Name: Fernanda Carvalho Santos
Mentor: Cynthia S. Wiseman
Abstract: This research paper presents the process of creation of Aovrit Mahogick, a new artificial language designed to be applied in the artistic field to facilitate communication among different cultures, aid the exchange of knowledge on art history and techniques, and enable artistic collaborations. Aovrit Mahogick is a language system that combines morphological and phonetic elements from more than twenty languages around the globe. For this reason, the language should be easy to learn and relate to by people from different linguistic backgrounds, providing a creative way to share art that transcends language barriers. Through collection of data from bilingual/multilingual individuals, and transcription of phonetic, morphological, lexical, and syntactic components, the creation of Aovrit Mahogick is a work-in-progress that begun in 2016. Texts and recorded audios from volunteers speaking in their native languages were transliterated, and the languages’ components analyzed. Aovrit Mahogick has an alphabet, numbers, and 592 commonly spoken words. Here, the process of language creation is discussed, as well as global issues such as dominant culture, the advantages of learning a new language, and the adaptation of artificial languages into the arts.
Siddharth
What a fascinating study – I wonder if this is the way to recreate old languages that have been lost
Fernanda Carvalho Santos
Thank you Siddharth! This is a very interesting point. The process of bringing an old language back to life is known as “language revitalization.” I am not familiar with this process, but after doing some research I believe that some of the most efficient methods involve teaching and utilizing communication tools such as radios and TV’s. For instance, people are teaching Hawaiian to kids in an attempt to revive the native language, and many endangered languages spoken in Nigeria are being transmitted via radio stations. Revitalizing languages is important especially for small groups of native speakers. It would be interesting to revitalize languages that have been lost due to colonialism for example. Thanks for bringing that up!
Maria Enrico
As a polyglot and language instructor I really liked this. Great work.
Fernanda Carvalho Santos
Thank you Maria! Maybe when Aovrit Mahogick is complete you can learn it.
Thaís
Great work! Very interesting to learn about the process of creating a language. It gives me more appreciation for artificial languages in art and literature. I hope I’ll see your language on a performance or book someday!
Thaís
Great work! Very interesting to learn about the process of creating a language. It gives me more appreciation for artificial languages in art and literature. I hope I will see your language on a performance or a book someday!
Fernanda Carvalho Santos
Thank you so much!!
Shoba Bandi-Rao
Fascinating work. Yes, Esperanto is rooted in Latin-based languages (with some Germanic and Slavic).
I particularly am intrigued with your idea of coming up with a new script that combines a wide range of writing systems.
Fernanda Carvalho Santos
Thank you Shoba Bandi-Rao! Glad that you brought that up. Aovrit Mahogick contains an unique script that is inspired by Arabic, Kana, Thai, Telugu and Georgian scripts. Initially the idea is to have both writing systems, Latin script and the new one.
Jackie Normyle
This is fascinating material, Fernanda! Language is such a powerful tool that belies how we as a society value or devalue every aspect of life: art, traditions, social status, and on and on and on. Thank you for sharing this with me!
Fernanda Carvalho Santos
Thank you so much Jackie! Yes, it is so interesting to study linguistics and see how language it is attached to culture, civilization, and more!
Alexander Roman
As a multilingual person, I find it quite interesting to find similarities between different languages and cultures. Not an easy task but fascinating and visionary. Congratulations
Fernanda Carvalho Santos
Thank you so much, Alexander!