A rough guide to the Orthona language

What is Orthona for?

Orthona is a constructed language. It has three goals:

To be written in a way to take advantage of two dimensional layouts. To be capable of expressing broad generalities - to express the gist of proverbs, for instance. To be easy to input on a mobile phone/touch screen.

Symbols

Because of goal 3, Orthona has a writing symbol with a fixed number of 35 symbols:

{"elements":[[4,4,0],[5,4,1],[6,4,2],[7,4,3],[8,4,4],[4,5,5],[5,5,6],[6,5,7],[7,5,8],[8,5,9],[8,6,14],[7,6,13],[6,6,12],[5,6,11],[4,6,10],[4,7,15],[5,7,16],[6,7,17],[7,7,18],[8,7,19],[4,8,20],[5,8,21],[6,8,22],[7,8,23],[8,8,24],[4,9,25],[5,9,26],[6,9,27],[7,9,28],[8,9,29],[4,10,30],[5,10,31],[6,10,32],[7,10,33],[8,10,34]],"lines":[],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

If a new symbol is added, an old symbol will be removed (there are a number of weak candidates that need pruning atm).

Layout

Orthona text is laid out on a grid, like so:

{"elements":[[8,6,0],[9,7,3],[8,5,8],[9,8,8]],"lines":[[9,7,8,6,0],[8,6,8,5,1],[9,8,9,7,1]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

There are four identifiers:

{"elements":[[10,5,0],[11,5,1],[12,5,2],[13,5,3]],"lines":[],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

The left two are used for people/animate objects, the right two for inanimate things. (Because of principle 2, there's no need for proper nouns. I might add in more because sometimes I run out of animate object pronouns, and have to designate a third person as a "living inanimate thing"...)

How symbols are connected determines their relationship.

If things are connected horizontally, the left thing happened first. So {"elements":[[10,6,0],[11,6,1]],"lines":[[11,6,10,6,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""} means " 0 , then 1 ".

means " ". If things are connected by descending diagonals, that (often) indicates possession. So {"elements":[[10,6,0],[11,7,2]],"lines":[[11,7,10,6,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""} means " 0 has 2 ".

means " ". Ascending diagonals are used to do subclauses, and also to do " if, then " statements. I'll cover that later.

" statements. I'll cover that later. Vertical lines are usually used for adjectival properties. I'll cover that now.

Person

The symbol 5 is used to indicate first or second person, depending on whether it's connected above or below. So in this example {"elements":[[10,6,0],[10,5,5],[11,5,1],[11,6,5]],"lines":[[10,6,10,5,0],[11,6,11,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""} means "I am 0, and you are 1."

Adjectives

All symbols have a primary meaning. 6 is "virtue/vice" (normally more in the sense of virtue) for instance, but what it actually means depends on how it's connected up.

If the "virtue" symbol appears above

{"elements":[[8,6,0],[8,5,6]],"lines":[[8,6,8,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

0

{"elements":[[8,6,0],[8,7,6]],"lines":[[8,7,8,6,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

It means "0is unimportant". All symbols used as adjectives in this sense have separate upper and lower forms, with different shades of meaning.

Also, sometimes, diagonal connections can convey particular adjective-flavour meanings. For instance, using the time symbol 22:

{"elements":[[9,5,0],[10,6,22]],"lines":[[10,6,9,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

0

Negation

If you want to say that someone is bad/not good/unhappy, you strike through the line:

{"elements":[[8,6,0],[8,5,6]],"lines":[[8,6,8,5,1]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

Comparisons

Often, if three symbols appear in a vertical row it a comparison is implied. For the case of "virtue", because it has two different meanings in comparisons, you may have to indicate the direction - by default you read from the bottom up, so:

{"elements":[[8,7,6],[8,8,0],[8,6,1]],"lines":[[8,7,8,6,0],[8,8,8,7,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

0

1

{"elements":[[6,5,0],[6,4,6],[7,6,6],[6,3,1],[7,5,2],[7,7,3]],"lines":[[6,5,6,4,0],[6,4,6,3,0],[7,5,6,5,0],[7,6,7,5,0],[7,7,7,6,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

then you read the right part as "2 is more important than 3".

Other examples would be 20, which denotes knowledge if above, and belief if below, or 14, which denotes power if above, and truth if below.

If a comparison is free-floating, and you want to indicate directionality, you can use a stray horizontal line to indicate reading direction :

{"elements":[[7,5,0],[7,6,6],[7,7,1]],"lines":[[7,6,7,5,0],[7,7,7,6,0],[7,5,6,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

0

1

Dependent clauses

If you want to say "0 has 2. 2 is good.", you have several options. You can place them side-by-side, unconnected:

{"elements":[[5,5,0],[6,6,2],[7,6,2],[7,5,6]],"lines":[[6,6,5,5,0],[7,6,7,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

You can compress them into a single statement:

{"elements":[[5,5,0],[6,6,2],[6,5,6]],"lines":[[6,6,5,5,0],[6,6,6,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

{"elements":[[5,5,0],[6,6,2],[7,5,2],[7,4,6]],"lines":[[6,6,5,5,0],[7,5,6,6,0],[7,5,7,4,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

Generally speaking, repeated symbols, linked with an ascending diagonal, indicate a dependent clause. The connections are read from left to right.

Verbs

Verb patterns are mostly given by 3-part diagonals (ascending or descending - sometimes, but not always there are differences in meanings for both directions). If 0 does something good for 1, you write

{"elements":[[9,6,0],[10,7,6],[11,8,1]],"lines":[[10,7,9,6,0],[11,8,10,7,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

If you want to just say "0 has done something good/is doing something good"", you can leave out 1:

{"elements":[[9,6,0],[10,7,6]],"lines":[[10,7,9,6,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

Nominalization

If you want to describe the qualities of a verb, you can just add an adjective to it.

{"elements":[[9,6,0],[9,7,26]],"lines":[[9,7,9,6,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

means that 0 is experiencing or causing pleasure, and

{"elements":[[9,6,0],[10,7,6],[10,8,26]],"lines":[[10,7,9,6,0],[10,8,10,7,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

0

Sometimes you'll have to break out subordinate clauses to describe things. If you want to say you did something good for someone, and that good action was novel/new - both parts are expressed by descending diagonal relations, so you do this:

{"elements":[[9,5,0],[10,6,6],[11,5,6],[12,6,22],[11,7,1]],"lines":[[10,6,9,5,0],[11,5,10,6,0],[11,7,10,6,0],[12,6,11,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

Actually, even saying "You did a good deed which is new" is super confusing to put in a single diagonal line (it is ambiguous and might be read as "you did a good deed for time"), so you might want to break it out

{"elements":[[9,5,0],[10,6,6],[11,5,6],[12,6,22]],"lines":[[10,6,9,5,0],[11,5,10,6,0],[12,6,11,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

Sense verbs

Sight, smell, touch, hear, taste are the sensory verbs.

{"elements":[[9,4,15],[10,4,16],[11,4,17],[12,4,18],[13,4,19]],"lines":[],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

{"elements":[[9,7,0],[8,6,15],[7,5,2]],"lines":[[9,7,8,6,0],[8,6,7,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

0

2

Sense verbs also allow a four-part construction. If you want to show somebody something to eat/taste/&c., you can write

{"elements":[[8,6,15],[7,5,2],[8,7,0],[9,7,1]],"lines":[[9,7,8,6,0],[8,6,7,5,0],[8,7,8,6,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

Which means "0 showed 2 to 1".

This can lead to some ambiguous situations

{"elements":[[7,5,2],[9,7,1],[9,6,5],[8,6,15],[8,7,22]],"lines":[[9,7,8,6,0],[8,6,7,5,0],[9,7,9,6,0],[8,7,8,6,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

2

2

22

{"elements":[[7,5,2],[9,7,1],[9,6,5],[8,6,15],[7,7,15],[7,8,22]],"lines":[[9,7,8,6,0],[8,6,7,5,0],[9,7,9,6,0],[7,8,7,7,0],[8,6,7,7,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

Conditionals

The way the language deals with conditionals, is it can express things "to be X is to be Y" with an ascending diagonal.

{"elements":[[8,8,22],[7,7,0],[8,6,0],[8,5,6]],"lines":[[8,8,7,7,0],[8,6,7,7,0],[8,6,8,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

can be read as "To be young is to be good"

This converges pretty well with the subordinate use, and makes sense when negated.

{"elements":[[8,8,22],[7,7,0],[8,6,0],[8,5,6]],"lines":[[8,8,7,7,0],[8,6,7,7,1],[8,6,8,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

Says "Someone being young doesn't mean they're good"

I used to use 28 to indicate cause/implication with a special syntax, but I haven't used it in a long time, favouring the above notation.

Pair proverbs

While I said an upwards reading direction is generally preferred for comparisons, there's no preferred reading direction for solitary vertical pairs, which allows for you to easily say two different things at once depending on whether you read up or down, perfect for proverb-style expressions. So, 33 is "life", and represents infinity, if connected under something, while 26 is "pain", and when used above something means "is in pain, or causes pain".

So {"elements":[[10,6,33],[10,5,26]],"lines":[[10,6,10,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""} means both "Life is pain", and "Pain is infinite".

For another example 7 is "change", and represents capability/ability if above, so {"elements":[[11,6,7],[11,7,6]],"lines":[[11,7,11,6,1]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""} express the rather cynical pair of "Virtue is futile" and "Change is unimportant".

{"elements":[[10,5,13],[10,6,11]],"lines":[[10,6,10,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""} means "Friendship is desirable" and "Desire is selfish".

{"elements":[[10,5,12],[10,6,8]],"lines":[[10,6,10,5,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""} means "Everything is a question" and "There is one answer".

Constellation Form

If you take the sentence {"elements":[[9,5,0],[10,6,2],[10,5,6],[9,4,5]],"lines":[[10,6,9,5,0],[10,6,10,5,0],[9,5,9,4,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}, which means "I have a good thing", and you remove the connecting lines, you lose information:

{"elements":[[9,5,0],[10,6,2],[10,5,6],[9,4,5]],"lines":[],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

If you were to try to reconstruct original sentence from this you wouldn't be able to tell what should be connected to what, and also all information about negation would be lost.

However, if I give you

{"elements":[[9,5,0],[9,4,5],[10,6,2],[10,2,6]],"lines":[],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

Assuming all lines are positive, there is only one way to fill in all the lines (because lines have to be either horizontal, vertical, or some 45 degree angle):

{"elements":[[9,5,0],[9,4,5],[10,6,2],[10,2,6]],"lines":[[9,5,9,4,0],[10,6,9,5,0],[10,6,10,2,0]],"offsetX":0,"offsetY":0,"scale":1,"sketchTitle":""}

Text Editor

The online editor. It's not documented well - controls are -

click + drag on a blank area to select a glyph.

click on a glyph to delete it.

click and drag from a glyph to add a line.

click and drag over an existing line from a glyph to negate/delete it (slightly complicated behaviour to describe, but it should be possible to figure it out by trial+error).

There are keyboard shortcuts - here's a probably incomplete list:

Z to undo

C/V to copy/paste

W/S/A/D to pan

left/right to change pages

P to data string for current page

Shift+P to data string representing entire sketchbook

L to load data string

K to generate a linK to a sharable url with an image of the current page

Language Reference

See Orthodocs

Software Infrastructure

There are a bunch of different pieces of software that combined together to make this - several different renderers, text editors, data formats, documentation generators - there's an outline described on the github repository for the conlang project here.

The nicest way by far to enter text is with the iOS app (currently under review), which is basically the same as the web editor, just, it works much better.

Contact

Any questions or thoughts? Just ask/chat on the forums, or mail me directly at analytic@gmail.com.

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