aUI (constructed language)

For other uses, see AUI (disambiguation).

aUI (IPA: [auːiː]) is a philosophical, a priori language created in the 1950s by W. John Weilgart, Ph.D. (March 9, 1913 – January 26, 1981; born Johann Wolfgang Weixlgärtner, and also known as John W. Weilgart), a philosopher and psychoanalyst originally from Vienna, Austria. He described it as "the Language of Space", connoting universal communication, and published the fourth edition of the textbook in 1979; a philosophic description of each semantic element of the language was published in 1975.

aUI
Created by	W. John Weilgart, PhD
Date	1952
Setting and usage	Designed to dissolve the discrepancy between homonymous and synonymous words
Purpose	auxiliary language logical or philosophical language a priori oligosynthetic aUI
Language codes
ISO 639-3	(a proposal to use aiu was rejected in 2019)
Glottolog	None
IETF	art-x-auii

As an effort toward world "peace through understanding", it was Weilgart's goal to clarify and simplify communication. Ultimately, it was his experiment in facilitating more conscious thinking in that it is built from a proposed set of primitive, possibly universal elements that are designed to reflect a motivated, mnemonic relationship between symbol, sound, and meaning. In his psychotherapy work, he sometimes used client-created aUI formulations to reveal possible subconscious associations to problematic concepts. aUI can also be considered an experiment in applied cognitive lexical semantics, and Weilgart originally envisioned it serving as an international language.

Characteristics

aUI is built upon a set of proposed universal semantic primes or elements of meaning that are combined – analogous to the atomic elements of the periodic table – to create ‘molecules of meaning.’ Each ‘element of meaning’ is represented by both a morpheme and a phoneme, all of which are motivated by their intuitive relationship to reality. Weilgart found these fundamental concepts to be at such a basic level that they likely could not be defined by any simpler concepts. Linguistically speaking, aUI attempts 'oligosynthesis' in which words are synthesized or composed from a minimal number of total morphemes or units of meaning. The motivated relationship between morphology, phonology, and semantics means that if words look and sound similar, they also have similar meanings; homophonous words become synonymous.

aUI has 31 morpheme-phonemes each with an associated meaning, i.e. each morpheme = a phoneme = a sememe.

Characters

Character	Meaning	Letter	IPA	Mnemonics
	Space	a	/a/	Open mouth to a wide space. [a] is the most open vowel, granting the most space.
	Movement	e	/e/	A spiral nebula's primal cosmic movement. [e] is a front vowel, indicating forward movement.
	Light	i	/ɪ/ or /i/	Source of light and rays spreading out. [i] is the quickest, high frequency vowel, reflecting that light is the fastest thing in the universe.
	Life	o	/o/	A leaf; photosynthesis is the basis of earthly life. [o] is pronounced with the lips rounded, similar in shape to cells, the basis of life.
	Human	u	/u/	Human legs or arms, depicting duality. [u] is articulated at two parts of the mouth, reflecting how humans have symmetric bodies and ambiguous natures.
	Time	A	/a:/	Humans measure time in the elliptical orbits of earth and moon; an elongation of space. [a:] is a long vowel, reflecting the passage of time.
	Matter	E	/e:/	A brickstone of matter. [e:] is a long vowel, reflecting how matter lasts longer than movement.
	Sound	I	/i:/	A sound wave. [i:] is a long vowel, reflecting how sound travels slower than light.
	Feeling	O	/o:/	The heart reflects human feelings in blood pressure and pulse. [o:] is a back vowel, as humans hold their most inner feelings back.
	Spirit / Mind	U	/u:/	A trinity; there are several trinities within philosophy, psychology, and religions. [u:] is a back vowel, reflecting how a mind holds thoughts back.
	Condition	Ø (formerly Q)	/œ/ or /ø:/	Conditions create restrictions similar to parentheses. [ø] is articulated with the lips rounded, reflecting how the future is enclosed until events meet conditions.
	Negation	Y	/y/ preceding consonants; /j/ preceding vowels	This minus sign negates or opposes whatever stands below it. [y] is pronounced at the top of the mouth, negating everything beneath it.
	Together	b	/b/	Two dots joined by an arc. [b] is a bilabial consonant articulated with both lips pressed together.
	Existence	c	/ʃ/	When one stands up, one exists. [ʃ]'s voiced counterpart [ʒ] represents equality, reflecting how one must remain equal to oneself to exist.
	Through	d	/d/	A line crossing through another. [d] is an alveolar consonant in which the tongue crosses diagonally through the mouth.
	This	f	/f/	An abbreviated arrow pointing down to the "this". [f] is a labiodental consonant where the lip points forward at a subject.
	Inside	g	/ɡ/	A dot inside a circle. [g] is a velar sound pronounced deep inside the mouth.
	Question	h	/h/	A simplified question mark. [h] is similar to a gasp made when a person is full of questions.
	Equal	j	/ʒ/	Equation sign joined so it can be written in one line. [ʒ] sounds similar to flowing water, which stands equal in height when still.
	Above	k	/k/	A dot above a line like a musical quarter note. [k] is articulated with the tongue raised above the jawline.
	Around	L	/l/	A circle around a circle. [l] is a lateral consonant articulated by rounding the tongue.
	Quality	m	/m/	A rounded form of the quantity glyph. [m] is a nasal consonant, reflecting how smell can determine quality.
	Quantity	n	/n/	A container measuring quantity. [n] is pronounced further back than [m], reflecting how the mouth is a container measuring quantity.
	Before	p	/p/	A dot before a line. [p] is a bilabial consonant pronounced before the lips.
	Positive	r	/ʀ/ or /r/	A plus sign indicating positive. [r] is similar to the trills animals make to indicate positive feelings.
	Thing	s	/s/	Round thing, closed in itself, lends concreteness to concepts. [s] is a sibilant hissed between the teeth, reflecting how concrete things can be physically enclosed unlike abstract things.
	Toward	t	/t/	A shortened arrow pointing towards something. [t] is an alveolar consonant articulated with the tongue towards the front.
	Active	v	/v/	A bolt of lightning is most active in nature. [v] is a voiced labiodental consonant that requires vibration of the lips.
	Power	w	/w/	Potential power lying down. [w] requires co-articulation with the lips and tongue, requiring more power.
	Relation	x	/x/	A double arrow to relate two objects. [x] is a fricative articulated with friction, as relations cause friction.
	Part	z	/z/	Half of a round object cut apart. [z] is a dental consonant, as teeth bite parts off.

Additionally, short nasal vowels (marked with an asterisk) are used for numerals:

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
⟨y*⟩	⟨a*⟩	⟨e*⟩	⟨i*⟩	⟨u*⟩	⟨o*⟩	⟨A*⟩	⟨E*⟩	⟨I*⟩	⟨U*⟩	⟨O*⟩

Each phoneme also has an ideographic glyph or symbol that represents its meaning. The symbol for "human", /u/ is depicted by the two legs or arms of the human being, also suggesting his dichotomous nature. The "human" may be fulfilled by the whole triangular trinity of "spirit", a 'deep, mysterious' /uː/, (there are many possible trinities found in philosophy and religion). "Life", /o/, represented by the shape of a leaf, is photosynthesis forming the basis of life on Earth. "Feeling", /oː/ is a heart shape, blood pressure and pulse reflecting various feelings, and "Action", a 'vibrant' /v/, is represented by a lightning bolt, the most active phenomenon in nature.

Examples

Compound	Morphology	IPA	Meaning
io	light-life	/io/	plant
iO	light-feeling/sensation	/io:/	sight
iOv	sight-action/verb	/io:v/	to see
fu	this-human	/fu/	I, me
bu	together-human	/bu/	you
bru	together-good-human	/bʀu/	friend
brU	together-good-spirit	/bʀu:/	peace

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Stop	Voiceless	p	t			k
	Voiced	b	d			ɡ
Fricative	Voiceless	f	s	c /ʃ/		x		h
	Voiced	v	z	j /ʒ/
Approximant		w	L /l/		y /j/	(w)
Trill			r				r /ʀ/

The letter "r" can be pronounced either as the alveolar trill /r/ or the uvular trill /ʀ/.

Oral Vowels

		Front		Central	Back
Close	Short	i	Y /y/		u
	Long	I /iː/			U /uː/
Near-close		i /ɪ/
Mid	Short	e			o
	Long	E /eː/	Ø /øː/		O /oː/
Open-mid			Ø /œ/
Open	Short			a
	Long			A /aː/

History and theory

Weilgart followed Gottfried Leibniz' proposal for an alphabet of human thought that would provide a universal way to analyze ideas by breaking them down into their component pieces—to be represented by a unique "real" character. In the early 18th century, Leibniz outlined his characteristica universalis, the basic elements of which would be pictographic characters representing a limited number of elementary concepts. René Descartes suggested that a lexicon of a universal language should consist of primitive elements. The history of this language philosophy is delineated in Umberto Eco's The Search for the Perfect Language.

As a young man, Weilgart observed the pervasive and insidious effects of state planned Nazi propaganda. In particular, he was struck by how double meanings, together with similar sounds in slogans often associated unrelated words into suggestive "stereotyped formulas", [that would] "arrest the attention and appeal to the hearts of the national masses" (Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1925). For example, in one of the most repeated political slogans, Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer! ("One people, One empire, One leader!") the word Volk sounds similar to folgt, meaning to follow or obey; Reich also means rich; so the phrase points to a subliminal association: that the populace obeys and follows their leader, who leads them to a wealthy empire. ("Das Volk folgt dem Führer"). Blu-Bo from Blut und Boden (Blood and Soil) was also a key slogan of Nazi ideology, as well as of course Heil Hitler! (Hail Hitler! – heil also meaning heal, salvation, safe, well).

Based on research in semantic conditioning from the 1950s, Weilgart theorized that whereas the conscious mind links synonyms (similar meanings), the subconscious mind associates assonance (similar sounds). That is, while we think about and distinguish similar-sounding words by their different meanings, we nonetheless feel, especially under stressed or 'crowd think' conditions, that at some level they are (or ought to be) also related in meaning. Alliterative slogans may suggest a link in words unrelated by meaning but related by common sounds. Weilgart posited that such slogans could function as triggers under desperate and incendiary conditions. Further, he believed that the general discrepancy between homophonous and synonymous words in conventional language would add to the disconnect with the subconscious mind.

Encoding and fonts

aUI is currently included in the unofficial ConScript Unicode Registry (CSUR), which assigns code points in the Private Use Area. aUI code points are mapped to the range U+E270 to U+E28F.

The eight “Aux” variant fonts of Kurinto (Kurinto Text Aux, Book Aux, Sans Aux, etc.) support aUI.

See also

• Victor Klemperer and his book LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii ISBN 9780826457776

External links

• Official aUI website; under construction
• Libert, Alan (2000), A Priori Artificial Languages, Lincom Europa, Munich. ISBN 3-89586-667-9
• The "Language of Space" — critical commentary (however, not fully factual per Andrea Weilgart)