AYOLA FORUM http://ayola.org/forum-wp Here is the place to discuss the development and use of the auxiliary international langage Ayola. Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:10:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 The Lord’s Prayer in Ayola http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2009/04/22/the-lords-prayer-in-ayola-2/ http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2009/04/22/the-lords-prayer-in-ayola-2/#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:10:00 +0000 Ayola http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2009/04/22/the-lords-prayer-in-ayola-2/ Moyza patro kyo enats Tceleston,
Our father who is-in Heaven (note the final -n means we are referring to a specific place called Heaven, not just a heaven)

Ye vuza namo estaw santa.
May your name be (imperative) holy

Ye vuza regno arivaw.
May your kingdom arrive

Ye vuza gevwelo gefaraw enu Tero licke enu Tceleston.
May your thing-willed be-carried-out (imperative) in Earth in-the-same-manner-as in Heaven

Donaw efu tidjurno alu moy la cakdjurna broto.
Give (imperative) in (temporal) today to us the eachday bread

Pardonaw moyza gepekoy licke moy pardonats la pekoy ckontru moy.
Forgive my sins in-the-same-way-as we forgive the sins against (link) me

No dutcaw moy alenu temptajo coe
Not lead (imperative) us into temptation but

Savaw moy demsu lo maloy.
Save (imperative) us from evil (generic)

]]> http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2009/04/22/the-lords-prayer-in-ayola-2/feed/ 2 Revision of Grammar and Vocabulary Underway http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/10/23/revised-grammar-book-coming-very-soon/ http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/10/23/revised-grammar-book-coming-very-soon/#comments Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:11:01 +0000 rebecca http://aiola.org/forum-wp/?p=24 The Ayola Research Group has been laboriously working to get the new, comprehensive grammar book published online by Fall 2008. Our modest but earnest team of four people has spent hundreds of hours revising thousands of vocabulary terms and writing a 200+ page book which will explain every major aspect of the Ayola language in detail, along with practice exercises for people interested in learning to speak and write in Ayola with us. In addition, our website will offer new learners a simplified version of the Ayola grammar book which highlights key points of Ayola along with providing practice activities.

We appreciate your patience in awaiting the publication of these materials online. We’re in the final stages now, so we estimate to have the texts available as soon as possible! Please check back between September-November 2008 to start learning this new language!

UPDATE: As of October 23, 2008, the revised grammar book and lessons are back on line in the “Learn” section of the website. We will still be making changes to these pages for the next few weeks, but we encourage you to play around with them and let us know if you see anything that needs correction or clarification.

]]> http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/10/23/revised-grammar-book-coming-very-soon/feed/ 4 Hworde la vokabularyo gedevelopwits? http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/05/06/hworde-la-vokabularyo-gedevelopwits/ http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/05/06/hworde-la-vokabularyo-gedevelopwits/#comments Tue, 06 May 2008 19:13:21 +0000 rebecca http://aiola.org/forum-wp/?p=23 How is the vocabulary developed?

The Ayola Research Group is always at work on the Ayola dictionary. At present, we are diligently compiling the Basic Vocabulary which will be published to this website along with the upcoming revised grammar later this year.
 

Ayola’s vocabulary is designed to be recognizable to speakers familiar with one or more of the Western European languages. Researchers first determine the principal meanings of a word and then look up the translation of each meaning in as many as possible of the seven major groups of the Indo-European languages. In order to be selected as an Ayola root, the root must (1) satisfy Ayola phonology; (2) not start with a syllable which is an Ayola word such as ke, la, lo, or no in order to avoid oronyms. (International words such as keroseno, laguno, logaritmo, and nobeliumo are allowed.); (3)not be the root of an international combining form such as elektro-, filo-, and nano-, or the root of an important Linnaean term such as kan- (canis) or fel- (felis). 
 

In addition, the root should (1) occur frequently in the natural languages; (2) have a unique meaning in its languages; (3) be compact.
 

The majority of roots are selected from the Romance, Germanic, and Slavic languages because these are more recognizable to most speakers of Western European languages; however, Ayola has significant contributions from other languages such as Albanian.
  For example, when choosing the Ayola word for ‘water,’ researchers identify four potential roots occurring in the Slavic, Germanic, and Romance languages, i.e. ‘vod-’ (Slavic), ‘vatn-’ (North Germanic), ‘vatr-’ (West Germanic), and ‘akw-’ (Romance). They select vod- because akwi- is an international combining form and ‘vod–’ is used in the greatest number of languages (eight).
 Words for species and genera of plants and animals are not chosen by the above method but instead closely follow the Linnaean system of nomenclature.

]]> http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/05/06/hworde-la-vokabularyo-gedevelopwits/feed/ 0 Changes to the website will unveil new Ayola grammar http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/03/04/changes-to-the-website-will-unveil-new-ayola-grammar/ http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/03/04/changes-to-the-website-will-unveil-new-ayola-grammar/#comments Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:01:06 +0000 rebecca http://aiola.org/forum-wp/?p=22 The ARG has begun developing a new tool for website users to learn and practice the Ayola language. In addition to publishing the new, revised version of Ayola’s grammar in book format, the ARG is designing a dynamic, interactive hypertext site which will invite visitors to explore every aspect of the language (grammar, pronunciation, usage, etc.). A comprehensive but easily-accessible grammar will be available and accessed through interpretation, listening, and practice activities. Visitors can learn about Ayola through a series of translation exercises that will be both fun and informative. Publication online is projected before the end of 2008.

]]> http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/03/04/changes-to-the-website-will-unveil-new-ayola-grammar/feed/ 4 The Development of Ayola’s Personal Pronouns http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/02/28/the-development-of-ayolas-personal-pronouns/ http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/02/28/the-development-of-ayolas-personal-pronouns/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:45:35 +0000 rebecca http://aiola.org/forum-wp/?p=21 In developing a new language, choosing the words is a complex process which often requires some time and experimentation before a final choice is made. Because a language is a vast, interconnected web, a word cannot be chosen in isolation but must satisfy some criteria governed by other words. A good illustration of the process of choosing words is provided by the case of the personal pronouns.

 

At the outset it was decided that the words for the personal pronouns should

1.      be short words of the form CV, CyV or CwV

2.      begin with a distinctive consonant for each of the three persons (first, second, third)

3.      not be equal to a syllable which begins a large number of vocabulary words (in order to avoid oronyms)

4.      fit smoothly phonetically into the common contexts for pronouns, eg. following a verb ending in –ts or following a link beginning with j-.

 

The easiest pronoun words to choose were those for the second person. vu, taken from French, is an excellent choice for the singular form because essentially no internationally-used words begin with this syllable. voy, taken from Italian, is also a good choice for the plural form because few words begin with this syllable.

 

Settling on a good choice for the first-person pronouns required somewhat more effort and experimentation. In our list of twenty-nine principal Indo-European languages ‘j’ (usually pronounced as the English ‘y’) is the overwhelming preference for the initial consonant in the nominative case and ‘m’ the nearly universal preference in the accusative case. (Ayola has no cases and uses the same word as subject and object.) Initially we tried ‘mi’, taken from Esperanto, but it proved to be seriously problematic because so many internationally-used words begin with the syllable ‘mi-’. Then we tried ‘jo’, which is close to the words used in Italian and Spanish, but it proved to be awkward following verbs and links in phrases and sentences such as the following:

 

            * la fotografuro ja jo                 the photograph of (owned/used by) me

            * Vu vidits jo.                           You saw me.

 

Recently, we have finally settled on myo as the Ayola word for ‘I/me’. It contains a blend of the characteristic ‘m’ and ‘y’ consonants and fits smoothly in common contexts as illustrated above.

 

            la fotografuro ja myo

            Vu vidits myo.

 

In analogy with voy, moy is a natural choice as the word for ‘we/us’, making m the characteristic beginning consonant of the first person.

 

The characteristic initial consonant d for the third-person pronouns was suggested by Loglan. Natural languages make three distinctions in the third-person pronouns:

 

1.      animate vs. inanimate (e.g., he/she vs. it)

2.      masculine vs. feminine (e.g., he vs. she)

3.      first vs. second mention (done in some Native American languages, etc.)

 

After much discussion and experimentation, we decided that to make all three of these distinctions would make the set of third-person pronouns too large and cumbersome, so we decided on the first and third as the most important. Note that, in modern usage, users of English and other languages are doing away with the gender distinction by using such constructions as he/she.

 

Here is the current list of the personal pronouns in Ayola:

 

1st myo
 I/me
 moy
 we/us
2nd vu
 you (singular)
 voy
 you (plural)
3rd #1 dya
 he/she #1, him/her #1
 dyay
 they (people) #1
  dwa
 it #1
 dway
 they (things) #1
3rd #2 dyo
 he/she #2, him/her #2
 dyoy
 they (people) #2
  dwo
 it #2
 dwoy
 they (things) #2

The second-mention third-person pronouns are sometimes referred to in literature as the fourth-person pronouns.

 

Note also a distinction between the first/second-person and the third-person plural forms. Although the latter are formed regularly from the singular forms, the former are not. There is an underlying reason for this. The first-person plural form may sometimes denote a true plural entity of first persons (members of a group speaking jointly) but more commonly denotes a combination of first and second persons (I/me + you), first and third persons (I/me + he/him/she/her/they/them), or all three persons. Similarly, the second-person plural form may sometimes denote a true plural entity of second persons (members of a group addressed) but may also denote a combination of second and third persons (you + he/him/she/her/they/them). In contrast, the third-person plural forms only denote true plural entities of third persons. Thus, moy and voy, while clearly recognizable in Ayola as denoting plural entities, are elementary words and are not derived by pluralizing singular forms. It is interesting to note that the Romance languages (although not the Germanic ones) essentially follow the same practice, so that at least some natural languages recognize a basic distinction between what is denoted by the first/second-person plural forms and what is denoted by the third-person plural forms.

]]> http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/02/28/the-development-of-ayolas-personal-pronouns/feed/ 1 A Day in the Life of an Ayola Research Group Member http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/02/28/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-ayola-research-group-member/ http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/02/28/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-ayola-research-group-member/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:22:23 +0000 rebecca http://aiola.org/forum-wp/?p=20 So what exactly do we do all day here in the Ayola headquarters? Well, we often spend painstaking amounts of time building as many as one vocabulary word! For example, this afternoon Professor Stimets and I spent over an hour deciding on the appropriate Ayola translations for the English preposition ‘across.’ Since the commonly occurring combining form, trans- cannot function as an Ayola word on its own, we had to consult all the foreign language dictionaries to find alternative words Ayola might adopt. We found two main meanings of ‘across’: ‘from one side to the other of’ and ‘on the other side of.’ After reviewing the translations of these in several of the Indo-European languages, we selected ‘čez’ from Slovene to make tcezu for ‘on the other side of’ and ‘across’ from English to make krosu for ‘from one side to the other of.’ Though the forms ‘trav-’ and ‘travers-’ were common in the Romance languages, they conflict with preexisting roots in Ayola which have other meanings. To avoid replicating roots and thus confusing meanings, we went with the less popular yet still distinct forms from the Slavic and Germanic categories. Here are the two forms used as prepositions in example sentences:

 

Dya habitats tcezu la rivro.                    He lives across the river.

Dya kurits krosu la strado.                    He ran across the street.
 

In addition, in Ayola, preposition roots may also be used verbally.

 

La dormitoryo tcezats la rivro.              The dormitory is across the river.

La ponto krosats la rivro.                      The bridge is across (spans) the river.  

]]> http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/02/28/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-ayola-research-group-member/feed/ 0 Ayolists and Esperantists in conversation? http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/02/27/ayolists-and-esperantists-in-conversation/ http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/02/27/ayolists-and-esperantists-in-conversation/#comments Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:28:52 +0000 rebecca http://aiola.org/forum-wp/?p=19 You say ‘Saluton,’ we say ‘Aloa.’ ‘Saluton!’ ‘Aloa!’ ‘Saluton!’ ‘Aloa!’ Let’s call the whole… – well, you know how the Gershwin song goes. Despite the differences between Esperanto and Ayola, an important event last week showed the Ayola Research Group that speakers of other constructed languages can appreciate a newcomer like Ayola.
 

On Friday, February 15th three of us from the Ayola Research Group attended the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, MA to partake in the session, “English Only Science in a Multi-lingual Society: Costs, Benefits, and Options” which addressed concerns about the dominance of the English language in the communication of scientific research across the globe – something we’ve long believed Ayola might serve to alleviate. Panelists including Esperantists José Antonio Vergara of Puerto Montt Regional Hospital in Chile and Humphrey Tonkin, President Emeritus and Professor of the Humanities at the University of Hartford discussed the problems with this “English only science” and suggested solutions to them, one of which included the use of constructed, international languages like Esperanto to aid in international translation. We had the opportunity to converse with the panelists as well as the other Esperantists in the audience about the problematic usage of English in the contexts of science and translation and were able to share information about Ayola with them. Both groups were interested to hear about the others’ languages, and the Esperantists understood some of the Ayola we shared with them. We exchanged contact information with some of these individuals and hope to maintain correspondence with them in the future.

 

Most importantly, the AAAS session has prompted us to try writing and translating science-related articles in Ayola in order to test its effectiveness at precisely expressing concepts which we presume may be interpreted ambiguously when translated through English and even Esperanto. Though we credit the natural languages and artificial ones like Esperanto with inspiring the Ayola grammar and vocabulary, our chief objective in designing Ayola is to create a language essentially void of ambiguity and thus ideal for international translation, particularly in the broadcasting of scientific information. We plan to publish some such articles in Ayola here in a new section of our website entitled Siensay Nuzoy (Science News). Stay tuned!  

]]> http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2008/02/27/ayolists-and-esperantists-in-conversation/feed/ 1 Ayola Language Forum http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2006/12/30/ayola-language-forum/ http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2006/12/30/ayola-language-forum/#comments Sat, 30 Dec 2006 14:50:51 +0000 Ayola http://aiola.org/forum-wp/?p=3 Welcome to the new and (we hope) improved Ayola Language forum (the language formerly known as Aiola). Postings to the old forum are being ported here. It should be possible for anyone to log in and post to the forum. The login process is just aimed at cutting down on spam, and unless you put your email address in the body of your post, it will not be made public.

]]> http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2006/12/30/ayola-language-forum/feed/ 1 We’ve been making big revisons! – Jim Giddings http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2006/12/29/weve-been-making-big-revisons-jim-giddings/ http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2006/12/29/weve-been-making-big-revisons-jim-giddings/#comments Fri, 29 Dec 2006 21:22:24 +0000 Ayola http://aiola.org/forum-wp/?p=16 We’ve been working on the dictionaries and grammar of the language: the dictionary and grammar that you can find on this website are now out of date, and we hope to be replacing them with new editions soon. We really appreciate your patience! One minor change that nevertheless has big repercussions is that we’re now going to be spelling the name of the language “ayola” rather than “aiola”. We decided that having vowel combinations that are pronounced together as a single syllable added unnecessary complexity to the orthography of the language. You can now find this website at http://www.ayola.org/ as well as at http://www.aiola.org/ .

____________________________

Steve (Guest)

RE: We’ve been making big revisons!
Congratulations on your work with this project. I can’t wait to see the final draft of this language.

]]> http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2006/12/29/weve-been-making-big-revisons-jim-giddings/feed/ 0 Dictionary? – Steve http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2006/07/10/dictionary-steve/ http://ayola.org/forum-wp/2006/07/10/dictionary-steve/#comments Tue, 11 Jul 2006 02:12:41 +0000 Ayola http://aiola.org/forum-wp/?p=12 Steve, (Guest)7/10/2006 13:22:49
Message:
Hi. I was just wondering when the dictionary to this language was going to be released. Thank you for creating & maintaining this language.RE: Dictionary?
Message:
Hi Steve,

Thank you very much for your interest in our language. We are working on both versions of the dictionary (English-Aiola, Aiola-English) intensively, and we hope to release both of them by the beginning of next summer (2007). Meanwhile, please let us know if we can help you with the other materials on the site.

And, on a more social note, where are you from? And how did you come across our webpage?

Greetings, Steve ( Guest)

7/12/2006 17:26:12
Thank you for your quick response, Irsa. I’m always glad to find an actively supported language such as yours.

I have always been interested in artificial languages but I’ve never really had the time to be devoted to it fully.

I can’t remember which website it was that had a link to your website. I’ll try to remember. However, I took the liberty of adding your language to the Langmaker website to give it more visibility. Feel free to set up an account & make whatever revisions you feel the need to make to that webpage on Langmaker about your language.

You may want to also create an entry on Wikipedia as well. That would give your language even more visibility.

I look forward to studying your language further & if I have any questions, I’ll let you know.

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