World-Speech (Lingua Universalis) rulobek tali is zam taqz, od BRBC id Talav BRBR, idh Marietta, Ohio, in sogvab ov Ro, uz roa ov cubo buba.
World-Speech was printed monthly for 7 years, from 1912 to December, 1919, at Marietta, Ohio, in advocacy of Ro, as the language of the whole world.
ROIA ef alit jekobo eb hek da ov World-Speech. Zabop zal zaz ov ROIA ek ruloho ip jivabz ov jarico facapz. Al fosidek vepniko, ud abz kubicef id rulibu ir lajod rulat.
ROIA has now been started to take the place of World-Speech. The first six numbers of ROIA were printed by means of duplicating processes. This proved unsatisfactory, and we have changed to printing with regular type.
Ro el latof roa, kaypoco if latof jupab. Roa el fabolo is hoqu ov rebodaz. In zuc rofazo roaz ik Ro, rofabz ov agze rofazaz rudeb celob miaz ov muyo rolab ud ana cik.
Ro is a new language, constructed on a new principle. Language is formed for the communication of ideas. In all alphabetic languages before Ro, the letters of their alphabets represent elementary sounds of the human voice and nothing more.
Am el, rogabz el vegodo eb robef rebodaz, ub rofabz, ov avz rogabz el cudobo, nel hab ajo jabub id rebodaz, ub jabeb cofni id miaz.
That is, words are designed to express ideas; but letters, of which words are composed, do not have any relation to ideas, but relate simply to sounds.
Al el udj felumo ud ruvoc. Ag el felumo uk ov gikoc demab ix rudibu ud rudoba. Ag el ruvoc uk ov gidor viknub ag kaye in roa, ud malof ratab kabodo id abz in hoqier abze rebocaz id ak ax.
This is both ludicrous and tragic. It is ludicrous because of the wide gap between the representation and the thing represented. It is tragic because of the great difficulty it causes in language, and the unnecessary labor brought to us in communicating our thoughts to each other.
Uf abze sibraz em hever is ROIA, ud em sodeg ag id axz, abz em tedic hab lacob gerac eb kay Ro kibec lakib.
If our friends will subscribe for ROIA, and will recommend it to others, we shall soon have enough money to make Ro advance rapidly.
MITGA ZAB (Ro) PSALM ONE.
1. Simolo el radal avar nel kecev in vifac ov pulod raz,
Ud in dujay ov pusob raz nel dabed,
Ud in dahaf ov ferok raz nel dabef:
2. Ub in sopab ov Suya el ade sebud;
Ud in ade sopab ad reber tag ud taj.
3. Ud ad em iqk lebat delapo im buraz ov bedac,
Av hoce age lefab in age tama,
Ave lerab udle nel filnek;
Ud aza av ad vibek em filec.
4. Pulod raz nel asi,
Ub el iqk lepca av bida kade odh.
5. Ulre pulod raz nem dabed in ridba,
Urne pusob raz in kesag ov sobod raz.
6. Ukr Suya rile dujay ov sobod raz;
Ub dujay ov pulod raz em lobec.
Kep, giseb Pepac, ud in Gimak Tamob
Tamaf Digba ov Soleru kafel;
Mula ov Ta babe cofnid cidno facal
Eb kef-ud Rey! Mula el if Meblaf
–Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly–and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
REMIER BIVAZ
"Misab ov Furcaz" nel cik rusiba'e rivaf. "Miqad ov Bivaz" ef labib remobo. Rakead Ferie, Radya Jouaust ud Rakcam Mesny ov pitro dutal ov Paris, robisef id Durak ov Rilac adze ricova ip av bosakz el kucofo il remuo bogaz.
Jekeber ir rilobo labat ut og vibac ov bosa, boso-bok pecabz ir degac ov babnak hobe of jibnib lodoc bupar, recavz filibek in lacimer al bupar ir zaf-boklab bosap. Ir al pacap adz hejitek kubraz ov bupar ov 3.5 bokarnalz ir bosa od biva Capella, romnoko zazabz ov gebranaz od bubac. Kificer adze recvaz ir cik lacimaz adz filibek in "remier" bosakz ic piteko mebad-cebcaz.
Adz el lagiler adze ricad av Zefroco Rulak id bubar gozo takz tecib.
The following article appeared in ROIA, newsletter of the Ro language movement, in 1927.
A FEW THOUGHTS ON WORLD-SPEECH
by Caldwell Harpur
Hayle, Cornwall, England
GOZO REBOFAZ IQ BIROD ROA:-- Uf ajar eluk rev ap roa ok zab reluv, am roa nela lagog uz birod kaymo-ro. Ukre ag elum cid jafol ay bikob ro. Ulre ag elum heteb cid lafnacaz. Al lafnacaz el vikno is at romibaz ov zuc ax bikob roaz. Cim kaybidaz ov kaybodo roaz vegec eb cobneb at cugnabz in rogaq. Ub adz hule at rogab-ledac jafol id cora ov ladol. Goza vegec eb kayef ag fasob dugap. Ro el zab ol am goza. Ud Ro nel ritec eb rivobo ok zab reluv.
If anyone can understand a language at first sight, that language is not fit to be the universal help-speech. For it must be very like some natural language. Therefore it must contain many irregularities. Most makers of artificial languages try to remove the knots in grammar. But they leave the word-stock like a heap of loose stones. Few try to make it a mosaic pavement.
Ro is one of those few. And Ro does not expect to be understood at first sight.
INTERNATIONAL WORDS. Words which are nearly the same in five or six European languages have no more claim to be in the Help-speech than any other word has. For
(1) Most of them are actually known to fewer persons than many one-language words. Leucophlegmatic or decaphyllous may be in the dictionaries of English, Russian, Italian, etc. But hardly one percent of each nation know what they mean.
Ro could easily make words just as easy for the scientist and easier for ordinary people.
(2) They are mostly Greek and Latin, and therefore have the faults of Greek and Latin. Inebriety is the same as ebriety, but inflexible is the opposite of flexible. Words begin with pt-, ps-, phth-, ct- and other combinations which most moderns can hardly pronounce. The dictionaries tell you to pronounce "psychosis" (sychosis), the same as "sycosis," the skin disease.
(3) The grammatical words like "accusative" are Latin mis-translations of Greek words which were not very well chosen to begin with. They are mostly bad misfits when applied to languages very unlike Latin and Greek, such as English.
(4) Often the likeness in two languages is misleading. "Eventually" in English and "eventuellement" in French mean very different things.
NATURAL DEVOLOPMENT. Nature is not a model to be followed, but an enemy to be overcome. The City of Philadelphia was designed a-priori. A plan of it looks like a chessboard. The City of Birmingham was developed naturally. Houses and streets grew in acoordance with human needs. A plan of it looks like several starfishes badly mauled and tangled. It is easy to find your way in Philadelphia. It is difficult to find your way in Birmingham. The product of the theorist works much better than the natural product of practical men. And the same applies to language.
BE ARBITRARY. The help-speech ought to be based, not on scientific principles, but on one man's arbitrary will. For every word in every language began in one man's arbitrary will. Scientific principle usually means grouping these wills in groups of seven or eight and finding a common factor for each group. But that only emphasizes the discordance between any two groups. The result is a language sprung from several thousand independent groups of arbitrary wills, and therefore discordant. If all spring from one will, the result may be harmony if that will has even average skill.
©2001-2003 by RKH