or "us."  The
possessive forms of pronouns are created by suffixing -i: ji = my, 
si = his, shi = her(s).


** nouns

Nouns do not inflect to indicate plurality when preceded by an adjective 
of quantity:  4 le = "four letters,"  al mer = "all mothers."  Plurals 
when necessary are formed by adding -z: liz = liquids.  The absence of 
the singular article _u_ can also indicate plurality.

Possession is indicated by an apostrophe: wi K' buz = our company's books.




===========
  affixes
===========

A system of approximately 20 affixes expands the usefulness of the
limited vocabulary of root-words.  Unfortunately, the definitions of
most of these affixes are vague, and their uses are very unpredictable
and idiomatic.  Even if you memorize all the root-words and affixes, it 
is unlikely that you would be able to guess the meanings which Dutton 
has assigned to various combinations of radicals and affixes. 

The suffix -a indicates an unfavorable connotation to the root-word: 
bixy = kill, bixya = murder; en = attention, ena = worry; pro = promise,
proa = threaten.  

The suffix -b indicates possibility: kreb = credible, ozb = perhaps.

The suffix -c denotes a collective entity: ci = decide, cic = committee;
on = man, onc = community.  Some of Dutton's uses of -c have less-than-
obvious meanings: fi = filament/thread, fic = brush; gusu = tasty,
gusuc = salad.

The suffix -d indicates passive voice: rid = written.  J r ku l pam m l le =
I will enclose the money with the letter; L pam r e kud m l le = the money 
will be enclosed with the letter.

The suffix -e is expansive/ intensive/ augmentative; ny = near, nye = next;
ja = soon, jae = immediately.  "When the -e suffix is also added 
to any qualitative word it has the force of `very,' as mue -- very much, 
gue -- very good, loe -- very long..."  In practice, Dutton's uses of
this suffix are somewhat idiomatic and unpredictable: aq = water,
aqe = steam; ko = come, koe = forthcoming.

-f/-y is causative: bix = death, bixy = kill; ta = late, taf = delay.

The suffix -g indicates a "general" relationship: pe = period, peg = season.
In practice, Dutton's uses of this affix are quite idiomatic and 
unpredictable.  Using the vocabulary list above, see if you can guess the 
meanings of _bleg, dog, ming_ and _ping._  (Answers at the end of this 
section.)

The suffix -k indicates the presence of a quality: bi = life, bik = vital;
am = love, amk = affectionate.  Some of Dutton's uses of this affix don't
seem to fit in with his definition of it: ku = contain/include, kuk = 
capacity; sta = stand, stak = standard.

The suffix -l indicates "an idea or object which has a special association 
with the Speedword to which it is joined."  Ax = ask, axl = a request; 
if = to inform, ifl = a report; pa = to pay, pal = a cheque.

The suffix -m indicates an object or article: pam = money, afm = commodity.

The prefix me- forms comparatives: mela = larger.

The prefix my- forms superlatives: myla = largest.

The suffix -n indicates negation (equivalent to English un-, non-, -less).
Often it is impossible to predict whether Dutton will use -n or -o:
garn = dispose, garo = expend; habn = strange, habo = rare; jusn =
unjust, okn = incorrect, juso / oko = wrong.

A suffix of opposites is one of the most common affixes.  Words ending in 
consonants add -o, words ending in vowels add -x.  Examples: ir = here, 
iro = there; up = up, upo = down; ov = over, ovo = under; he = hot, 
hex = cold.  (Exception: "As `ax' is already used for `ask' the contrary 
of `a' is expressed by `ao.'")

The suffix -p indicates the place for something: au = hear, aup = auditorium.
In a few cases Dutton uses -p when one might expect him to use ry: kyp 
(instead of ryky) = restaurant.

The suffix -r indicates a person or agent-noun: stur = student, junr =
child, nyr = neighbor.

The suffix -s is defined as "compliment," i.e. something which has a
complimentary or reciprocal relationship to the root-word.  ze = send, 
zes = bring; ri = write, ris = read.  Some of Dutton's uses of this
suffix are idiomatic and unpredictable: fil = son, fils = daughter;
fe = happy, fes = enjoy.

The suffix -st indicates a professional person: artryst = architect;
just = judge; sanst = doctor.  In some cases Dutton uses -r when one
might expect him to use -st: afinr = broker, berr = porter, rybur = 
librarian.  He tells us that _rist_ means `clerk' and _rir_ means `writer.' 

The suffix -t is diminutive: bo = tree, bot = a plant; nav = ship, 
navt = boat.  Dutton's use of this affix is sometimes unpredictable: 
even if you know that _ge_ means "together/connect" and _gro_ means 
"to grow," you probably would not guess that _get_ means "to attach" 
and _grot_ means "a bud."

The suffix -u indicates something generally favorable: haz = chance,
hazu = fortunate; rap = quick, rapu = prompt; to = amount, tou =
sufficient(ly).

The prefix u- creates the present (active) participle: ubi = living.
Often one cannot predict whether Dutton will use u- or -k to express
a given meaning.

The suffix -v/-i indicates "association" (a vague relationship):
au = hear, auv = listen; ri = write, riv = print; arm = arm, armi =
sleeve.  -v also indicates ordinal numbers: 2v = 2nd, 3v = 3rd.

The prefix y- indicates past tense: ybi = lived.  But the past tense 
of "have" is written _hy,_ not _yh._  In general y- need only be used 
once in a sentence, and can be omitted if past time is otherwise indicated.

It's also worth noting that Speedwords roots and affixes are not
self-segregating.  The word _nob_ might be no + b ("noticeable")
or the root _nob;_ the word _kony_ might be ko + ny, or ko + n + y;
_por_ might mean "successor" or "important"; and words such as 
_itollis_ and _evue,_ which combine morphological ambiguity with 
semantically ambiguous affixes, are difficult to analyse.

If Dutton's examples are any example, so to speak, it seems unlikely 
that any given Speedwords user could assemble new compounds of roots 
and affixes in a way that other users could spontaneously duplicate or 
unambiguously analyze.  For instance, we might expect the Speedword
for "house" to be _dop_ or _rydo,_ but Dutton claims it is _ryg,_
and he asserts that _dop_ means "address."

Likewise Dutton tells us that "bridge" is translated as _sutkru,_ not 
_krum_ or _krul_ as one might expect; Dutton asserts that _krul_ 
means "swastika"!  The notion of "republic" is expressed by Dutton as 
_demrexn,_ "non-monarchy."  He renders "unpaid" as _pan_ rather than 
_padn._  And he translates the English words "nevertheless, still, yet" 
as _mexn,_ a compound which literally means `not-opposite:of-more.'

(Answers to the -g quiz: bleg = wheat, dog = hotel, ming = coal, ping = 
a pin.)

It is my opinion that the basic vocabulary of Speedwords is a brilliant
implementation of Zipf's law and lexical parsimony, but the system
of affixes is woefully inadequate.  Dutton has simply tried to stuff
too many different meanings into each suffix and, as a result, many
suffixes have no predictable meaning at all.  Perhaps a Speedwords
reform project is needed.  1/2 :-)


============
bibliography
============

(Teach Yourself) Dutton Speedwords
Dutton, Reginald J. G.
Teach Yourself Books/English Universities Press: 1951, 1971, 1973 [160 p.]

Dutton Speedwords Dictionary
Dutton, Reginald J. G.
Dutton Rapid Writing Systems Ltd.: 1951 [64 p.]

other items mentioned in the above works:

World Speedwords Text-Book

Companion to Text-Book

Supplement to Text-Book

Dictation Exercises on 1,000 most-used Words



Thanks to the participants in the Conlang forum, especially Ron 
Hale-Evans and Richard Kennaway, for helping me to obtain information 
about Speedwords.

(This article is in the public domain and may be freely redistributed.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Harrison                                       hrick@world.std.com
 

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From lojbab@access.digex.net Thu Jan 20 06:49:27 1994
From: Logical Language Group 
Message-Id: <199401201649.AA28597@access2.digex.net>
Subject: Re: overview of Speedwords (2 of 2)
To: conlang@diku.dk
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 11:49:27 -0500 (EST)

Rick Harrison writes:

> Compounding is used:  ca + dor (room + sleep) = bedroom;  ry + bu
> (building/establishment + book) = library.  Note that these compounds
> are in headword-modifier sequence, the opposite of what we find in
> English, German, Chinese and Esperanto compounds.  Many of Dutton's
> example compounds are not exactly obvious in their meaning, and some
> of them make us wonder if his elevator went all the way to the top:
> ky + luf (eat + air) allegedly means "picnic," soninum (letter/spell + 
> number) supposedly means "algebra," and regnob (govern + honour(ed))
> is translated as "senate."  

These seem pretty plausible to me.  Inverting to match English order (AN),
we get:

	picnic		[open-]air eat[ing]
	algebra		num[b]er[ical] letter[s]
	senate		honoured govern[ors]

remembering for the last that "senate", to Dutton, probably mostly meant the
Roman Senate.

> Likewise Dutton tells us that "bridge" is translated as _sutkru,_ not 
> _krum_ or _krul_ as one might expect; Dutton asserts that _krul_ 
> means "swastika"!

Not so bizarre.  Until its adoption by the Nazis, the fylfot was a common
variant of the Greek (equal-armed) cross, often used during the persecutions
of Christians as a disguised cross.

> The notion of "republic" is expressed by Dutton as 
> _demrexn,_ "non-monarchy."

Also historically quite sound.  Despite the propaganda on the subject
in American schools, to Machiavelli a "republic" was any government not
ruled by a single person (legitimate monarch or tyrant), whether an oligarchy,
a democracy, or what have you.  If the U.K. abolished the monarchy, it would
become a republic ipso facto, even with no other changes in government.

> He renders "unpaid" as _pan_ rather than 
> _padn._  And he translates the English words "nevertheless, still, yet" 
> as _mexn,_ a compound which literally means `not-opposite:of-more.'

Clearly an English calque:  "opposite:of-more" is plainly "less" and so we
have "non-less", close to "never-the-less".

-- 
John Cowan		sharing account  for now
		e'osai ko sarji la lojban.

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From hrick@world.std.com Thu Jan 20 20:22:27 1994
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 01:22:27 -0500
From: hrick@world.std.com (Richard K Harrison)
Message-Id: <199401210622.AA18629@world.std.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: Shum?

 
In his introduction to the book Semantic Networks in Artificial
Intelligence, Fritz Lehmann writes the following in a footnote:
"In the 1960's, I saw a network language called `Shum' (in a
Shum Foundation publication) created to express the fundamental
ideas of the great eastern religions; since then I've never found
any references to Shum."
 
Mr Lehmann has written to me asking if I have any data on Shum.
I have none.  Anyone on this list have any leads?
 

______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From chalmers@violet.berkeley.edu Thu Jan 20 23:27:17 1994
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 07:27:17 -0800
From: chalmers@violet.berkeley.edu (John H. Chalmers Jr.)
Message-Id: <199401211527.HAA04214@violet.berkeley.edu>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: replies

RE: Mark Shoulson:
Mark: Congratulations, I wish I had seen the entire feature and
interview. I must say your Klingon sounded very fluent. 
	Do you have any idea how many fluent Klingon speakers 
there are and how many passive readers/listeners?  
	I can appreciate how a thorough knowledge of Hebrew would help.
I once found an Indonesian Bible in a used bookstore and gave it
to some friends who play and teach Javanese Gamelan. I was impressed 
that one, whose hobby is biblical Hebrew, was able to compare the 
Indonesian to the Hebrew from memory as his wife read the translation 
aloud. 
	
I was just kidding about the missionaries. 

RE: Dean C. Gahlon:
Dean: I have _The Book of a Thousand Tongues_ also, but alas, it
is in Houston, so I couldn't consult it. My recollection was that
the complete Bible was translated only into Esperanto.

RE: Rick Morneau:
Rick: I and, I suspect, others in conlang are waiting expectantly
for your essay. Let us know when it's finished.

--John


______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From donh@netcom.com Sat Jan 22 17:03:57 1994
Message-Id: <199401230903.BAA04526@mail.netcom.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Cc: Don Harlow 
Subject: Inglix Speling Riform
X-Accent-Convention: cx ux 
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 94 01:03:57 -0800
From: Don Harlow 


Several weeks ago there was a discussion here of step-by-step English 
spelling reform and some of the (usually joking) suggestions that have 
been made to implement it. One of these, which I mentioned, was a short 
story called "Meihem in ce Klasrum" that appeared in one of the "Best 
of the Year" science-fiction anthologies in the late forties.

The story (actually, pseudo-essay) was by Dolton Edwards, and this 
evening I discovered, to my surprise, that someone has posted it on 
the net. I was experimenting with the Lynx browser for the World-Wide 
Web, looking at all the Esperanto stuff there (including my own .plan 
file, which someone has made accessible!), when I discovered it. From 
where I am I reached it by going from the first page opened by Lynx to 
"by Subject" to "Education" to "Language and Linguistics"; it was near the 
bottom of the page, listed as "Shaw and Meihem."

I don't know whether the posting is legal or not -- if Edwards renewed 
his copyright, it would still be under copyright protection, even under 
the old law -- but it is there.

Don Harlow			donh@netcom.com
Esperanto League for N.A.       elna@netcom.com (800) 828-5944
Mi ellitig^as c^e l'tagig^o         | I rise from bed at dawn
Kaj c^e la sunsubir' ripozas;       | And go to rest at sundown;
Teron mi plugas por min nutri,      | I plow the earth to feed myself,
Por trinki mi mem puton fosas;      | To drink, I dig my own well;
Kion mi devas danki al la suvereno! | For what have I to thank the sovereign!
 -- Early (2400 B.C.) Libertarian poem...



______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From hrick@world.std.com Thu Jan 27 20:25:48 1994
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 1994 01:25:48 -0500
From: hrick@world.std.com (Richard K Harrison)
Message-Id: <199401280625.AA12625@world.std.com>
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: belated replies

 
I've been reading the archives of 1993 traffic from this list; I was
disconnected during most of that year.  So, here are a couple of
incredibly late replies...
 
On 13 July 1993, Richard Kennaway asked about the status of the MCD
(multi-conlang dictionary).  I still have all the files but haven't
done anything with them in about a year.  I was thinking maybe I
should prune the vocabulary down from 2000 items to 1000 items and
re-issue the call for volunteers to input vocabularies.  Technically
the project is now called ULD, Universal Language Dictionary.
 
I have discovered that it would be possible to add languages like
Chinese to the vocabulary, without waiting for Unicode to be implemented.
The folks in the newsgroup alt.chinese.text have developed an ingenious
scheme for transmitting Chinese characters thru 7-bit ascii channels.
 
On 20 July 1993, Allan Bailey wrote:
 
>  Is it possible to create a language _without_ embedded cultural
> assumptions/words/concepts?
 
> I tried to imagine a language without the word for "chair"...
 
There are plenty of people living in remote parts of the world who
have never seen a chair.  It's a safe bet that their languages don't
have a word for "chair."
 
Vorlin expresses "chair" as _sidmob,_ with _sid_ meaning "a seated
position/ sitting" and _mob_ meaning "a piece of furniture."
 



______________________________________________________________________
 
 
>From ucleaar@ucl.ac.uk Fri Jan 28 18:58:20 1994
From: ucleaar 
Message-Id: <19517.9401281858@link-1.ts.bcc.ac.uk>
To: conlang@diku.dk
X-Ungarbled_Sender: And Rosta 
Subject: Dutton Speedwords
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 94 18:58:20 +0000


Alan Butcher, a linguistics student at University College London has 
contacted me to ask for information on "Dutton's World Youth Speedwords". 
Unfortunately I have deleted the recent messages on this topic: would some 
enthusiast be willing to forward them to me?

He has had access to:

 R J G Dutton (1943) _Dutton's World Youth Speedwords_
 ____________ (1945) _Supplement to the Dutton World Speedwords Text-Book_
 ____________ (1951) _Teach Yourself Dutton Speedwords_ 

but knows no other bibliographical sources, nor any enthusiasts.

Alan has written a manual called _Dutton's World Youth Speedwords:
The Next Generation_, the preface of which states that "it is with
the hope of kindling a speech community that may breath[e] life
into the words of this language that I write this handbook".

The handbook consists of sections on:
  - general structure (1 page)
  - suffixes (6)
  - verbal elements (1)
  - constructions (1)
  - word paradigms (2)
  - pronunciation (1)
plus a 'Dwys'-English lexicon of about 1400 entries and an English-Dwys
lexicon of about 3000 entries.

Alan doesn't use email so if you are interested, then snailmail him at:
  Department of Phonetics & Linguistics
  University College London
  Gower Street
  London WC1E 6BT
  Britain

In the meantime I will pass on to him any information readers of this
list might be kind enough to send me.

Thanks,

And Rosta 
From ucleaar@ucl.ac.uk Sun Jan 30 01:03:00 1994
From: ucleaar 
Message-Id: <65423.9401300103@link-1.ts.bcc.ac.uk>
To: conlang@diku.dk
X-Ungarbled_Sender: And Rosta 
Subject: Dutton
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 01:03:00 +0000


Peter Harbo has kindly forwarded me the messages on Dutton's
Speedwords. He also suggested that an ftp-able copy of Alan
Butcher's handbook would be a good idea: I will propose this
to Alan, who I am sure will be delighted to find a community
of fellow enthusiasts.

And Rosta

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