Omino is another proposed international auxiliary language.
Another one? You must be joking. Haven't you ever heard of Esperanto? Or Ido? Interlingua? Novial? Volapuk? Kotava? Toki Pona? Et Cetera?
Yes, another one. Admittedly, I understand it's a long shot to expect much from another attempt at inventing a universal second language after so many have already been attempted, with a language like Esperanto steadily gaining true international use and relevance.
However, there are some drawbacks to the existing constructed languages I've seen so far that I hope Omino can address. So even if it doesn't advance to the major leagues itself, perhaps the principles espoused, and approaches used to achieve them, can inform existing more successful auxiliary languages of possible improvements.
Realistically, it'll probably just pose an interesting thought experiment, which isn't such a bad thing either.
intuitive The grammar and meanings are intuitive. Omino relies heavily on the theory of phonosemantics for the derivation of words.
simple Simplify whenever possible.
formulaic Etymology and grammar are consistent. This in the hope that the language is easily extensible and that initial concepts continue to be relevant as more of the language is learned. This is expressed in attempted orthogonality when possible; for example, almost every noun root has corresponding verb and adjective/adverb forms.
universal Nation and culture agnostic sounds and meanings. A shared auxiliary language should be easy to learn, for anyone, regardless of their first language.
concise Say more with fewer words. The economy of a language is especially important if it's an auxiliary language.
precise Communicate meaning unambiguously.
I believe it's pretty indisputable that the leading candidate for a universal second language is currently Esperanto, so it's the drawbacks of this language that I'm particularly trying to address with Omino.
The name "Omino" is derived from mino, which means language or communication 1, and the letter "O". O is the first letter in Owen Gallagher (language creator's name) and in Omino, the letter O has inherent meanings of neutrality and awareness.
At this time, Omino is too underdeveloped to have much of a biography, so we'll leave it at that.
The software for this webserver is open-source, available for reference and collaboration at github.com/ogallagher/omino.
All content on the site is licensed under CC-BY 4.0, so you can pretty much do whatever you want with it as long as I'm credited as a source.
The current working alphabet for Omino is a subset of the Latin alphabet used by most European languages. The sound assigned to each letter is officially fully consistent, though there are a couple cases of intentional flexibility to allow for different pronunciations of the same spelling depending on the speaker's preference. The full alphabet is divided into three categories:
U O A E I
These are meant to be pronounced as they would be in Spanish, and should be as pure as possible.2 However,
Below is a set of valid pronunciations for each vowel:
| Omino letter | IPA | English examples | Spanish examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| U | u y | boot pool | menú lluvia |
| O | o | goal hole | volver cayó |
| A | a ɑ ɒ ɔ | sock hall | canto átomo |
| E | e ɛ | pen set | desdén menos |
| I | i | teeth seem | sino así |
M L N S/Z F/V H
| Omino letter | IPA | English examples | Spanish examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| M | m | month hamster | mes camino |
| L | l l̪ | less self | melón sol |
| N | n ŋ | note pine singer | pino enojo tango |
| S Z | s z ʃ ʒ ð θ | century desert zebra lathe | salsa cazar |
| F V | f v β | after adventure | favor |
| H | h x | helpful | jamón gene |
Soft consonants are a subset of consonants that are allowed to directly precede another consonant without a vowel between them. This distinction is useful when inventing new words and deciding on proper grammar suffixes, and is implemented as a measure to ensure ease of pronunciation and listening comprehension.
See pronunciation for an explanation of the letter pairs S/Z and F/V.
Note that H is not included as a valid preconsonant in Omino, though it can be pronounced. H is therefore never placed at the end of a syllable, as it can be difficult to enunciate and hear. See H pronunciation notes.
To illustrate, consider pronouncing the following preconsonant-heavy syllables:
Mamslansfmla
It's admittedly difficult, but less so when compared to these, using hard consonants:
Babdkadkbda
B/P D/T G/K
| Omino letter | IPA | English examples | Spanish examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| B P | b p | maybe gaping | balón capa |
| D T | d t | medical patent | pato medio |
| G K | g k | again carrot make | guerra mago acá |
These are consonants that temporarily obstruct the airway and therefore cannot be heard individually when strung together (and are also more difficult to pronounce). For this reason, they are never placed as final letters in a syllable, as in grammar suffixes.
See pronunciation for an explanation of the letter pairs.
At the most elemental level are individual sounds, as Omino seeks to take intuition and derivation of meaning all the way to the level of individual letters in the phonetic alphabet.
These inherent were chosen wholly based on personal intuition, trusting that life experience, exposure to various languages, time, and an open mind would allow for decent approximations of what each sound should mean, on average, to any person regardless of the language they speak. This also supposes that such a "universal meaning" should exist, inspired by the theory of phonosemantics, and experiments involving the "Bouba/kiki effect".
See the alphabet sections on vowels, "soft" consonants, and "hard" consonants for pronunciation of each letter.
Generally, pronunciation of each letter is pure and consistent. There are no accents, tones, or syllable stress rules. However, there are some permitted, but not required, exceptions:
H can be pronounced as a breath (English hello), a loose k or some other approximant, or be skipped altogether. Skipping H's should only be done at the beginning of a word, or for dipthong (two vowel) syllables. Note that skipping pronunciation of an H will inevitably add ambiguity. For example:
abo mon aki = habo mon haki → I live peacefully.
Omino does not distinguish between voiced and voiceless consonants that are otherwise considered to be the same. For example, Z and S are interchangable, as are D and T, both when writing and when pronouncing a word. Ideally, a single letter would represent both sounds. This choice was made in an effort to lower the point of entry for different languages where a voiced or unvoiced version of the consonant may not exist, or where the same consonant may be voiced or unvoiced depending on the letters around it.
Interchangable consonant voicings also has the added benefit of avoiding ambiguity when whispered, where the voice is absent.
For ease and simplicity, in this document the following letters will be used per voiced-voiceless pair:
ZS can also be pronounced as a loose t (thin) or loose d (this), as would happen naturally with a frontal lisp.
Word order in Omino is not fully prescribed, though there are a few Rules and Suggestions:
R Each grammatical part of the sentence must not break.
R Adverbs and adjectives must be next to those words that they modify.
S Place adjectives/adverbs before the noun/verb that they modify.
S Subject first; the overall sentence order should either look like [Aj-S Av-V Aj-O] (SVO) or [Aj-S Aj-O Av-V] (SOV).
S Verb last, at least in nested clauses. Otherwise, the nested object will get double-suffixed.
Consider the following example with nested clauses:
hasobo fudia hoam fuakin haobom len baki .
he (yesterday (food eat ) person) like sleeps .Given flexible word order, note the inner clause could be written as Subject-Adjective(Object-Verb) instead:
hasobo fudia haobo fuaki hoamnm len baki .
he (yesterday person (eat food )) like sleeps .Now, hoamnm is an object of the inner clause, the tail of the description of haobo, and the tail of the object of lekin. It is to avoid such situations that the suggestions listed above are helpful.
There is no gender or number agreement between nouns and adjectives, or nouns and verbs.
These are letters or groups of letters appended to a word to define its semantic/grammatical function within the sentence.
Verb: ki. This is ambiguous, but easiest, and usually enough if the context obviates whether the active or passive meanings should be understood. See the respective active- and passive-specific suffixes for most clarity.
Subject: bo
Object/Object of Preposition: m
Indirect Object: f
Adjective/Adverb/Possession: n
Preposition: l
Past verb: f
Future verb: s
Plural noun: s
Active Verb: mki. This is a simplification of m kiki, which is also valid, meaning the verb root is actively "being done" (kiki).
Passive Verb: nei. Nei represents "idleness", where the subject is not performing the action, but rather being acted upon.
The above suffixes can (and inevitably will) be combined when a word has more than one grammatical function, especially when it's at the end of a phrase.
Example: leo = literature,writing
In cases of adjacent consonants that are difficult to pronounce (ex. leonms), a short unstressed vowel can be inserted. For example:
leonms → leon-m-s, where - is something like nut or wood
| English | Omino |
|---|---|
| I | habo |
| You | hane |
| He | haso |
| She | hasa |
| They (singular) | hase |
| One | hao |
| It | ho |
| This | neho |
| That (context) | ho |
| That (far) | seho |
| We | habos |
| You, Y'all | hanes |
| They (masculine) | hasos |
| They (feminine) | hasas |
| They (plural) | hases |
| These | nehos |
| Those (context) | hos |
| Those (far) | sehos |
| English | Omino |
|---|---|
| My | habon |
| Your | hanen |
| His | hason |
| Her | hasan |
| Their (singular) | hasen |
| Ones | haon |
| Its | hon |
| This | nen |
| That (context) | hon |
| That (far) | sen |
| Our | habons |
| Your (plural) | hanens |
| Their (plural) | hasens |
| English | Omino |
|---|---|
| Me | habom |
| You | hanem |
| Him | hasom |
| Her | hasam |
| Them (singular) | hasem |
| It | hom |
| This | nehom |
| That (context) | hom |
| That (far) | sehom |
| English | Omino |
|---|---|
| Myself | habon huo, huobo |
| Yourself | hanen huo, huone |
| Himself | hason huo, huoso |
| Herself | hasan huo, huosa |
| Themselves (singular) | hasen huo, huose |
| Oneself | haon huo, huo |
| Itself | hon, huo |
| Ourselves | habon huos, huobos |
| Yourselves | hanen huos, huones |
| Themselves (masculine) | hason huos, huosos |
| Themselves (feminine) | hasan huos, huosas |
| Themselves (plural) | hasen huos, huoses |
| Themselves (thing) | haon huos, huos |
I think the creation of prepositions from nouns is the most confusing part of this system, made obvious by the fact that most nouns don't have any resultant prepositions.
I create preposition versions of nouns by something that resembles this logic:
Ex: what noun creates near? Nearness, or closeness. If I were to describe the dog's existence in relation to the house, I could say it's a relationship of closeness. Ex: what noun creates before? Before-ness (the past). If I baked before you baked, then my act of baking was the past in relation to your act of baking. Ex: what noun creates toward? Toward-ness (direction). If I go toward the mountain, then my movement is the direction of the mountain.
It at first appears that prepositions could be optional, instead allowing adjectives and adverbs to have objects. However, consider the problems with this example:
Preposition: Abo sil Bm hiki = A builds above B
Adverb: Abo sikin Bm hiki = A builds above B, A builds a lifted B, A builds while lifting B
One issue here is that B could be an object of sikin or hiki and is therefore ambiguous. Is A building B, which is lifted, or is A building and lifting B? The other issue is that sin is high/tall and sikin is raised/lifted. Neither of these is quite appropriate to mean "above".
A clause a phrase that with minimal effort could be its own sentence, with its own subject. In Omino, the clause can be appended the appropriate grammar suffix directly.
I know that he is coming. → habobo hasobo nekim noki.
Note in this example putting the subject first avoids confusion of something like:
I know that he is coming. → habobo neki hasobom noki.
Where hasobom has both a subject and object suffix at the same time, and where habobo neki suggests the wrong subject for the verb of the inner clause.
The sale of the house was before they thought it would happen. → habeam kebuekibo fulil hasesbo keim noikif.
He eats, having been the one who ate food yesterday. → hasobo fudia hoam fuakin fuaki.
He sleeps like the one who ate food yesterday. → hasobo fudia hoam fuakin haobom len baki.
There is no notion of a "complete sentence" in Omino, unlike English, where a subject and verb are required at minimum. As such, implied words can be dropped. The subject, for example, can often be omitted, as in English commands.
Below are some examples of allowed sentences in Omino that would be considered incomplete in English.
nen ho hien. → This (is, is like) furniture.
sieki men suen sehom. → (Look at) that strange and floating thing.
Capitalization is not used in Omino, though it can optionally be used for proper names (names of people, places) to avoid ambiguity.
Comparative and superlative modifiers are simply a subset of general descriptors.
sinan = too, overly
hoen = all, every, each
nan = much, many, a lot of
kuon = some, partly, partial
stion = little, few, small
fun = lack of, none
snan = increasingly, more
sfun = decreasingly, less, fewer
nuin = most, best, top
neun = least, worst, bottom
nen = almost, nearly
fain = hardly, barely
Numbers are a subset of omino roots chosen to be as intuitive as possible, short to pronounce, and different in sound so as not to be confused with each other. Since numbers are also words and therefore have at least two meanings, a number can be suffixed with keo, which means "count" or "number", do avoid ambiguity.
When describing counts/quantities, the descriptive n suffix is normally appended, again to avoid ambiguity.
| Numeral | Omino | English |
|---|---|---|
| -1 | hiu he | negative/minus one, not existence |
| 0 | fu | zero, absence |
| 1 | he | one, existence |
| 2 | kao | two, eye |
| 3 | lo | three, direction |
| 4 | hu | four, stillness |
| 5 | die | five, hand |
| 6 | su | six, depth |
| 7 | sue | seven, strangeness |
| 8 | mi | eight, movement |
| 9 | loe | nine, normalcy |
| 10 | na | ten, abundance |
| 100 | do | hundred, largeness |
| 1000 | nado / bao3 | thousand, planet |
lon baos men suen dias → three years and seven days
hasabo die keon haim kaki → she wants five animals
hasebos diedominakao daems kaofudia miekif → they gave 582 hugs the day before yesterday
Omino's principles resist using more complicated tenses, cases, modes, and such, but it makes sense to stretch the grammatical capabilities of the language in the future if it's to be considered as a viable and complete form of communication. Below are some meanings that are currently not well/precisely defined in Omino.
There is official conditional/hypothetical tense yet. Below are some candidates:
Add a verb ending using foki (m fon kiki) = uncertainty+action or kei = occurrence for the conditional.
Afoki Bki. → If A were to happen, B happens.
Akei Bki. → If A happens, B happens.
Use a preposition like hel = in/at/on or beol = originating from or neokeil = causing or beokeil = because of.
Akim hel Bki. → In the event of A happening, B happens.
Akim beol Bki. → Originating from A, B happens.
Akim beokeil Bki → As a result of A, B happens.
Bkim neokeil Aki → A happens, causing B.
Use adverb(s) like neokein = as a result/effect and beokein = as a cause paired.
beokein Aki neokein Bki. → Cause A, effect B. A happening as a cause, B happens as a result. beon Aki neon Bki. → Origin A, destination B. Coming from A happening, B would happen.
neokein Bki? → Effect B? Would B happen? neon Bki? → Destination B? Would B happen?
There is no distinction between these tenses with pure verb conjugation. However, progressive can be expressed by creating an adverb phrase to modify a state verb, like heki. For example:
I write in the house. → habo habeam hel leoki.
I am writing in the house. → habo habeam hel leomkin heki.
Note that leomkin is used instead of leon (literarily) or leokin (ambiguous):
I am literarily in the house → habo hel habeam leon heki.
I am being written in the house. → habo hel habeam leokin/leonein heki.
The perfect tense is similar to the construction of the progressive, using the nei passive ending instead of the ki active ending.
I speak → habo mioki
I am speaking → habo miokin heki
I have spoken → habo miokin henei
I spoke → habo miokif
I was speaking → habo miokin hekif
I had spoken → habo miokin heneif
I will speak → habo miokis
I will be speaking → habo miokin hekis
I will have spoken → habo kiokin heneis
Consider the different meanings of the following phrases:
English | Spanish | Omino
----------------------------------------------------------
happened | pasó | keikif
used to happen | pasaba | ?.. son (unknown)
would/was going to happen | pasaría/iba a pasar | ?.. solio len soki (still don't know how)These tenses are not yet defined.
If the subject's verb is acting on the subject itself, "self" can be the object for clarity, or the object can be omitted, the intransitive form allowing for the reflexive as a possible meaning. For example:
hane huki. → You clean. / You clean yourself.
hane huom huki. → You clean yourself.
hane hanen huom huki → You clean yourself.
hane huonem huki. → You clean yourself.
There is no subjunctive tense yet.
I want that you eat this plant. → habobo hanebo nen buam fuakim kaki.
We see that she eats the plant. → habobos hasabo buam fuakim koaki.
There is no verb conjugation for a command. Currently, form a command by posing it as a request:
Will you feed my friend? → hanebo habon hamem hoakis?
Can you feed my friend? → hanebo hamem lien hoakis? hanebo hamem hoakin lieki?
Or by stating it as fact.
You feed my friend. → hanebo habon hamem hoaki.
You can feed my friend. → habon hamem hoaki.
In both cases, similar to por favor in Spanish and 제발 in Korean, you can add "as a favor/please" to be polite, with doamie = favor/help giving → doamien = as a favor:
Will you feed my friend, please? → hanebo hamem hoaki doamien?
You feed my friend, please. → hamem doamien hoaki.
There're no separate grammar rules for conjunctions, and are instead mimicked using the n adjective/adverb/descriptive suffix. Below are some examples.
| Omino | English |
|---|---|
| men | and, additionally |
| fin | or, differently |
| hiun | but, though, negatively |
| feun | however, but, opposingly |
| beon | so, therefore, as the origin |
After individual letters, the next level of complexity in derivation of meaning is the syllable, which in Omino has the following components:
Each root is a monosyllable noun, chosen as a fitting embodiment of the combination of letters within it.
| h | m | l | n | s | f | b | d | k | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| u | hu - stillness | mu - want not | lu - removal | nu - darkness | su - lowness,depth | fu - absence,lack | bu - ground | du - sadness | ku - death |
| o | ho - thing,it | mo - peace | lo - direction | no - knowledge | so - ignorance | fo - uncertainty | bo - importance | do - size | ko - appearance |
| a | ha - life | ma - water | la - music | na - abundance | sa - air | fa - achievement | ba - sleep,rest | da - happiness | ka - desire |
| e | he - existence | me - addition | le - similarity | ne - proximity | se - distance | fe - fatigue | be - place,location | de - touch,feeling | ke - repetition |
| i | hi - creation | mi - movement | li - time | ni - simplicity | si - height | fi - difference | bi - destruction | di - light | ki - action |
| h | m | l | n | s | f | b | d | k | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| u | hu - stillness | mu - want not | lu - removal | nu - darkness | su - lowness,depth | fu - absence,lack | bu - ground | du - sadness | ku - death | sm | snu - shadow | sfu - decrease | spu - secret | st | sk |
| uo | huo - whisper,self | muo - torso,chest | luo | nuo | suo | fuo - emptiness | buo | duo | kuo - piece,part | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| ua | hua | mua - kiss | lua | nua - experience | sua - invisibility | fua - consumption | bua - plant | dua | kua - hole,stab | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| ue | hue - weakness | mue | lue | nue - captivity | sue - strangeness | fue - laziness | bue - weight | due - shape,form | kue - danger | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| ui | hui - artificiality | mui - flow,current | lui - sliding,slipping | nui - top | sui - steepness | fui - weapon | bui - business | dui - chaos,disorder | kui - speed | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| ou | hou | mou - want not | lou - age | nou - falsehood | sou - emptiness | fou | bou - respect | dou | kou | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| o | ho - thing,it | mo - peace | lo - direction | no - knowledge | so - ignorance | fo - uncertainty | bo - importance | do - size | ko - appearance | sm | sno - flavor,taste | sf | sp | st | sk |
| oa | hoa - food | moa - truth | loa - love | noa - body | soa | foa | boa - head | doa - help | koa - hope | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| oe | hoe - whole | moe - smoothness | loe - normalcy | noe - possession | soe - luck,randomness | foe | boe - fullness | doe - finding | koe - reflection | sm | snoe - familiarity | sf | sp | st | skoe - moon |
| oi | hoi - tool | moi | loi - exposure,vulnerability | noi - thought | soi - weightlessness | foi - fear | boi - vehicle | doi - emotion | koi - color | smoi - journey | sn | sf | sp | st | skoi - rainbow |
| au | hau | mau - ice | lau | nau | sau - rain | fau - sickness | bau - preservation | dau - extraction | kau | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| ao | hao - person | mao - mouth | lao - art | nao - ear | sao - nose | fao | bao - world | dao - gratitude | kao - eye | sm | snao - tongue | sf | sp | st | sk |
| a | ha - life | ma - water | la - music | na - abundance | sa - air | fa - achievement | ba - sleep,rest | da - happiness | ka - desire | sma - breath | sna - increase | sf | sp | st | ska - request |
| ae | hae | mae | lae - family | nae - stickiness,attraction | sae - freedom | fae | bae - order | dae - hug,embrace | kae | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| ai | hai - animal | mai - youth | lai | nai - belief | sai - cloud | fai - effort,attempt | bai | dai - fire | kai - fun | smai - steam | sn | sf | sp | st | skai - comedy |
| eu | heu - singularity | meu | leu - departure | neu - bottom | seu - quiet | feu - opposition,negativity | beu - solid | deu - frown | keu - pain | sm | sn | sf | sp | steu - dryness | sk |
| eo | heo - balance | meo - roundness | leo - literature | neo - destination | seo | feo | beo - origin | deo - nature,universe | keo - count,number | sm | sneo - goal,target | sf | sp | st | sk |
| ea | hea - health,safety | mea - good | lea - ease | nea - affirmation,positivity | sea - alien | fea - irritation,itchiness | bea - cover,protection | dea - smile | kea - labor,work | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| e | he - existence | me - addition | le - similarity | ne - proximity | se - distance | fe - fatigue | be - place,location | de - touch,feeling | ke - repetition | sme - meeting | sne - edge,border | sf | sp | ste - arm | sk |
| ei | hei - type | mei - liquid | lei - season | nei - idleness | sei - gas | fei - difficulty | bei - moment | dei - heat | kei - occurrence | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| iu | hiu - no,disagreement | miu - snow | liu - taking,greed | niu - deception,trick | siu - loss | fiu - dissatisfaction | biu - cold | diu - bad | kiu - slaughter | smiu - foot | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| io | hio - voice | mio - speech,conversation | lio - method | nio - sound | sio - smell | fio - curiosity | bio - responsibility,obligation | dio - strength,force | kio | sm | sn | sf | sp | stio - smallness | sk |
| ia | hia - yes,agreement | mia - swimming | lia - throat | nia - satisfaction | sia - flight | fia - throw | bia - clothing | dia - sun,star | kia - jump,hop | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| ie | hie - furniture | mie - giving,generosity | lie - ability | nie - arrival | sie - sky | fie - roughness | bie - control,command | die - hand | kie - hit,impact | sm | sn | sf | sp | st | sk |
| i | hi - creation | mi - movement | li - time | ni - simplicity | si - height | fi - difference | bi - destruction | di - light | ki - action | smi - leg | sni - surface | sfi - change | sp | st | ski - sharpness |
1 mino in turn comes from mi (movement) and no (knowledge). ↩
2 In some languages there are implicit vowel dipthongs, even when only a single vowel is written. "No", for example, can be pronounced "N-uh-oh-oo". In Omino, this never happens. ↩
3 I plan to stick with bao as the preferred name, as in English, where each thousand gets a new name. However, nado could also work (10*100). ↩