Babm
Encyclopedia
Babm is an international auxiliary language
created by the Japanese philosopher Rikichi [Fuishiki] Okamoto (1885–1963). Okamoto first published the language in a 1962 book, but the language has not caught on even within the constructed language
community, and does not have any known current speakers. http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~jwieser/IALattempts.htm The language uses the Roman alphabet as an abjad
: each letter marks an entire syllable
rather than a single phoneme
by omitting the vowel
s. To readers used to the Roman script, this creates a rather oddly compacted script with far more consonant letters than vowel letters.
International auxiliary language
An international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
created by the Japanese philosopher Rikichi [Fuishiki] Okamoto (1885–1963). Okamoto first published the language in a 1962 book, but the language has not caught on even within the constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
community, and does not have any known current speakers. http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~jwieser/IALattempts.htm The language uses the Roman alphabet as an abjad
Abjad
An abjad is a type of writing system in which each symbol always or usually stands for a consonant; the reader must supply the appropriate vowel....
: each letter marks an entire syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
rather than a single phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
by omitting the vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s. To readers used to the Roman script, this creates a rather oddly compacted script with far more consonant letters than vowel letters.
External links
- Babm: The Simplest Auxiliary Language (excerpts from the 1962 book)
- "Babm and Lin" by Ray Brown