Ithkuil
| Ithkuil | |
|---|---|
| Iţkuîl | |
| Pronunciation | /ɪθˈkʊ.il/ |
| Created by | John Quijada |
| Date | 1978–2016 |
| Users | None |
| Purpose |
constructed language
|
| Içtaîl (with romanized transcription) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
| Ilaksh | |
|---|---|
| Created by | John Quijada |
| Date | June 2007 |
| Users | None |
| Purpose |
constructed language
|
| Içtaîl | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
Ithkuil is an experimental constructed language created by John Quijada, designed to express deeper levels of human cognition briefly yet overtly and clearly, particularly with regard to human categorization. Presented as a cross between an a priori philosophical and a logical language striving to minimize the ambiguities and semantic vagueness found in natural human languages, Ithkuil is notable for its grammatical complexity and extensive phoneme inventory, the latter being simplified in the final version of the language. The name "Ithkuil" is an anglicized form of Iţkuîl, which in the original form roughly means "hypothetical representation of a language". Quijada states he did not create Ithkuil to be auxiliary or used in everyday conversations, but rather to serve as a language for more elaborate and profound fields where more insightful thoughts are expected, such as philosophy, arts, science and politics.
The many examples from the original grammar book show that a message, like a meaningful phrase or a sentence, can usually be expressed in Ithkuil with fewer sounds, or lexically distinct speech-elements, than in natural human languages. For example, the two-word Ithkuil sentence "Tram-mļöi hhâsmařpţuktôx" can be translated into English as "On the contrary, I think it may turn out that this rugged mountain range trails off at some point". Quijada deems his creation too complex and strictly regular a language to have developed naturally, but nonetheless a language suited to human conversation. No person, including Quijada, is known to be able to speak Ithkuil fluently.
Three versions of the language have been publicized: the initial version in 2004, a revised version called Ilaksh in 2007, and a final, definitive version in 2011.
In 2004—and again in 2009 with Ilaksh—Ithkuil was featured in the Russian-language popular science and IT magazine Computerra. In 2008, it won the Smiley Award.
For his influences, Quijada cites the "morpho-phonology of Abkhaz verb complexes, the moods of verbs of certain American Indian languages, the aspectual system of Niger–Kordofanian languages, the nominal case systems of Basque and Dagestanian languages, the enclitic system of the Wakashan languages, the positional orientation systems of Tzeltal and Guugu Yimithirr, the Semitic triliteral root morphology, and the hearsay and possessive categories of Suzette Elgin's Láadan language".
...
Wikipedia