Tapissary Talk

This film continues a chapter from "Alice In Wonderland". Lewis Carroll's original English text is translated into the invented language of Tapissary. The glyphic script of that language has various forms. The style used here is read from right to left, and from the base support of a phrase to its top. The phrasal structure builds up like a vine growing against a trellis. In the art style, a whole phrase is composed as a shape with accumulating layers rather than a taught linear string. This means that each phrase has a multitude of possible constructions. A writer must think in terms of balance, and work with the malleable glyphs for a pleasing composition. The style merges script with drawing, something that occurs in many calligraphic traditions world-wide. 

I had major problems with a new computer this month, so Alice in Wonderland is still on hold. I’m presenting this short episode to take the Aug 1 slot. 

I’m going to read you an expression that you may have heard before. First I’ll read it in the original French, then I’ll follow up with the English translation: ‘Il faut manger pour vivre, et non pas vivre pour manger’. This means: ‘One must eat to live, and not live to eat’. It was written by Molière for his play called ‘L’Avare’. He wrote it in 1668, and it remains a sound piece of advice for many people to this day. ‘One must eat to live, and not live to eat’ looks like this in Tapisssary: Oñ tsa al la yash, na yashs ala.

Although I believe the general truth of Moliere’s message, there are days when the pastry shop overrides his philosophy. A day such as today, when I live for a certain slice of pie, with wiped cream on top. 

Since today’s subject is a French sentence translated into Tapisssary, I will explain the above once again, but this time for my French speaking visitors. Bon appétit.

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en français

J’expériençais de maintes problèmes avec mon nouvel ordinateur le mois de Juillet, donc je suis obligé de renvoyer à plus tard l’histoire de Alice in Wonderland . Ce court épisode-ci la remplace pour le créneau du premier août.

Avez-vous déja entendu cette phrase? “Il faut manger pour vivre, et non pas vivre pour manger’. C’est Molière qui a écrit cette phrase dans son oeuvre L’Avare, en 1668,  et la sagesse de cette philosophie reste jusqu’à nos jours. “Il faut manger pour vivre, et non pas vivre pour manger’ s’écrit comme ça dans la langue de tapissary: Oñ tsa al la yash, na yashs ala.

Bien que je crois en la verité de la remarque de Molière, il y a des jours quand la pâtisserie vainc sa philosophie. Un jour comme aujourd’hui, quand je vie pour une certaine tranche de gâteau, celle-la à la creme frâiche.

Episode 7 “A Preview”

July 16, 2009

This week, I’ve written some phrases about the days of the week in Tapissary’s ‘Sunrise’ style.

A frequently used Art text style (called the ‘Sunrise’ style) in Tapissary is generally written from right-to-left as in Hebrew or Arabic. Reading right-to-left is called the ‘sunrise’ mode because your eyes travel from the east margin of a page to the west margin.

Many of the çelloglyphs in sunrise mode have elongated shapes that differ from the forms in the ‘sunset’ mode (written from left-to-right as in English).

The elongated forms of the sunrise mode allow the writer to build up a design within the basic rules of layering: right-to-left, then top-to-bottom.

In the following text of the film, most of the phrases are double layered. A couple examples show triple layering.

The days of the week in Tapissary:

Monday - Monnidi

Tuesday - Tsëxxi

Wednesday - Wenndi

Thursday - Thissxri

Friday - Fxematti

Saturday - Sataxxi

Sunday - Zbaxxcéti

In episode 3 (The Alligator Captain), there was mention of the Baroque Ocean (Baroc Oshianno). In this episode, I take you right to the ‘sea floor’. The formation and pronunciation of the plural is explained in the second half of the film.

Spoken Tapissary is subtitled in English. Following is the text in romanized Tapaissary. You can follow along as you watch the video.

Ydrou sö prévi épizod y’Tapissary Tawwi, wi fastas yit vwaou riviiñw y’Ventiçello liñppou niy la tëith y’la Baroc Oshianno. La vador é btsaraou niy animétti, mas tenrëj, oñis piñpiñ lamiseb señ yit xeci hahl-vwery, ha shëirt j’dih, yit xeci majinri vwery. Sais dir, fi du oshianno, ya oxi vador yoi fi la vador señ reñpli ydrou tis jdé majiniiñ. Miñ señ pxat ma oubiñ wi dépar Ventiçello na cxesps dën sö hawatr wéwf y’beñ majinri mar.

Siy señ coréstéy “Dra Léwg Undr la Mar” niy Jules Verne, pui señ conov cwa étrañj vwewry byëñ oubiñ señ déseñdr fathom ni fathom dëñ beñ xenoury wërld.

Siñccou artifawct miñ mala-wrewc ngalcsostos nanxgyëriñponet om ze mar-létto acumulad umr, atirad öth mar-crëytuwur, na xadad señ pañdoté ishternaxcos ayër miñ cwa señ oma é thinat.

Ydrou sö hawa pérmyéou vawth y’la Baroc Oshianno, señ miñ jebr oupam léwtto y’rgyasalmariñ celp, fig celp, sapiñ celp, na oc celp.

Pisiws tis scawlla oubiñ thiscol na coulërpliñ oubiñ fayañssou potri vol baj señ, ha stecom stil oubiñ statuwu.

Douwtr z’énorm tay y’ze wmarinëwr, jdir étrañjcis ftur si z’eherixxou do y’ze cefaly, jdyais anatomicet sa y’beñ scorpyo-abey.

Jdir yatherm si mozaic, na jdir abey-kinawh ota staclo bowbl.

...

Episode 3: The Captain Alligator.

May 16, 2009

In this week’s episode, I’m bringing PART ONE of Captain Alligator’s adventures. Animation accompanies the story, and a red arrow helps you follow the Tapissary. The action begins in the village of Ventiçello which is lapped by the shores of the Baroque Ocean.

Episode 2: “How to Eat Spaghetti”

In this week’s snippet, Tweeter, my finicky parrot rejects a bowl of spaghetti. But this loss of appetite does not override a colorful lesson in grammar. The command form, the numbers from 1 to 5, and some help with pronunciation are included in this segment.

Duration: 12 minutes.