Poliespo
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Poliespo (Polisinteza Esperanto) is an extension of Esperanto using Cherokee words created by Nvwtohiyada Idehesdi Sequoyah, also known as Billy Ray Waldon or Billy Joe Waldon, condemned to death in the United States for murder.
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[edit] Principle of Creation
Nvwtohiyada believed that certain languages contained (to use his term) "lightning words," or phrases that speed up or clarify thought. Poliespo was an attempt to combine these 'lightning words' into one language. Most of Poliespo comes from Cherokee, English, Esperanto, and Spanish, the languages that Nvwtohiyada could speak.
The philosophy behind the language is reminiscent of sound symbolism or phonosemantics, and therefore radically differs from the principles of Esperanto.
[edit] Pronunciation
Alphabet: a, â, ā, ấ, b, b with upside-down hat, c, ĉ, d, e, ê, f, g, gx, h, hx, i, ĭ, ĭ with a small comma (or į with upside-down hat), ĭ with grave, î, hat į, hat í, j, jx, k, k with upside-down hat, l, m, m with upside-down hat, n, n with upside-down hat, o, ô, p, p with superscript w, s, sx, t, hat t, t with superscript v, u, û, ux, v, z, hat z, z with upside-down hat, q, q with grave accent, hat q, hat q with , w, w with ´, hat w, hat w with ´, x, x with ´, y, 2, 2 with ´.
(The upside-down hat is understood as a ˘ (breve), not as a ˇ (caron).)
The vowels are a,e,i,o,u as in Esperanto. â, ê, ô, and û are nasal. ĭ is [I] as in English 'ship', î is nasal ĭ. The vowel q sounds like the irl of English 'girl'. W is like ŭ in Esperanto, or roughly like w in English. Hat-w is nasal ŭ. X is like Hebrew schwa, its nasal form is written 2 (because 2 resembles, according to Waldon, a nose).
The consonants are as in Esperanto, plus: b with upside-down hat, k with upside-down hat, m with upside-down hat, n with upside-down hat which is pre-aspirated with *nasal* h. T with hat is a silent th [θh], t with superscript v is voiced th [θ]. P with superscript w is 'pw'. Hat-z is 'kts', z with upside-down hat is the similar sound 'gdz'. y is 'ĥy' (palatalized ĥ). Ĥ is pronounced like the 'ch' in the Scots 'loch' and German 'ach'. The tongue stops and the tone are sometimes indicated, but not always. The grave accent indicates the change from tone 2 to tone 3 (rising tone).
It may be possible, in the future, to use the Cherokee syllabary.
[edit] Structure
The structure is more similar to Ido than to Esperanto, since radicals are inflected (it is a polysynthetic language) and, so, the language isn't perfectly agglutinative. Unlike Ido, it has only one prefix in addition to those of Esperanto: pe-, which is used to indicate the "neutral" gender. Besides the accusative, there is also a subject suffix, as in Korean and Japanese.
[edit] Goal
The suggested goal is to give the western U.S., and mainly the native peoples, the opportunity to acquire the "Cherokee Spirit". According to its speakers, one cannot speak Poliespo (or Po, as it is often called) well unless one speaks Esperanto.
Since Waldon asked for donations from interested people, he has been accused of having dishonest intentions.
Since 1992, his friends and an organization "Friends of Sequoyah, Team Research Switzerland" have been trying to overturn the conviction, arguing that
- Devoid of both motive and forensic evidence, the prosecution case rested on stolen property found in a car belonging to NIS, questionable eye-witness testimony, and a proficiency in outmaneuvering an unskilled and inadequately prepared defense, unable to attach substance to its claims of political subterfuge targeting American Indian activists.[1]
[edit] External links
- CONLANG mailing list - August 1993
- [2]
- Pli kaj pli malfacila la situacio de Sequoyah - Heroldo Komunikas n-ro 247, text of the article.
- Pli kaj pli malfacila la situacio de Sequoyahx - Radio 3ZZZ, 2004-09-27, the article is read aloud.
- HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATES Vol. 42 Winter 2003-04 Information about strong doubts of Waldon's guilt, and an organization in Switzerland, "fos*ters", who are helping defend him.
