Re: THEORY: Aymara

>I've heard (read, rather) that some people think it might be, or have
>started out as, a conlang. I've also read that some people think it
>would make a good interlanguage for computer translation.
Well, in fact, the pioneering in machine translation started in the 80's
when the bolivian engineer Ivan Guzman-de-Rojas noticed that the
traditional binary-logic patterns used in western languages were not
fully suitable for "thinking" in Aymara. Guzman-de-Rojas said that he
was trying to develop a method to teach mathematics to aymara children.
When he realised the "normal" logic didn't work in Aymara he decided to
understand the "aymara" logic system as a trivalent logic scheme,
according to the works of the polish thinker J. Lukasiewicz that had
published in 1920 a book with the title "On Trivalent Logic". The
publication became the starting point for non-Aristotelian systems of
logic. He also published "Philosophical Observations on Polyvalent
Systems of Propositional Logic" in 1930.

I won't try to explain the Guzman-de-Rojas thesis. I'll just say that he
implemented a program he called ATAMIRI (translator, in Aymara) with
wich he achieved a substantial development in the then-new machine
translation discipline.

According to Guzman-de-Rojas. The trivalent logic system is implemented
in Aymara mainly through the existance of "Logical suffixes" that
determine the logic structure of the statements which he demonstrates
using the matrix method.

The special logic system would make Aymara-based algorithms most
suitable for machine translation. The results achieved by ATAMIRI in the
translation of complex sentences ashtonished the experts in late 80's.
Nowadays, I guess Atamiri is rather outdated and has been overcame by
Natural-Language research. I think the last version of the program was
released in the early 90's.

Guzman-de-Rojas on Aymara Logical Suffixes:
http://www.geocities.com/~arpasi/english/igr4.html

Guzman-de-Rojas on Trivalent Logic:
http://www.geocities.com/~arpasi/english/igr3.html

Aymara Coded by mathenatician (NAT-LANG list message)
http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/ng/93/0012.html

>So it's the absence of the 'normal' amount of odd structures (for a
>natlang) that makes it stand out. (Well, some more than others. In
>Hittite, for instance, even 'to be' is regular).
One of the reasons that lead some people to state that Aymara was a
man-made language is its extreme regularity. In Aymara every verb has a
regular conjugation. Even To Be (well, not really; the verb "to be" does
not exist in Aymara). I'll just say that Aymara is a regular language.
How are aymaras able to elude the language change through the  ages? I
mean, I gues this change would eventually produce irregularities, am I
right?

>I've since gotten some more information on this.  There is apparently
>a local tradition among the Aymara that their language is in fact a
>conlang.  It is a matter of immense cultural pride, and that may be
>part of the reason the language survived despite the near-complete
>domination of the people by the Incas.
I've never heard of such tradition among the Aymara, I'm afraid. What I
do know is that a catholic priest, Ludovico Bertonio, in 16** compiled
the first grammar and vocabulary of the Aymara language. So far it's the
best work ever written on this language and is the main source for the
study of classical Aymara. Bertonio himself suggested that, ashtonished
by the perfection and simplicity of the language, it seemed as if it was
a conlang (he didn't use the word "conlang", I think).

>Of course, assuming that Aymara *was* a conlang, it, too, would
>probably have been based on previously existing languages.  Perhaps
>that explains the similarities with Quechua?  They got their ideas
>from Quechua?  :-)
The problem with Quechua is that it shares some features with Aymara.
These features are mainly phonologic and lexical (well, they share the
language-postulates philosophy in grammar too). As one of the conlangers
in this list pointed, these resemblances take place between the
Cusco-Quechua Dialect and the Aymara. Two geographical areas in contact,
that is. The remaining quechua dialects are much less "aymarised" than
Cusco.

An opinion of my own: Perhaps the Guzman-de-Rojas view is too
paternalistic to the Aymaras. The Aymara is a common language. It has
nothing "magic" nor "extraterrestrial". It's just quite regular and
simple. That's all.

Greetings

Alex C.