AUI (language)
| aUI | |
|---|---|
| Created by | W. John Weilgart, PhD |
| Date | 1962 |
| Setting and usage | Designed to dissolve the discrepancy between homonymous and synonymous words |
| Purpose | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
aUI /auiː/ is a constructed language created by W. John Weilgart (1913–1981), a philologist and psychoanalyst originally from Vienna, Austria. He described it as "the language of space" and published a general work in 1975 and later textbook.
Weilgart's motivation for inventing the language was to create a form of communication based on what he proposed to be universal, basic elements of human thought and expression, and incorporated it into his psychotherapy work.
aUI is built upon a proposed set of universal semantic primes or elements of meaning that are claimed to combine intuitively to create miniature definitions of essential meaning. Weilgart's goal was to build an intrinsic relationship between linguistic subsystems—phonetic, morphologic, and semantic—so that words with similar sounds would have similar meanings. As such it is an "a priori" and "philosophical" language. It can be considered an experiment in applied cognitive lexical semantics, and Weilgart claimed it had potential as an auxiliary language.
aUI has 31 morpheme–phonemes each with an associated meaning, i.e. each morpheme = a phoneme = a sememe.
Pronunciation guide:
Additionally, short nasal vowels (marked with an asterisk) are used for numerals:
The phoneme ⟨b⟩, for instance, meaning "together", is a bilabial stop, pronounced with the lips pressed together. "Light" is pronounced with a short ⟨i⟩, as the brightest, highest-frequency sound, while "sound", is pronounced with a longer ⟨I⟩, because sound travels more slowly than light.
Each phoneme also has an ideographic glyph or symbol that represents its meaning. The symbol for ⟨a⟩, meaning "space", for instance, is a circle showing an open space. The symbol for ⟨e⟩, meaning "movement", follows the movement of a spiral nebula. "Human", ⟨u⟩, is depicted by the two legs or arms of the human being, also suggesting his dichotomous nature. The Human is fulfilled by the whole triangular trinity of the Spirit, a deep, mysterious ⟨U⟩, (there are many possible trinities found in philosophy and religion). "Life", ⟨o⟩, is represented by the shape of a leaf, photosynthesis forming the basis of much of life on Earth. "Action", a vibrant ⟨v⟩, is represented by a lightning bolt, the most active thing in nature. The glyph for ⟨g⟩, meaning "inside", is a dot inside a circle. The glyph for ⟨t⟩, meaning "toward", is a one-sided arrow shape pointing towards the right.
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