Eunoia lexicon

[DeonaL]

I'm a fanfic writer, have been for over 10 years. Even though I am a
big fan of EFC (and of Da'an), it wasn't until recently that I started
writing EFC fanfics.

I've started writing a EFC fic series called "Songcrafter". I'll be
blunt. I'm trying to find the Eunoia lexicon. I know the EFC site no
longer exists, but I was wondering if anyone has a copy of the
lexicon? if not, is there any way i can get a hold of Christian Bök,
like by e-mail address?

Deona Lindholm

[javierm...@gmail.com]

Hi Deonal this is the lexicon...


Linguistic Assumptions

Eunoia is defined in part by the following characteristics:

Predicates are not clauses composed of nominative nouns and transitive verbs; instead, predicates are reducible to words that synthesize noun and verb into a kind of "adjectival infinitive," (not unlike a gerund in English: for example, thinking, dreaming, etc.) Such a "nounverb" is a trait in action, referring simultaneously (without discrimination) to a quality and its conduct. The language has no notion of a complete sentence: there are only intransitives modified by various affixes that inflect some quality of description, according to a logic that, at first seems more associative than designative.

Predicates do not index a temporal relation. Verbs, for example, have no tense, except the present tense. There is thus no way to express an action that takes place in a yesterday or a tomorrow; instead, the Companions express the passage of time in terms that evoke a state of mind, like a mood: the future tense is expectant (the present act of hoping for an event to happen); the past tense is nostalgic (the present act of pining for an event to return). Time, for the Companions, is defined not through a "sequence" of causalities, but through "rhizomes" of coincidence.

Predicates do not index a contrary relation. There are no antonyms that designate an opposition between one concept and its other extreme: no words for non-, anti-, etc. -- only inflections of an idiom that translates (inadequately) as and/or, or "eitherboth." Taelons make no distinction, for example, between subject and object, between cause and effect, etc., since they use only one word to designate both terms at the same time. There are few anthropic analogues for this principle of synthesis, except maybe for the Tao of Buddhism or the Advaita of Hinduism.

Predicates do not imply a singular relation. Whereas English presumes by default that a noun is singular, unless modified by a pluralizing suffix, Eunoia presumes by default that a "nounverb" is multiple, unless modified by an affix that denotes a singular, the "one among many." Taelons consider the multiplicity of cases before they consider the particularity of one case: the word for an object is thus always plural (unless modified) since the Companions regard each object in terms of all its specific potential: for example, the "table" as it has been, as it will be, etc.

Predicates do not index a dialogic relation. There are no pronouns that designate the relative position of a speaker to the act of speech itself: no I, you, we, etc. -- no distinction between us and them -- only an impersonal it (as in "it is thought that ..." or "it is evident that ..." -- passive clauses that emphasize the absence of the subject). There is no anthropic analogue to this linguistic condition, except perhaps for choral speech, which permits every speaker to be an orator and an auditor simultaneously in a collective experience of musical synergy.

Eunoia is difficult to translate, because its statements often support two opposite, but legitimate, interpretations (much like portmanteau words or paronomasic words). Such linguistic ambiguity provides yet another convenient way to justify the uncertainty that humans might sense about the motives and intents of the Companions; moreover, a translated statement (expressed as a caption, etc.) does not necessarily have to convey all the interpretive complexities of the original language so long as viewers are made aware that each translation represents a set of bowdlerized misprisions -- open to a variety of possible meanings.

Eunoia is a phonetic language, in which one phoneme is represented by one graphemic character. Such "written letters" might almost appear sculptural in form: they are not arranged in a sequence (as symbols are in English, for example); instead, letters are juxtaposed and overlapped in order to form an ideogram that is in turn juxtaposed and overlapped with other ideograms in order to form a convoluted palimpsest that might evoke the dimensional complexities of a microcircuit.

While Taelons might find cognates for some of their own thinking in the archaic writing of Eastern mystics, chances are that the Companions regard the literature of Buddhism and Hinduism as an antiquated style of "aesthetics." Rather than risk portraying the Taelons as New Age metaphysicians (with all the mystical banality that such a reduction might imply), I suggest that the Companions are more conceptually sophisticated. They are likely to respond with cultural interest to the kind of aesthetic seen, for example, in a book like Finnegans Wake, the readymades of Marcel Duchamp, the noisemusic of John Cage, or even the nonsensical experiences of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets.


Preliminary Pronunciation

Eunoia has an alphabet of 23 phonemes, only a few of which do not have a cognate vocable in any of the anthropic languages: a, [c], e, ë, h, i, l, m, n, o, q, [q], [r], s, [s], t, th, u, ü, v, x, z, [z].

Eunoia has seven vocalic phonemes, with two moods of pronunciation: serene and fierce (emotive concepts expressed by the same word in Eunoia). The three vowels a, i, and o are aspirated as an extended sigh at the back of the pharynx, almost as if the vowel is preceded by the sound of a whispered, but resonate, h (like the feline hiss of a cobra); when serene, the vowel is sighed more softly at the back of the throat; when fierce, the vowel is hissed more darkly at the back of the throat. The vowel e is never aspirated -- nor is the vowel u, which is pronounced at the front of the mouth and is inflected with the merest hint of a whistle. The vowels [e] and [u] resemble the kind of English vocalic usually reserved for the consonants y and w:

a -- a soft "aw"-sound, as in shah (exhaled at the back of the pharynx)
e -- a hard "ay"-sound, as in prey
[e] -- a soft "y"-sound, as in yawn
i -- a hard "ee"-sound, as in kiwi (exhaled at the back of the pharynx)
o -- a hard "oh"-sound, as in solo
u -- a hard "oo"-sound, as in tune (whispered with slight whistle)
[u] -- a soft "wh"-sound, as in wish

Eunoia has seventeen consonant phonemes, with the same two moods of pronunciation, serene and fierce. While the vowels have a prolonged utterance, most consonants are spoken lightly with a flutey rhythm that has a clipped cadence. The only consonant that has no cognate in anthropic language is the sound [r], a trilled arpeggio that resembles bestial purring, the sound often pronounced with a luxuriance that borders on sensuality. The language is intended to evoke the kind of melodiousness seen, for example, in Swahili or even the dialects of Hawaii.

[c] -- a "ch"-sound, as in chintz
h -- an "h"-sound, as in hollow
l -- an "l"-sound, as in little
m -- an "m"-sound, as in mammal
n -- an "n"-sound, as in nuance
q -- a "kh"-sound, as in khakis
[q] -- a "kw"-sound, as in quasar
[r] -- an arpeggiated trill (purred if serene, growled if fierce)
s -- an "s"-sound, as in senses
[s] -- a "sh"-sound, as in shadow
t -- a "t"-sound, as in teeter
th -- a "th"-sound, as in theory
v -- a "v"-sound, as in vortex
x -- a "ks"-sound, as in excess (never found at the start of word)
z -- a "z"-sound, as in zebras
[z] -- a soft "j"-sound, as in French jamais

Eunoia, for example, translates the expression We come in peace into the following choral phrase: [s]inaüi [e]uhu[r]a -- a phrase is in fact ambiguous in its connotations since it quite literally means "arriving as if serene and/or fierce." The signification of this idea can be inflected by the mood of its pronunciation: if spoken serenely, the phrase might suggest a greeting (We come in peace); if spoken fiercely, the phrase might suggest a warning (We come in furor). In both cases, the two possible meanings are always presumed to be implied in the statement itself.

Valuv[e]la

(An Abstract Sonata)

a va
avi vala
avali valima
avalima

u [z]u
u[z]i [z]ava
u[z]avi [z]uvata
u[z]uvata

i üi
iüa[s]imi iüa[s]a

a la
ali lama
alami lamiva
alamiva

u vu
uvi vata
uvita vuta[z]a
uvuta[z]a

i [s]i
i[s]ami[u]i i[s]ama

a ma
ami mava
amavi mavila
amavila

u tu
uti ta[z]a
uta[z]i tu[z]ava
utu[z]ava

i mi
imaüi[s]i imaüa

[REPEAT]

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i = long "i" as in "kiwi"
[s] = soft "sh" as in "hush"
u = long "oo" as in "lute"
ü = soft "w" as in "wind"
[z] = soft "j" as in "jeux"