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E J -.r ^ Lx-benatpr^, Has Alphabet For All World WEDNESDAY, By Francis J. Kelly for peace, abundance, goodwill, jus tice and happiness. The Four Free doms, the Atlantic Charter, the Twentieth Century economic policy adopted by the London Chamber ^ _ of Commerce, could be quickly put before the world.” Emergency Symbols Ready In case It develops that Tibetan or Urdu or some other tongue contains sounds not capable of ex pression by the 41, Owen has 16 orthographic substitutes warming the bench. In general, they are angular or triangular iff form. Owen, at 87, is blind-t-a handicap he scoffs at. “ I just dictated them to my secretary, by metes and> bounds,” he explained. “ In my mind, I would picture a square, and describe to her how the character should fit into its limits.” (“Metes and bounds” is a sur veyors’ term, used to describe the outlines of an enclosure.) A former Indian agent for the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma, Owen was inspired by Chief Sequoia, who in 1823 invented an 85-character alphabet which en abled his Cherokee tribesmen to learn in two or three weeks to write their own language. An outline of Owen’s system was printed recently as Senate DocU’ ment No. 49 at the request of Sena’ to r Thomas (Democrat) of Okla homa. Illustrations show the global alphabet standing in for the con ventional letters of Latin, Greek, French, Japanese, Chinese and Cherokee Indian. Not to Mention the Savings As for English, a few simple waggles of the pen and there was: “ I saw Esau kiss Miss Kate. The fact is, we all three saw; I saw Esau, he saw me, and she saw I saw Esau.” Owen said his shorter, phonetic word forms would save paper, ink and postage, that spelling no longer would be a problem and that “ the use of this system with its defined pronunciation would have a tend ency to end or limit brogues and dialects.” But in announcing that the copy righted system would be "my free gift to the world,” the former Sena tor stressed this:, ’ ““i “ The global alpha’ 28, 1943. 'Globalanguage' to Break Down Barriers of Speech Developed Associated Press Staff Writer Using 41 novel symbols and holding 16 others in reserve, for mer United States Senator Robert L. Owen of Oklahoma has devel oped a “ global alphabet’^, he thinks, capable of'.breakin g *dovvri the world’s language barriers. ; . + “ Through ••it' I •can teach^Suy reasonably intelligent man Chinese in two mflhths,” he .enthused. ,,‘Tt is a means by which we can teach the English language tq^allM he world at high speed and negligible cost. It will pay its.own Way-V*' Although at first glanc<j,0.)Y.en’s alphabet appears to reserrible some shorthand systems, he said it Svas entirely different. His is based'on 18 vowel sounds, 18 consonants and 5 double consonants— “ ch,” “ sh,” "th,” “ ng,” and “ wh,” ' The 41 regular letters are little’ hooks and wiggles and slashes and curves. JULY m / e EXHIBITS “ GLOBAL ALPHABET” — Using a famous United Nations ultimatum, form er Senator R obert L. Owen of Oklahoma shows how it would look translated from English into thq “ global alphabet" he has devised, which, he says, is capable of breaking down the w orld’s language barriers. — A. P. Photo. B r the Associated Press. Using 41 novel symbols and hold ing 16 others In reserve, former Senator Robert L. Owen of Okla homa has developed a “ global alpha bet” he believes capable of breaking down the world’s language barriers. “Through it I can teach any rea sonably intelligent man Chinese in two months,” he declared. “It is a means by which we can teach the English language to all the world at high speed and negligible cost. It will pay its own way." „ Although at first glance Mr. Owen’s alphabet appears to resem ble some shorthand systems, he said it is entirely different. His is based on 18 vowel souunds, 18 consonants and five double consonants—"ch,” “sh,” “th,” "ng" and “wh." The 41 regular letters are little hooks and wiggles and slashes and curves. In case it develops that Tibetan or Ordu or some other tongue con tains sounds not capable of expres sion by the 41, Mr. Owen has 16 orthographic substitutes warming the bench. In general, they are angular o r triangular ip form. Mr. Owen at 87 is blind—a handi cap which he scoffs aX.' “ I just dictated them to my sec retary, by metes and bounds," he explained. “In my mind 1 would picture a square and describe to her how the character should fit into its limits." ( “Metes and bounds” is a sur veyor’s term, used to describe the outlines of an enclosure.) A former Indian agent for five tribes in Oklahoma, Mr. Owen was Inspired by Chief Sequoia, who in 1823 invented an 85-character al phabet which enabled his Cherokee tribesmen to learn in two or three weeks to write their own language. An outline of Mr. Owen’s system was printed recently as Senate Doc ument No. 49 at the request of Sen ator Thomas, Democrat, of Okla homa. Illustrations show the global alphabet standing in for the con ventional letters of Latin, Greek, Trench, Japanese, Chinese and Cherokee Indian. As for English, a few simple wag gles of the pen and there was: "I saw Esau kiss Miss Kate..,The fact is we all three saw, I saw Esau, he saw me, and she saw I saw Esau.” !.Mr. Owen said his shorter, pho netic word forms would save paper, ink ,apd .postage; that spelling no longer would be a problem and that "the use of this system with its de fined pronunciation would have a tendency to end or limit brogues and dialects.”
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