I recently discovered that I could significantly increase (almost double) the readership for my poetry by including translations. The languages chosen are simply those I can speak (though in some cases I'm a bit "rusty"). I am currently translating my poems into Portunhol Surenho, Spanish, French, Catalan, Italian, and Esperanto. The last of these, Esperanto, is a constructed language, or "conlang." Since it is intended for use as an auxiliary language, it is also an "auxlang."
I have been able to speak, read, and write Esperanto since the age of seventeen. Esperanto, which was invented in 1885 by L. L. Zamenhof, is very easy to learn (I would say six times as easy as Spanish). It has sixteen grammar rules, with no exceptions. It also has several million speakers, scattered all over the world, which is why I included it in my translation languages.
I know other conlangs and auxlangs, including a couple that I created myself (Almensk and Romanyol), but had no reason to include them.
Soon, though, I will be adding another constructed language, one that I am still working on, called Udugi (ꭴ ꮪ ꭹ). It is based on Cherokee vocabulary and a simple, Esperanto-like grammar. Udugi, by the way, means "hope" in Cherokee.
Why would I do this, considering that Udugi has, as yet, no speakers? Well, for several reasons, and they are reasons of the heart.
First of all, I am very concerned about the future of the Cherokee (Tsalagi) language. UNESCO considers the dialect of the Eastern Band (spoken mostly in North Carolina) to be "severely endangered," and that of the Western Band (spoken mostly in Oklahoma) to be "definitely endangered." There are also speakers in Arkansas, and I assume that theirs is as endangered as the other dialects. There are immersion programs for children in both NC and OK, but the really fluent speakers are mostly old, and their numbers are decreasing.
Cherokee is hard to learn, especially for adults. I know, because I've studied the language off and on for half my life (I'm 75), and still can't claim to speak it. I've studied many languages, including other Amerindian languages, and the grammar of Cherokee is the most complex I've seen. For this reason, things aren't looking too good.
Given this scenario, it is my hope that the Cherokee people will be able to preserve at least some of their linguistic heritage, even if in a simplified form. Through Udugi, I'm providing a way of doing that, which can be either accepted and used, or ignored. I, though, intend to use this tool. It may be mostly ignored during my lifetime, but it will be available. Translating some of my poems, first the simpler ones, will help to develop the tool.
Sample of Udugi:
Sing the sun up,
and pray it down,
and walk in beauty
with your sisters and brothers,
all day.
[Udugi ꭴꮪꭹ]
kanogisdiu nvdane galvladitlv,
ale adadolisdodiu nasgine eladi,
ale aisvu uwodu hawina
nihi ulvdi ale anadanvtlidi gvdodi
nigadv iga.
ᎧᏃᎩᏍᏗᎤ ᏅᏓᏁ ᎦᎸᎳᏗᏢ,
ᎠᎴ ᎠᏓᏙᎵᏍᏙᏗᎤ ᎾᏍᎩᏁ ᎡᎳᏗ,
ᎠᎴ ᎠᎢᏒᎤ ᎤᏬᏚ ᎭᏫᎾ
ᏂᎯ ᎤᎸᏗ ᎠᎴ ᎠᎾᏓᏅᏟᏗ ᎬᏙᏗ
ᏂᎦᏛ ᎢᎦ.
Comments will be most welcome.
ᏩᏙ
