Introduction to Béu

Welcome to the language of béu

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 thu' the tangles, so I put that project reluctantly aside..

The started off afresh. My second project was called SEUNA. I think the reason that I put this one to one side was that I was never too happy about the script. However my third language (called BEU ... from now on referred to as béu ... by the way the ??? above the "e" indicated a high tone ... all single syllable 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 thought out originally in SEUNA.

In its final form béu is seems to be quite a natural language. By that I mean that most of the grammar and the "patterns" in the language would not be considered out of place in any natural language. However 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 else try a completely new idea. 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.

The shaping of béu can be compared to the shaping of a protein. 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.

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.

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 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. 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.

and a fascination with the ways that languages can change shape through time that led to me constucting-----

And I suppose that the forces that shaped béu also shape natural languages.

Footnote ... I would also cite the completion of "Basic Linguistic Theory" by R.M.W. Dixon recently, as a major factor contributing to my optimism about the eventual completion of béu. As well as giving a broad topological perspective of the World's languages, this trilogy puts in its place the dangerously convoluted terminology that has grown up in the field of linguistics over the last thirty years : the appropriate place for this confusing terminology is, of course, the rubbish bin.

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I think I have passed the point where unforeseen difficulties can spring up and strangle the project. I would say the foundations are 95% finished. However there is still a lot of work ahead ... vocabulary building and considering the semantics of individual lexical words. I plan for béu to be a complete language ... not just a grammatical sketch.

............... As of 03 Sept 2012 .......... Introduction to Béu ............... Completed .................

............... As of 20 Sept 2012 .......... Béu : Chapter 1 ..................... Completed ..................

............... As of 05 Oct 2012 .......... Béu : Chapter 2 ...................... Completed ..................

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Introduction to Béu

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