Orthography

Neoglyphic, or Neo for short, is written using ideographic glyphs made up of short segments drawn within a grid space three bars high and anywhere from one to four bars wide. They can easily be entered on a standard keyboard as explained below.

Neo can also be transcribed using English words, but there is not always a one-to-one correspondence between an English word and the Neo glyphs. For example, the English word "fly" can be the verb "to fly", or the insect "a fly". These two are distinct glyphs in Neo. For this reason some glyphs have names that are hyphenated English words, because they are used in a more narrow and specific sense than the basic English word. For example, the verb fly-verb is different from the noun fly-insect, and like-fond-of is not the same as like-similar.

Some other glyph names are written in UPPER CASE to show that they are being used in a special way in the transcription. For example, when written as DID the name refers to a special tense marking glyph, and not to past tense of the English verb "do". These names are choosen to reflect the function of thse special glyphs so that, for example, the transcription I DID run. is intuitively obvious as meaning "I ran".

It should be kept in mind that these English names for the glyphs are not the actual words in Neoglyphic. In fact, there are no spoken words in Neoglyphic. A German speaker or a French speaker could just as easily use German names or French names for the glyphs. The language itself in only the written glyphs, and it can be spoken or read aloud using any names for the glyphs that a person wishes to use, as long as those words, whether Japanese or Greek, convey to the reader the correct meaning of the Neo glyph.

For this reason, Neoglyphic can be thought of as a universal written language, which any two people could use to communicate with each other in writing even if they do not have any spoken language in common. It can also be used to communicate with the "deep future", when any trace of present-day languages has long since faded into oblivion.

Seeing the Glyphs

If you are using Firefox or Internet Explorer you should see the glyphs just fine, as the font that displays them is embedded in the web page. If you do not see the glyphs then you will have to download an install the True Type font Zegments.ttf. If your browser does support embedded fonts then you should see glyphs here rather than strings of Roman alphabet characters: WH FOX JZH dFc GX JTH GOP KX BZ Ra YCZ bbX

The glyphs are entered on the keyboard by typing a series of one to three alphabetic characters for each glyph. For example, the above line of glyphs was entered by typing "WH FOX JZH dFc GX JTH GOP KX BZ Ra YCZ bbX". Notice that it is important to pay attention to the difference between upper case and lower case letters. "dba" is a different glyph than "DBA", "dBa", or "DbA". The dictionary page (when it is uploaded) will show the English word, the actual glyph, and the sequence of letters needed to type that glyph. On this web page we will put the letter sequence in parentheses after the first appearance of the glyph.

Glyphabetical Order

By refering to the table below, any glyph can be turned back into its alphabetical equivalent by looking at the glyph and writing down the letters that represent the segments in the glyph. Once that has been done the glyph can be looked up in the Neoglyphic to English dictionary in alphabetical order by the letters used to enter the glyph. For example, happy MZY is entered on the keyboard as MZY. By looking at the glyph itself one can see how it breaks down into those three letters, shown here seperated: M + Z + Y makes MZY.

Keystroke assignments for Zegments font for Neoglyphic.

Discovering New Glyphs

The source of new glyphs is a 50-page specimen book with 30,761 computer-generated glyphs. As each new glyph is assigned a meaning it is circled in the master copy of the specimen book so that no glyph is ever used twice. A copy of the specimen book as a Word document is available for download as Zegments.doc.

Derivatives

Glyphs have one specific part of speech. To derive other parts of speech requires a suffix-like glyph called a derivative which does not necessarily translate to an English word. Derivatives are not physically attached to the glyph they modify. Instead, they follow the glyph in the normal way. For example, bSPIRP teacher uses two glyphs: bSP (bSP) teach and IRP (IRP) -PERSON, while happily MZY Z uses two glyphs MZY (MZY) happy and Z (Z) -WAY. The English names of these glyphs are in UPPER CASE and are prefixed with "-" because they are not words but suffixes and may not appear as nouns, verbs, adjectives, or any other part of speech other than derivative suffixes.

Sentences

Sentences are made up of a subject phrase, and a complete verb in that order. In addition there may be any number of emendation phrases before, between, or after the subject phrase and complete verb. The emendations serve to emend, expand upon, alter, or refine the meaning of subject-verb pair.

Neoglyphic emendations fulfill the roles of direct and indirect objects as well as prepositional phrases in English and many other languages. They all have the same form, namely, a role marking glyph followed by a noun phrase. These will be explored further below.

Subject Phrase

A subject phrase is a noun phrase made up of a noun and all its modifiers. Personal pronouns are each represented by a single glyph. Thus "I/me" is one glyph, DL (DL) ME and "he/him" is one glyph, bRP (bRP) HE as are the other pronouns which will be introduced later. The special pronoun DWb (DWb) SOMEONE means the person or thing referenced is not known or not specified, or is irrelevant. When translated into English one can use "one", "someone", etc. or the passive voice. E.g. "The window was broken." or "Somebody broke the window."

Complete Verb

A complete verb is a verb glyph preceded by the optional verb negation glyph BP (BP) NOT, and/or an optional tense modifier glyph to indicate past, present, ongoing, habitual, or future action, among others. In addition, the verb may be followed by an optional adverb, although adverbs are relatively rare in Neoglyphic, having their role filled most often by prepositional phrases as emendations.

• The verb alone is present tense: JJP (JJP) run means "run".
• The past marker XX (XX) DID indicates the simple past: XXJJP DID run means "ran".
• XXX (XXX) DONE indicates completed or finished action.
  Usually only used to emphasize completion: DL  XXXGLG  eG I DONE read book. (I am all done reading the book. vs merely "I read the book.")
• The verb glyph duplicated indicates ongoing action.
  JJPJJP run run means "am/is/are running".
• YVB (YVB) WILL indicates future action. YVB JJP WILL run means "will run".
• VAV (VAV) DO glyph indicates habitual or characteristic action.
  E.G. ZVH VAV VeE Dog DO bark. means "Dogs, as a general rule, bark.")

Other verb modifier glyphs might include "must", "may", "should", "able-to", "intend-to" etc. If the time of the event is specified (tomorrow, yesterday, long ago) then the past or future tense glyphs can be omitted. Once the tense has been established, it may be omitted from other verbs in the same sentence, or other sentences in the same narrative.

Imperative Mood

The imperative can be a command like the English "Run!" or a suggestion or invitation like like the English "Let's go.". It is formed by placing the verb before the subject pronoun.

Examples:

• RKX JJP You run. is declarative. JJP RKX Run you! is the imperative command "Run!"
• DGD EWS We go. is declarative. EWS DGD Go we. is the invitation or suggestion "Let's go."

Articles

The definite and indefinite articles do not exist.

Plurals

Plurals are indicated either by a definite number placed before the noun, or by a quantifier like "some" or "many" placed before the nouns. Plurals may also be formed by duplicating the noun glyph. Duplication is only used with single-glyph nouns. Multi-glpyh nouns like bSPIRP teacher will always use a quantifier of some kind.

Examples:

• WH  eXG two hand (pair of hands)
• VXG  DVT Some stone (stones)
• eXG eXG hand hand (hands)
• VXG  bSPIRP Some teacher (teachers)

Proper Names

Proper names are formed with short phrases which are descriptive of the thing being named. There is a namer glyph AbO  (AbO) IS-NAME that identifies the phrase as being a name. When translating names from other languages the approved process is to discover the original meaning of the name and then translate that meaning. For example, "Chicago" comes from the Native American languages of the region and has been variously translated as "skunk weed", "stink weed", "stinky onion", "wild garlic", or "wild onion", referring to plants that commonly grow along the Chicago River. We might then call Chicago AbO WWP GDG VOQ dVc  IS-NAME onion city (Literally "eye-water-bulb city"). Another acceptable translation would be AbO LOO dVc  IS-NAME windy city (literally "wind city"), since this is a well-known nickname for Chicago.

Possessives

Possessives are marked with the glyph IOP (IOP) 'S placed between the possessor and the thing possessed, in that order.

Examples:

• YQX IOP eG Man 'S book (The man's book)
• DL IOP cGY WH cNP me 'S old two shoe (pair of shoes)

Complex possessives like "my father's dog" are chained together with IOP  with the first possessor mentioned first and the thing possessed mentioned last: DL IOP CZ IOP ZVH me 'S father 'S dog.

Emendation

An emendation phrase is made up of a role identifier glyph followed by a noun phrase. These phrases perform the function of direct and indirect objects, prepositional phrases, and adverbial phrases in other languages. Role glyphs include:

• DXP (DXP) OBI: Thing affected by the action of the verb.
  If this phrase immediately follows the verb then the DXP glyph may be omitted.
• BBX (BBX) TO: Recipient of the object or action of the verb, or direction or goal of a verb of motion.
• eLb (eLb) PLACE: Location of the event.
• FDc (FDc) HOW: Manner of action. Often takes an adjective plus Z -WAY.
  E.g.FDc MZY Z HOW happy -WAY = "happily"
• cUX (cUX) WHEN: Time of occurrence of the event. Takes arguments like "yesterday", "last week", "two O'clock". Time arguments like "always", "never", "seldom", "often" are treated as verb modifiers (adverbs).
• WbP (WbP) ABOUT: Establish a general topic. When present, occurs as the first thing in the sentence. The topic is something that is neither the subject nor the object, but which establishes a broader context for the sentence.

Examples:

• YQX XXLLS DXP eG  Man DID give OBI book. (SVE)
• DXP eG eLb OVG Kb YQX XXLLS BBX bLX  OBI book PLACE school (learn-place) man DID give TO woman. (EESV)
• YQX DXP eG  XXLLS  Man OBI book DID give. (SEV)
• YQX DXP eG  BBX bLX YVB LLS  Man OBI book TO woman WILL give. (SEEV)
• YQX BBX bLX YVB LLS  eG  Man TO woman WILL give book. (SEVE with OBI dropped immediately after verb)
• YQX BBX bLX YVB LLS  DXP bRP IOP cGY eG  Man TO woman WILL give OBI he 'S old book.
• DXP DL IOP cGY eG  cUX OL aa  BBX YQX DL  LLS  OBI Me 'S old book WHEN yesterday (past day) TO man I give.
• DWb XXTBH NVH  SOMEONE DID break cup. (The cup was broken (by somebody unspecified).)
• DL  XXFZA DVT  I DID throw stone.
• DXP NVH DWb XXBJP  OBI cup SOMEONE DID discard. (The cup was thrown away.)
• WbP bGH DL BPBP bGP FaH  ABOUT food I never eat fish.
  (As for food; Where food is concerned; While we're on the subject of food; ... )

Adjectives

Adjective glyphs come before their associated noun glyph.

Copula 1 Gce (Gce) - IS

The copula Gce  IS "is/am/are/be" is a glyph which indicates equality or equivalence only, including in matehmatical equations. It is not used to associate an attribute with a noun such as "The sky is blue." (see ISA below), or to indicate membership in a larger class of things such as "Water is a liquid." See BIS below.)

Examples:

• X BZ  GX Gce  JX  1 plus 3 IS 4.
• bRP Gce  DL IOP YQX eVP  He IS me 'S son (male child).
  ("he" and "my son" are two designations for the same person.

Copula 2 FIe (FIe) - ISA

The copula FIe  ISA is a glyph which indicates membership in a larger class of objects.

Examples:

• GDG  FIe  GAG  Water ISA liquid.
• DL FIe TaR IRP  Me ISA hunt-PERSON. (I am a hunter)
• UL ZKX FIe eG  This thing ISA book.

Copula 3 bG (bG) - BIS

The copula glyph BIS is used for assigning an adjective to a noun.

Examples:

• bRP IOP FMN  bG  cGY  He 'S house BIS old.
• UL ZZX bG  EeX  This insect BIS black.
• bLP IOP ZVH bG GLc  She 'S dog BIS big.

Location and To Be-Exist

There is no glyph for assigning a location to a noun. The preposition is used in a verb-like manner for this purpose. There are certain special "locations" "here" (this-place), "there" (that-place), etc.. which are treated the same as location names.

An alternative is to use the verb DdR (DdR) BE which is not the copula, and means only, and specifically "to exist", along with the location role identifier eLb (eLb) PLACE. In other than the present tense the verb BE must be used and marked with the appropriate tense glyph.

Examples

• He in house.
• Me 'S son at school.
• Dog at here. (Dog at this-place.)
• Cup at that-place. (Cup at there.)
• Cup BE WHERE that-place.
• Dog WHERE house BE.
• WHERE house Dog BE.
• Me DID BE WHERE house.
• Me 'S son BE WHERE school.

Punctuation

The only punctuation glyphs are "full stop" and "question mark".

Using THAT to Make Clauses

A complete sentence can be nominalized, or turned into the syntactic equivalent of a noun with the glyph THAT. This makes it possible for a complete sentence to become the object of any role identifier glyph.

Examples:

• I see THAT John in tent.
• John say THAT he ISA happy man.
• Mary know THAT she BIS happy.

Using WHICH to Make Adjectival Clauses

Nominalized sentences which have a pronoun as the subject or object or both can also be used as post-positioned modifiers to a noun phrase. Thus the sentence "He broke my window." becomes the WHICH phrase WHICH he broke my window, which may then be used as a post-positioned modifier to boy.

Examples:

• Boy WHICH he broke my window DID run-away.
• I WILL give book WHICH I find it TO man WHICH he need it. (OBI role marker is dropped after verb)
• TO man WHICH he need it I WILL give book WHICH I DID find it.
• OBI book WHICH I DID find it TO man WHICH he need it I WILL give.

The Gerund Particle

The glyph named DOING has the effect of turning the verb that follows, along with any emendations that follow it, into a noun-like object which can be used with DOING as the subject or object of another verb. The verb DOING itself can also serve as the complete verb of the sentence when no other verb is present. This works like the English gerund, and can also be used to translate many sentences that would otherwise use the infinitve of the verb.

Examples:

• He fancy-like DOING play chess. "He likes playing chess." Gerund "play chess" as the object of fancy-like Or to translate the infinitve in "He likes to play chess."
• We WILL DOING work FOR all day. "We will be working all day." The verb DOING is effectively the only verb in the sentence.
• John 'S hobby IS DOING garden. John's hobby is gardening.
• DOING run around block DID cause THAT he BIS tired. "Running around the block made him tired." Gerund as subject of the verb "cause".
• I DID give it TO boy THAT he DOING play football. "I gave it to the boy who is playing football."

Asking Questions

Questions are formed in one of two ways.

• If a yes or no answer is expected, then the SO_? glyph is placed in front of a simple statement.
  • SO? John have book?
  • SO? you go with me?
• If a question is asking for a missing piece of information then the glyph WHAT? followed by the name of the class of the missing information is used in place of the adjective on the noun, or in place of the entire noun phrase in a regular declarative sentence.
  • John 'S book BIS WHAT? color? Ans: John 'S book BIS red.
  • You have WHAT? size car? Ans: I have little car.
  • You WILL go TO river WHEN WHAT?? Ans: WHEN next week I WILL go TO river.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions join two elements of the same type into a compound element of that shared type. For example, two nouns are joined into a compound noun, two verbs are joined into a compound verb, or two sentences are joined into a compound sentence. Not all conjunctions make sense in all contexts. For example, the possessive glyph 'S discussed above is a conjunction which only makes sense in the "noun CONJ noun" context. Likewise, the conjunction WHENEVER makes sense joining verbs or sentences, but not joining nouns.

• Dog run AND play. (verb CONJ verb)
• I sit WHENEVER read. (verb CONJ verb)
• I sit WHENEVER I read. (sentence CONJ sentence)
• I not like-fond-of dog OR cat. (noun CONJ noun)
• Her 'S horse AND cow DID run-away. (noun CONJ noun)
• He WILL give book TO me WHEN he DID read it. (sentence CONJ sentence)
• I WILL stay AT home IF rain fall fall. (sentence CONJ sentence)
• She DID leave party THEN she go TO home. (sentence CONJ sentence)
• I like-fond-of potato soup BECAUSE I BIS Irish. (or ... I ISA Irish -PERSON.)

Note the difference between the conjunction BECAUSE and the role identifier BECAUSE-OF. E.g.: I BIS happy BECAUSE he here. vs. I BIS sad BECAUSE-OF rain. The conjunction BECAUSE in this case joins sentence to sentence, while the role identifier BECAUSE-OF marks a noun phrase as an emendation.

To be continued ...