OMO: Lesson 2 – Phonetics
We designate the study of sound pertaining to the act of speech by the term phonetics, the study of sound pertaining to the system of language by the term phonology
N.S. Trubetzkoy
As a language needs a script, the Universal Language needs a universal script. It is a fascinating facet of human creativity that alphabets look so different across the planet; Chinese, Tamil, the Roman of the west, there are literally 100s of different characters in play every day. It is during my experiences of traveling the vast medley of regions & tongues that is India, that I first began to understand the fractious nature of communication between the races & nations of the Earth. During these same journeys I would also find myself sat at keyboards in various internet-cafes, my fingers completely flummoxed by the altered letter-placements, & in some cases no Roman letters at all. Composing an email which would have taken me two minutes on my laptop at home, had now become a laborious & boring task. Thus, when coming to the creation of a new language, I knew the script would have to be created from scratch, ensuring a certain fairness to all the other alphabets of the world. This would thus be a completely fresh enterprise; there would be no remoulding or rehashing of an existing tongue, only words created by art & the natural impulses of the Human spirit.
To keep OMO fair, I knew I needed a completely original script, & one that could be understand by everyone. This led me to envisioning chracters based upon how the letters appear when being made by the mouth. Also, as an auxiliary language, there would have to be used a modicum of letters able to squeeze easily onto any future keyboards. The English language is the de facto universal language as it stands, but its phoentical range, if you inclde dipthongs, is forty-five distinct sounds. I began to ponder upon which letters & sounds would be suitable. I ultimately decided upon eight letters, which means they easily can fit into modern day keyboards in an auxiliary fashion. The letter consist of five consonants – V, T, M, L, K – & three vowels… two gutturals, A & E, & the labial O. The vowels are extended, I’m from Burnley & I’m inventing the language, so I pull rank – & vowels definitely sound warmer when extended. Thus we have low, lay lee, but never pock pack & peck.
In the above video I show how the pictorial images correspond to the mouth-shapes. In addition, by using only eight easy-to-ascertain letters, a deaf person would be able to dispense, in the main, with the need for sign-language. One language for everybody. That’s a Universal Language.
Mumble Words 