Introduction to Béu

Welcome to béu

The language and culture of béu are listed in the 10 chapters that follow. At the moment (16 May 15) only the first chapter can really be considered finished ... at least as far as the language goes. At the moment (16 May 15) the first 13 pages of every chapter concern the language and the last 6 pages concern the culture of béu. Actually the cultural sections seem to be pretty solid at the moment and the linguistic sections still in a bit of a flux. Hopefully in the not too distant future the language will become equally solid.

In this introduction, I first discuss the language. Then I discuss some of the foundations of the culture of béu. Finally I mention some of the more esoteric bits of the culture of béu.

The Language ...

The very first language that I tried to construct was called HARWENG. This was eventually given up about 14 years ago. The basic problem was that I didn't know enough about linguistics. As they say "if you want to get high, you first must build a strong foundation". When I tried to build on the HARWENG foundations, I found too many things just didn't harmonise. It seemed like an impossible task to cut though the tangles, so I put that project reluctantly aside.

My second project was called SEUNA. The reason that I put this one aside was that I wasn't too happy with the SEUNA script. However my third language ... BEU (from now on referred to as béu ... by the way, the diacritic above the "e" indicated a high tone ... all monosyllable words in béu either have a low tone or a high tone) seems like it will carry on to fruition. béuhas many ideas that were originally in SEUNA.

What interests me most in linguistics is that fascinating area where logic, grammar and semantics intersect. It was an appreciation of the elegance of the patterns found within natural languages that lead me to construct béu. Also I have always been a perfectionist, keenly aware of all the imperfections that everyday life entails. I have always had the feeling that in order to build perfection I must start at the bottom ... and language is the most basic thing that makes us human (I believe that language co-evolved with the increase in the human cranial capacity ... so language has been with us for over a million years). Hence the first step to making a better world is to develop a logical, elegant and beautiful language. Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder ...

The nicest constructed language which I have ever come across was CEQLI. However it was not much more than a sketch. Also the two languages created by Dirk Elzinga ... TEPA and SHEMSPREG were also very neat. However again they were not fully thought out ... not complete languages. I intend that béu will be a fully thought out language ... like Esperanto.

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The "bubble fountain" above is how I see the world 4,000 languages (OK I haven't drawn 4,000 bubbles ... pretend) of the world. The vertical axis is complexity. The black line at the bottom represents zero ... the way that a group of people would communicate initially if they all spoke totally different languages and were forced to associate together by some twist of fate. There would be zero grammaticisation ... it would be a very inefficient means of communication and I would presume quite frustrating to try and converse in. The horizontal axis represents how far the different languages diverge from each other (this "divergence" should be multi-dimensional because of course languages diverge from each other in many many different ways ... but I am afraid we must make do with one dimension on my little chart).

You will notice that the simple languages at the bottom of the chart differ less from each other less than the more complex languages at the top. These simple languages tend to have one concept to one word ... they are analytic. Now a simple language is just as fit-for-purpose as a complicated language. And I certainly didn't want complexity for complexity's sake : I just wanted a language that was easy to learn and that would appear to be "natural". Hence the structure of béu is not a million miles away from the structure of English ... or Mandarin. In its final form béu seems like a natural language : the grammar and the "patterns" in the language wouldn't be considered out of place in a natural language.

In its long history (HARWENG => SEUNA => béu) it has changed many many times. It has gone thru' many iterations^*. I would change one part of the grammar and then find that this change didn't fit with something else. So I would change it back, or modify the "something else", or maybe try out a completely new paradigm. This happened many many times. I suppose the changes that happened in in the development of béu are similar to the diachronic changes that happen to natural languages, and hence béu ended up looking quite naturalistic.

^* A good analogy to this how a protein takes its shape. This is a long linear chain molecule that folds up on itself to takes on a very definite and complicated shape. The final shape is determined by a series of movements that are initiated by the attractive and repulsive forces that the various links in the chain have for each other. In a similar way the final shape of béu was determined by the way that different grammatical patterns and phonological patterns either clashed with each other, or matched with each other through a number of successive iteration.

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Addendum ... When talking about grammar I follow the lead given by R.M.W. Dixon in "Basic Linguistic Theory". I would thoroughly recommend this book : as well as giving a broad topological perspective of the World's languages, this book puts the dangerously convoluted terminology that has grown up in the field of linguistics over the years, firmly in its place ... that place being the trash can :-) .

THE BELOW MUST BE FINISHED OFF SOMETIME

^* WHAT  ??? ... To get enough food ... is that it ??

it is not a complete answer ... but it is about 80% or 90% of the answer)

E) ... Other bits and pieces ... but really, they pale into insignificance compared to D).

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However that fact should not condemn it to disregard. By arranging the beukia in such a way that people of "compassion" and "taste" always rise to the top of the organisation and and also by having a method that allows for continuous revision of every aspect of itself, béu should produce truths and ways that are very worthy of regard.

béu place great importance upon education and lifelong learning. There is a core body of work that all béume must read. Also there are a great many “recommended works” that they are encouraged to study.

The most important “daily ritual” is 15 minutes given over to the study of these books..

béume are expected to show generosity, hospitality, and to constantly pursue of social justice and reform of poor institutions. They are discouraged from the excessive pursuit of luxury and status.

Rather … they believe that in order to be happy, you need …

1) A community of good friends

2) To be engaged in work that gives satisfaction (as part of this self-empoyment is look favourably on)

3) To spend a part of each day in contemplation (reading the holy books is believed engenders this contemplation) ... beume believe that the highest calling in life is to expand the body of knowledge that humanity possesses ( peugəŋgau) ... to accomplish addition or amendment to one of the treasure of books that are considered "cannonical" is to gain the greatest regard possible from fellow beume.

For the harmonious functioning of society as a whole, everybody should follow the rule …

1) What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others

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Probably the most detailed part of béu is beuba (the language of béu).

First some new words concerning béu ...

beuki = a person that follows béu and takes part in the community of béu

beume = a person that follows béu but follows in a private manner.^*

beugan = all the people that follow béu plus all the paraphernalia of béu (i.e. buildings, flags, clothes, etc. etc.)

Note ... I will not use the term beuba from now on ... I shall simply say béu. This is sufficient since it is obvious that I am talking about the language. In a similar way, in a book about language you do not continuously come across the term "the English language" ... but rather "English".

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Some Mumbo-jumbo ...

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"béu" specifies certain "best practices" for many many aspects of life. These "best practices" encompass many varied aspects of life.

For example the manner in which the 5 yearly festivals should be celebrated, what screw shapes and sizes should be used, how a man should treat his wife and a woman her husband, the periods of fasting and dietary restrictions that each individual should undertake.

These are just some examples of these "best practices". Actually each of these "best practices" are given a level of importance. There are 3 of these levels ... "recommended", "highly recommended" and "an absolute must".

These "best practices" are set out in various books. Theses books are held to be "canonical" or holy. However these writings are not set in stone, and there are mechanisms where by these books are updated and also new books can be added to the "special books".

Some people consider these "special books" to constitute a religion that has no god. However other people follow these "best practices" as just "cool things to do" and fit them in to their lives under another over-reaching belief system, such as Christianity or Islam (in much the same way that the early Buddhist adherent were free either to forget the old hindu gods or to continue to venerate them).

At the centre of this body of work defining the "best practices" there are 3 important concepts.

1) angwa The closest translation is "harmony"

When used in relation to motion it can be translated as "grace" When used in relation to design it can be translated as "elegance" When used in relation to text it can be translated as "poetry"

The adjective corresponding to angwa is angwai

angwa is considered getting the right balance between "order" and "chaos"

2) honda This can be translated as "order"

3) aska This can be translated as "chaos"

I suppose the above 2 concepts can be considered the Yin and Yang of "béu"

However the secondary concepts that are associated with Yin and Yang, for the most part, do not fit into the honda/aska dichotomy.

Just for ease of reference I have listed the secondary concept associated with Yin and Yang below.

YIN	YANG
femininity	masculinity
soft	hard
yielding	solid
passive	aggressive or active
fast	slow
the moon	the sun
black	white
cold	hot
wet	dry
water	fire
nighttime	daytime
the earth	the sky
diffuse	focused

However "order" and "chaos" are associated with other concepts. They have each 2 "under-concepts" ...

honda is associated with the colour "sky blue" suna and "tranquility"

aska is associated with the colour "orange" nela and "activity"

And each under-concept is associated with one under-under-concept

And the under.concepts, have in turn, underconcepts of their own ...

sky blue => the sky

orange => the sun

tranquility => dead

activity => alive

As well as no associations (for the most part) with the concepts linked to Yin and Yang ... also there is strictly no association with

good/bad, truth/falsehood, right/wrong, north/south, beauty/uglyness, positive/negative, right/left ... etc etc etc

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Minor points pertaining to honda and aska

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The "béu.symbol" is a orange disk with a sky blue background (the "béu.symbol" has both a simple and a complex representation)

This imagery continues into the way that machines are marked ...

To show that a machine is working, an orange disc is illuminated To show that a machine is switched off, a sky blue square is illuminated

The button to switch a machine on, is an orange disk with a black ring on it The button to switch a machine off, is a sky blue square with a black ring on it

( Of course the functions of indication and switching are often combined in one button )

For rocker switches ( such as light swithes ) the top part is square and you push this to switch off ... the bottom part is semicircular and you push this to switch on

By the way "red" is associated with danger and "green" is associated with safety So for example traffic lights are exactly the same ( including the orange in the middle )

By the way there are no other associations with colour ... you do not talk about a blackheart or a yellow streak etc etc ... kids are not split up according to pink or blue clothes, etc etc

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AS OF TODAY (16 MAY 2015) BEU IS UNFINISHED. WHEN IT IS FINISHED TO MY SATISFACTION, THIS FOOTNOTE WILL BE DELETED. ALSO I MIGHT TAKE SOME STEPS TO PUBLICISE THE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE OF BEU AT THAT TIME.

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The foundations of béu

Some questions and answers ...

Question ... What is béu ?

Answer ... béu is a way of life.

Question ... Where does béu come from ?

Answer ... Well béu was wilfully constructed here, down on earth, by humans. But actually béu is designed to evolve over time, so maybe it is better to say that béu is "being constructed", rather than "was constructed".

Question ... Why was béu constructed ?

Answer ... béu was constructed to fill a gap in the life of a man. Or perhaps it would be better to say ... béu was constructed to fill a gap in the lives of men.

Question ... What was the starting point in this construction ?

Answer ... The starting point for constructing béu was to ask two questions. Which were ....

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What is a human being ?

What is the point of life ?

After some thought the first question was answered on three different levels …

A) ... A collection of genes.

B) ... A collection of urges ... to eat, to drink, to have sex, etc etc etc

C) ... A network of friends and family … loved-ones.

And after some further thought the answer to the second question was answered …

D) … To get enough food.^*

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béu is an attempt to build a "framework" for life. A framework that is compatible with the 4 answers given above. But why a framework, you might ask. Well it seems to be a psychological need. Because people are happier when they are told what they can and can not do, what goals are worth striving for and which are worthless. And also as part of this "framework" ... well people like "ritual", they like purposeful action without too much thought, they like the thought that they are part of something bigger than themselves, they like to feel meaning in their lives, they like to feel that they are part of a tradition that stretches back eons and eons. ( OK ... béu can not fulfil the last item ... or at least, not at the moment)

In short béu is a gigantic collection of meme's ... aesthetically pleasing and slotting together harmoniously with each other.

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Index

1. Introduction to Béu
2. Béu : Chapter 1 : The Sounds
3. Béu : Chapter 2 : The Noun
4. Béu : Chapter 3 : The Verb
5. Béu : Chapter 4 : Adjective
6. Béu : Chapter 5 : Questions
7. Béu : Chapter 6 : Derivations
8. Béu : Chapter 7 : Way of Life 1
9. Béu : Chapter 8 : Way of life 2
10. Béu : Chapter 9 : Word Building
11. Béu : Chapter 10 : Gerund Phrase
12. Béu : Discarded Stuff
13. A statistical explanation for the counter-factual/past-tense conflation in conditional sentences