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Vabungula, a constructed language
Welcome to Vabungula, one of the simplest, and yet one of the most extensively thorough conlangs (constructed languages) on the Net. While devoid of the bells and whistles of many fly-by-night conlangs, Vabungula is a fully functional language with a relatively large vocabulary, a broad selection of published texts, and a life that spans over four decades.
I began inventing Vabungula when I was a young lad of 15. I was born with a fascination for other languages, and since growing up in rural Iowa didn't provide me with much opportunity of learning real ones, I found myself inventing several of my own. In May of 1965 I started Vabungula, never expecting it to survive any more than a single summer. But the next spring I continued it, and within a year or two it developed into a complete language. Having built it step by step over the period of several months, I was of course able to speak it fluently.
Vabungula has now grown from an adolescent linguistic toy into a mature self-sufficient language. Throughout the years it has taken on its own personality and has developed a distinct internal harmony. I have made it a rule not to rewrite or revise anything once it has been created, and as a result all of the haphazard inconsistencies of its infancy have been retained. In this respect it resembles a natural language rather than just another flat, sterile constructed language.
I have a page of comments about Vabungula, including notes on how the language is created, as well as comments from fellow conlangers regarding their impressions of the language.
The vocabulary currently has over 6000 words, making it one of the most complete private conlangs on the Internet. Every word in the lexicon was personally and deliberately crafted; nothing was artificially generated by a lexicon-inflating algorithm. I invented an alphabet for it in 1966, and a cursive form in 1973. In the early 1980's I wrote a rudimentary grammar. There is a complete online Vabungula dictionary available, which I keep up-to-date, as well as a page of basic vocabulary.
My next project, should I ever get around to it, is an online tutorial for beginners.
In the meantime, I have done several translations that illustrate how the language works.
The following Vabungula translations are available:
Children's Stories:
The Story of Peter Rabbit, with vocabulary and grammar notes
The Three Little Pigs, with vocabulary
The Jolly Tailor Who Became King
Other Stories:
Scientific Works:
Alamna Eninel su Cenelal, ("The General Theory of Relativity"), a chapter from Martin Gardner's "The Relativity Explosion" (formerly titled "Relativity for the Million.")
From the Bible:
(Gospel of Matthew under construction)
On a lighter note:
Grammar of Vabungula | Alphabet | Nouns | Pronouns | Adjectives | Prepositions | Conjunctions | Verbs | Interrogatives | Word Order | Word Formation | Roots | Prefixes and Suffixes | Miscellaneous | Numbers | Word Studies | Miscellaneous Discussions | Basic Vocabulary | DICTIONARY | Vabungula in Cyrillic | Gospel of John | Gospel of Mark | Book of Revelation | Babel Text | Story of Peter Rabbit | Grammar Notes | Vocabulary | Three Little Pigs | Vocabulary | Jack and the Beanstalk | Three Bears | Old Woman and Pig | Frog Prince | Poppy Seed Cakes | Jolly Tailor | Little Prince | Boris Sergunenkov | Relativity | Jokes | Languages | Bill Price Home Page
| Vabungula is an artificial language invented by Bill Price in 1965. |
| Vabungula co nûsk mugola famêlêtke onudž Bill Price larla alara idekuzorekol. |
| Copyright © 1998, 2006 by Bill Price |
| URL=http://www.geocities.com/bprice1949/vab1.html |
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