Babm
| Babm | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Rikichi (Fuishiki) Okamoto |
| Date | 1962 |
| Setting and usage | international auxiliary language |
| Users | None |
| Purpose | |
| Sources | a priori language |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
Babm (pronounced [bɔˈɑːbɔmu]) is an international auxiliary language created by the Japanese philosopher Rikichi [Fuishiki] Okamoto (1885–1963). Okamoto first published the language in his 1962 book, Universal Auxiliary Language Babm,[1] but the language has not caught on even within the constructed language community, and does not have any known current speakers.[2] The language uses the Latin script as a syllabary: each letter marks an entire syllable rather than a single phoneme. To readers used to the Latin script, this creates a rather oddly compacted script with far more consonant letters than vowel letters.
The language has in common with some 17th-century artificial languages an over-riding concern with taxonomy, and providing a universally consistent set of names for chemicals, etc.;[3] the author's "scientific" preoccupation is a contrast to the socio-political mandate of Esperanto, although the 1962 book is certainly not lacking in statements about world peace.
Examples
[Babm:] V pajio ci htaj, lrid cga coig pegayx pe bamb ak cop pbagt.
[English:] I am reading this book, which is very interestingly written in Babm by a predominant scholar.[4]
[Babm:] Dedh cjis beg kobp.
[English:] Time causes youth to be old.[5]
References
- ^ Okamoto, R. (1962). Universal auxiliary language, Babm. The author. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
- ^ http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~jwieser/IALattempts.htm
- ^ "à bas le ciel: BABM: Japan's (inspiring?) answer to Esperanto". A-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.ca. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
- ^ Arika Okrent, 2009, In the Land of Invented Languages, p. 14, Random House Digital.
- ^ Okrent, 2009, op. cit. supra, p. 16.
Bibliography
- Okamoto, Rikichi [Fuishiki] (1962). Universal auxiliary language, Babm. Tokyo: The author. [Author appears as Fuishiki Okamoto.]
- Okamoto, Rikichi [Fuishiki] (1964). Sekaigogakuron. Tokyo: Minseikan. [In Japanese.]
External links
- Babm: The Simplest Auxiliary Language (excerpts from the 1962 book)
- "Babm and Lin" by Ray Brown
- The first 25 pages of Universal Auxiliary Language Babm