the History of Vorlin


In 1989, I was self-publishing a newsletter called The Alembic. In one
edition of that short-lived publication, I included part of an essay by an
anarchist named Bonanno in which he speculated that the 'ruling class' would
use language, among other tools, to lower the intelligence of the working
classes and make them incapable of articulating their demands. Immediately
following that item, I placed "Announcing Lojban," an excerpt from a flyer
promoting an artificial language that has a very techo-nerdy "look and
feel." One reader responded to this by writing a scathing denunciation of
Lojban under the pseudonym of Mark Tierisch. Mark was a disgruntled
ex-Loglanist who enjoyed radical anti-technology publications such as 
Fifth Estate.

Mark and I corresponded a bit, and agreed that some constructed language
designers were, in our opinion, either too pre-occupied with technical
matters, or too whimsical and nutty in their approaches to language design.
Some sort of a balance between those two polarities seemed desirable. We
produced a rough sketch of an a priori categorical / philosophical language
called Vorlan, in which every single morpheme (including suffixes,
conjunctions, etc.) had the shape consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC). (The 1000
categories of Roget's original Thesaurus were a major inspiration in the
design of Vorlan. For better or worse, all records of Vorlan have been
discarded.)

After noticing that the vocabulary was difficult to memorize, we decided to
try a mixed approach, adding some fairly obvious a posteriori items such as
lun for "moon" and pan for "bread." The resulting mish-mash was called
Vorlen. The third try was even more a posteriori and was called Vorlin.

I created a newsletter, Vorlina vidpuni, to spread the good news of Vorlin's
birth.  I only mailed out about 5 copies of the first edition; one of them 
went to Factsheet Five, a magazine which reviews obscure desktop-published
publications. I think I also announced Vorlin on a couple of dial-up
computer bulletin boards, although I don't recall the details.

The publication of this item had a happy side-effect: it put me in contact
with others who are interested in planned languages. After seeing vidpuni
reviewed in Factsheet Five or seeing it mentioned in the Usenet newsgroup
sci.lang, several like-minded people wrote to me and I happily realized that
I was not completely alone in the universe. I had been ridiculed in high
school for designing a personal language. In the late 1970's and early 80's
I was an avid Esperantist, and during that period I was ridiculed by
non-Esperantists for pursuing a pipe dream, while simultaneously being
insulted by Esperantists for suggesting reforms and trying to find
information about other planlingvoj. Now, at last, I was finally in contact
with others who felt the urge to make language. Joy!!!

description and sample of 1991 Vorlin

Nouns were all CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant). The V=Vowel could be a, e, 
i, o, u, the diphthing au, or the diphthong y (pronounced [ai] as in English
"why"). c = 'ch' in 'church', h as in 'hot', j as in German 'ja', q = 'sh'
as in 'shush', and x = 'ch' in German 'achtung!'

Nouns added the suffix -a to form adjectives, -e to form adverbs, -ik to
form a transitive verb, and -iz to form an intransitive verb. -ik and -iz
were conjugated to indicate tense: -ak and -az were present tense, -ek and
-ez were past tense.

-i was a plural-indicating suffix; o meant "or," u meant "and" and y meant
"but."

The personal pronouns had a separate accusative form:
dam (= I), daq (= me)
dim (= you), diq (= you)
dom (= he), doq (= him)
dem (= she), deq (= her)
dym (= he/she), dyq (= him/her)
dum (= it), duq (= it)

The plurals of the pronouns were formed by adding the suffix -i, and the
possessive was formed with the suffix -a, e.g dymia = their.

In addition to the pronouns, there were other sequences of a priori words in
the vocabulary, for example, a string of words beginning with dy- referred
to physical force: dyb = a thrust, dyc = shaking, dyk = a punch, dyl = a
blow of force, all inspired by dyn (= force) from Greek dynamis. Most of the
prepositions began with t-, a lingering after-taste of Vorlan's vocabulary.

Text specimen, from vidpuni number 4 (1991.05.01), a translation of an
article from a newsletter called Message Post --

tum dal de hesa jar, Holly u dam resez en sennoma konqyn. jun 'konqyn' wa
jaf de migreni kel resaz en berhila o motbila hymi. kansim kanjama bivjafi,
konqyn zile senfine gadoz. delreni de konqyn wa nar heti u bilaz tofe
konkomiz u dulik gali u helik heti.

vodiqa gom notak gov y konqyn bilaz wi sengova. delreni bilaz sovik kankosi
per motin qanhym o tesganin qankankoszor. jun konqyn bilaz enhabik mas rova
sot de huskali u huckali u danvudi ri jun vodiqa gom bilaz.

translation: During part of previous year, Holly and I resided in a nameless
confluence. A 'confluence' is a group of friendship-persons who reside in
carryable or movable homes. Unlike temporary camping-groups, a confluence
possibly endlessly will continue. Component-persons of a confluence are near
others and can often meet and share vehicles and help others. A planned
community requires government but a confluence can be governmentless.
Component-persons can solve disagreements by moving homes or from-going the
disagree-ers. A confluence can contain a more large range of house-kinds and
family-kinds and interests than a planned community can.

The literature of 1991 Vorlin reached its high point with the publication of
the first rhyming poem, written by Mark Tierisch and published in the
October edition of vidpuni --

quknif

tabe quk nifaz tum senluma hor.
  Now autumn begins during lightless hour.
ril u vol difaz. fob kanzarak kor.
  Reality and desire differ. Fear chills heart.
vid de bel kafek dama san de men.
  Vision of beauty destroyed my health of mind.
sica dol dafoz je norwesa fen.
  Sweet pain will linger like northwestern wind.

A collaboration of John Ross, Steve Rice and myself resulted in the
following version of the Paternoster, a.k.a. Lord's Prayer:

jo damia vonpam, kel wa en tan: hyliqa wy dima nom. dima raqgov komyz, dima
vol rilwanyz, sur ter je en tan. destage donyk lurtaga pan ta dami, u vebyk
damia dankaki je dami vebak reni kel kakak daqi. ny ducyk qen kaktep y tes
kak ducyk daqi, be dima wa raqgov u max u vum, tabe u lurve. amen.

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It's ironic that I thought certain others were "too whimsical and nutty," since Vorlin quickly turned into one of the most unstable and frequently-remade conlangs in recorded history.

Some minor changes and clarifications resulted in a new grammar of Vorlin
being published in September 1992. Here are some excerpts.


Orthography and Pronunciation

alphabet

The alphabet of Vorlin contains 25 letters: abcdefghijklmnoprstuvwxyz. (Q is
not used.)

The same alphabet, with minor variations, is used by many languages in
Europe, the Americas, Africa, and elsewhere. This alphabet was chosen
because it is familiar to so many people. Vorlin text is written in
horizontal lines from left to right, just like English text.


pronunciation

c: like the "sh" in "ship"...

j: as in French "bonjour." This sound is also heard in the English words
"vision, pleasure, azure." This sound is spelled "zh" in transcribed Russian
names like "Brezhnev."...

x: like the "ch" in "chop"...

y: as in "yes" and "yo-yo" - [j]

Rule for accentuation of poly-syllabic words: If a word ends with c, z, or a
vowel, stress the next-to-last syllable. Otherwise, stress the final
syllable. Thus, lofac, kedaz, and homi are stressed on their first
syllables, and papir and fasil are stressed on their final syllables.


Pronouns

The personal pronouns are:

  singular

first person (I, me)                    mi
second person (you)                     tu
3rd p. masculine (he, him)              li
3rd p. feminine (she, her)              zi
3rd p. unspecified (he/she, him/her)    ni
3rd p. neuter (inanimate)               di

  plural

first person (we, us)                   nos
second person (you, you-all, youse)     vos
third person (they, them)               los

The possessive is formed by adding the suffix -a: mia means "my," losa means
"their," etc.


Some simple sentences:

mi wa hom.           I am (a) man.
mi wa dam.           I am (a) woman.
tu wa hom.           You are (a) man.
li wa hom.           He is (a) man.
zi wa dam.           She is (a) woman.
ni wa bona ren.      He/she is (a) good person.


Verbs

Vorlin has three verbs, and there are no irregularities in their
conjugations. All other verbal meanings are expressed through the creation
of compound words. The three verbs are:

wi:  intransitive copula, equivalent to some uses of English to be
ic:  transitive, meaning make, render, do something to
iz:  intransitive, meaning to do, to engage in (a specified activity)

The various forms of the verbs are:

infinitive:                     wi      ic      iz
present tense:                  wa      ac      az
past tense:                     we      ec      ez
future tense:                   wo      oc      oz
imperative:                     wu      uc      uz

gerund:                         win     cin     zin
active participle, adjectival:  -       ica     iza
active participle, adverbial:   -       ice     ize
passive participle (noun):      -       id      -
passive participle, adjectival: -       ida     -
passive participle, adverbial:  -       ide     -

Verbs do not vary according to person or number, thus wa can mean "am" or
"are" or "is," depending on the subject of the verb. The verbs ic and iz
usually appear as quasi-suffixes attached to other root-words, but wi
normally appears in free-standing form. It's relatively easy to identify the
verbs in a Vorlin sentence; the only words that can end with -z are
intransitive verbs, and almost all polysyllabic words ending in -c are
transitive verbs.

zi lofac li.              She loves him.
zi lofec li.              She loved him.
zi lofoc li.              She will love him.
zi volaz lofic li.        She wants to love him.
pet no lofaz.             A stone does not love.
pet no lofac juni.        A stone does not love anyone.
lofuc li!                 Love him!  (a command)
li wa lofida.             He is loved.
nosa lofida lin ...       our beloved language ...


Numerals

The basic cardinal numerals are: nul (0), yun (1), dus (2), tri (3), fir
(4), zag (5), sor (6), sep (7), hac (8), nin (9), dek (10), cen (100), kil
(1000), wan (10,000), meg (1 000 000).

Such words are written with hyphens after each powers-of-ten word to make
reading them easier. "Neunundsiebzigtausendvierhundertzweiundachtzig" is the
correct way to write the German equivalent of Vorlin's sepwan-ninkil-fircen-
hacdek-dus; I'm sure you'll agree that the Vorlin method is easier to read.


Adjectives and Adverbs

Adding the suffix -a to a noun or preposition forms an adjective meaning
"characterized by" or "pertaining to." Examples:

ful     bird
fula    avian
bon     goodness
bona    good
son     sound
sona    sonic

Comparatives are formed with the particle xo and superlatives with the
particle xu. These particles can be used as prefixes.

bona           good
xo bona        better
xu bona        best
xobonic        to improve (something), "more-good-render"


Syntax

The preferred word order is: subject, verb, direct object, indirect object.
Examples:

li donec bok ta mi.
He gave me the book; literally "he gave book to I."

mi ganoc jela nuva gan ta zi.
I will sing her that new song; "I will sing that new song to her."

The indirect object of a verb is immediately preceded by the preposition ta,
as shown in the examples above.

Modifiers generally appear before the words which they modify. Therefore
adjectives appear immediately before their nouns; adverbs and the negative
particle no ("not") appear immediately before whatever they modify.

In poetry the rules of normal word order may be relaxed to meet the demands
of rhythm, alliteration or rhyme; subject-object-verb and verb-
subject-object sentences may be used occasionally. In casual or hurried
conversation there may also be departures from normal word sequence.

A declarative sentence can be turned into a question simply by inserting the
word ji at the end; ji is a "sentential question particle" similar to ka in
Japanese and ma in Mandarin Chinese. The reply to a "yes or no" question
consists of ya or no followed by the main verb from the question (this
prevents ambiguity).

tu havac boki xa Vorlin.       You have (some) books about Vorlin.
tu havac boki xa Vorlin ji?    Do you have (any) books about Vorlin?
ya havac.                      Indeed have.  (Yes.)
no havac.                      Not have.  (No.)

ji also forms a series of interrogative words: jibe (why?), jime (how? in
what manner?), jini (who?) and so forth. The presence of such an
interrogative word does not cause a change in word order! tu videc li = you
saw him; tu videc jini? = you saw who? (who did you see?)

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