ALL (A Language Language) is a conlang inspired by APL (A Programming Language), created for second Cursed Conlang Circus. To learn more see: Who Can Make The Most CURSED Conlang? (AGAIN)
What is cursed about this one, besides definition in hand-written HTML document? We don't have usual linguistic features and instead we write using explicit almost complete binary tree inspired by APL . Additionally it was defined by a programmer who's only knowladge about conlangs is a side effect of intrest in programming languages.
In ALL the name of the language is alle alle alli , which directly translated means "the most language of languages"). Over time name ALL become shorthand for phrase. In ALL every name or foreign term is written using ALL CAPS .
Each word have different meaning depending on arity . Arity is marked using suffix, as shown in table below.
| Name | Suffix | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Niladic | i | Words and sentances that are "finished" and doesn't require any more input. |
| Monadic | e | Words and sentances that modify others |
| Dyadic | u | Words and sentances that join others |
For example niladic alli means language, speech, communication; monadic alle means α speeks (like they speak) or α language (like programming language); dyadic allu means α talks to β (like she talks to him). Monadic or dyadic words can be sentances on their own and are considered questions - alle. spoke to another person means "are you talking?" and allu. "are you talking to each other?" or "are we going to talk?".
ALL follow subject-verb-object word order due to it's construction. Words are read from left to right taking each completed (niladic) part as it's argument.
| Pronoun (niladic) | ALL | Symbol | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | I | m | + |
| you | s | - | |
| he/she/they/it | t | × | |
| Plural | we | am | ⊕ |
| you | as | ⊖ | |
| they | at | ⊗ |
Monadic meaning of pronouns translates to possessive use ( me means "mine"), dyadic meaning of pronouns translates to seeing something like ( mu means _ sees me as _).
Phrase "she speaks his language" can be translated as "ti allu te alli" or "ti allu alle ti".
| ALL | Symbol | Examplatory meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niladic | Monadic | Dyadic | ||
| all | ∐ | language, speech, communication, set of rules | _ speaks, _ established rules, _ talks | _ talks to _, _ communicates with _, _ has rules _ |
| d | ∏ | work | _ works, _ produces, _ is a worker | _ works on _, _ does _ |
| mal | ≗ | friendly animal, life, spirit | _ lives, _ is friendly | _ pets _ |
| ol | = | water, flow | _ flows, _ swims | _ swims to _ |
| h | ∧ | height, muntain | _ is high, _ is large | _ is as high as _, _ towers over _ |
| n | ∨ | little, small, hole | _ is small, _ is indented | _ is as little as _ |
| hol | ≡ | air, flight | _ flies | _ flies towards _ |
| in | ∙ | insect, spider, bug, little annoing thing | _ is scary, _ is annoing | _ scared _, _ annoys _ |
| old | ∈ | ability, trait, capability, part | _ is capable, _ is a part of something more, _ is a subset | _ can do _, _ is able to _, _ is part of _, _ allows for _, _ gives ability for _ |
| nod | F | infirmity, impossibility, negation, denial | _ is impossible, _ is false, negation of _ | _ is mutually exclusive with _, is is impossible to be true when _, _ makes it impossible to _ |
| hod | T | truth | _ is true, _ exists | _ is true when _ |
| ma | ⊂ | filling, contents, inside | _ is inside, _ consists of, _-filled | _ is inside of _, _ consists of _ |
Most words are a combination of others. Monadic combination can be applied several times to emphesasie or escalate its argument. Here is a list of some combinations:
As in EBNF grammar using notation from linked article.
statement = sentance, '.', { sentance, '.' };
sentance = niladic
| (monadic, whitespace, sentance_or_blank)
| (sentance_or_blank, whitespace, dyadic, whitespace, sentance_or_blank);
sentance_or_blank = [ sentance ];
niladic = letters, 'i';
monadic = letters, 'e';
dyadic = letters, 'u';
letters = letter, { letter };
letter = 'a'|'o'|'i'|'d'|'n'|'h'|'m';As defined in video mentioned at the start, the challange is to translate this wonderful quote to your language.
According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.
| Original | Translation | Literal meaning |
|---|---|---|
| According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. | male hole ini oldu holi nodu hode alle holi | bee is able to fly is impossible to be true when set of rules of flight is true |
| Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. | ne olde ini oldu hol nodu hole he mai | small part of insect which makes it fly, makes flight with a big dense body impossible |
| The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible. | hole male hole ini nodu ame alli | Bee flies despite our rules |
Romanization of ALL is ambigious - it has the same problem as
5 x 4 y 3
where we have two valid groupings:
(5 x 4) y 3
and
5 x (4 y 3)
.
Thats why preffered use of ALL is with its writing system.
Write sentance using binary tree. Dyadic node is two times bigger then monadic or niladic node and has it's children writen below it in columns. Monadic node has niladic node beneath it. Niladic node has no nodes below.
| Original | Graph |
|---|---|
| According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. |
|
| Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. |
|
| The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible. |
|
