Portal:Constructed languages/Language of the month/March 2008

Ro is an a priori constructed language created by Edward Powell Foster beginning in 1904. In Ro, words are constructed using a category system. For example, the word for red is "bofoc", and yellow is "bofof". All words starting with "bofo-" signify colors. Foster did not simply try to design a better language in general, but to optimize his language for one design criterion: recognizability of unknown words. Foster wrote about Ro: "Ro did not begin with attempting to rival or supplant any other language whatever, either natural or artificial, nor was it suggested by any of them. Unexpectedly came the thought: 'how strange it is that there is nothing in the appearance of a written or printed word that gives the slightest hint of its meaning. Why should a word not be a picture? A new word, never seen before would then, like a painting seen for the first time, convey at least some of the meaning to the eye.'" Find out more...