Oz
From Langmaker
| Conlang | Oz |
| Author | Charles Milton Elam |
| Year Began | 1932 |
| Language Type | philosophical language |
| Lexicon Size | N/A |
| Etymologies | No |
| Grammar | No |
| Sample Texts | No |
| Primer | No |
Oz is a philosophical language created by Charles Milton Elam. It was published in The Case for an A Priori Language (Open Sesame Press, 1932; Cincinnati, Ohio).
Uniqueness
Elam wrote:
- A misapprehension under which the opponents of the a priori method of language construction labor is that an a priori language can be constructed only on the principles of Bishop Wilkins' Real Character or Foster's Ro. An examination of this book will thoroughly demonstrate the fallacy of this assumption.
Like Ro, Oz is an a priori philosophical language, with a vocabulary derived not from natural languages but from a classification structure.
Paul Bartlett writes:
- Elam also came up with a non-Gregorian calendar and a separate script, inasmuch as he admitted that in the Roman alphabet it presented an 'uncouth' (his word) appearance. (It looks like an explosion in a typesetting shop: upper and lower case vowel letters represent different sounds, and 'Q' is a vowel.) The vocabulary was to be based on Roget's Thesaurus. (He seems not to have worked it out in its entirety.)
See Roxhai for an independent attempt at this type of language design.
Sample text
ep ipIv adgIv az afbQt. I came to the city.
ep ipIv adglIv az afblQt. I came from the country.
ep iplIv adgIv az afblQt. I went to the country.
ep iplIv adglIv az afbQt. I went from the city.
ep iptIv adIf az afbQt. I entered the city.
ep iptIv adlIf az afbQt. I departed from the city.
hEv az andAslUt iftlEplezlais kek anpAtpyaup, ek iftEgtOg adpad astlaup. Because the wicked do not recieve their just deserts immediately, they grow bold in transgression.
