FAQ
Hîsyêô is a unique project that blends linguistics, art, and philosophy. Here are answers to the most common questions about its design and culture.
Linguistic Design
Why does Hîsyêô have a large vowel inventory?
Most international auxiliary languages (IALs) stick to the standard 5-vowel system /a e i o u/ to be "easy." Hîsyêô rejects this for two reasons:
- Broad Support: We try to include as much linguistic variety as there is broad support for in world languages. Instead of focusing on the intersection of all vowel inventories (the lowest common denominator), we looked at the commonality of vowels. If a vowel passed a certain threshold of usage across global language families, we included it as a distinct phoneme to better represent the richness of human speech.
- Aesthetic: The specific vowels chosen (including open o vs close ô) create a specific "sound signature" that feels natural and flowing, avoiding the robotic "esperanto" sound.
Why are there fewer than 900 words?
Hîsyêô is an isolating and oligolistic language.
- Isolating: Words don't change form (no conjugations).
- Oligolistic: We use a small set of root words ("Lego bricks") to build complex concepts. Instead of memorizing a word for "School," you learn îlê, kon, and bêûdo to make a compound (Learning-matters building). This makes the language incredibly fast to learn but infinitely flexible.
- Cultural Cohesion: Having a small vocabulary means that complex concepts are constructed using shared cultural metaphors. This helps prevent dialectical cliques caused by disparate first languages among the community members. Everyone is using the same building blocks rather than inventing divergent local slang for every new concept.
Why the non-Latin scripts?
While Hîsyêô is fully writable in the Latin alphabet (for accessibility), it also features a native Abugida and Syllabary.
- Fresh Eyes: A non-Latin script forces learners to approach the phonemes with fresh eyes. It prevents you from assuming a letter sounds like it does in your native language (e.g., reading "i" as "eye"). It helps you learn the actual sound of Hîsyêô.
- Identity: A unique script reminds the learner that they are entering a new cultural space, not just "translating English."
- Art: The scripts are designed to be beautiful and calligraphic, treating writing as an act of Kulîôbî (Creativity).
Politics & Culture
Why the anti-capitalist angle?
The project isn't anti-capitalist; it is anti-authoritarian. By inscribing this worldview into the core of the culture, we establish it as the code of conduct for participation in our shared space.
While this may seem utopian, Hîsyêô is designed for this world to create an ethos that can hopefully unite people around a set of values instead of squabbling over implementation details. We've selected Participatory Economics (ParEcon) because it seems to represent a Hegelian synthesis of capitalism (thesis) and socialism (anti-thesis).
While Hîsyêô is anti-authoritarian, we explicitly do not condone violence against nation-states or individuals in any form. The path to a better future must be walked hand-in-hand, building confidence in the new path through the slow, deliberate work of weaving community.
Violence is a tool of the First Law (coercion); our tool is the Weave (connection). We build the new world in the shell of the old, not by burning the shell, but by outgrowing it.
Why ParEcon?
Because we want a system that keeps the freedom of the market while fixing its bugs. Many people assume that to fix inequality, you have to sacrifice individual choice and let a central government decide everything. The culture of Hîsyêô rejects that choice. Instead, we view our economic model as a synthesis: taking the best psychological incentives of the market and combining them with the fairness of social planning.
In the old world, wealth was often determined by luck, inheritance, or owning property. In Hîsyêô, we have patched this bug to create a true meritocracy.
- How it works: We still have income and purchasing power. However, you are paid strictly for effort and sacrifice.
- The Market Logic: If you work longer hours, or do the dangerous/boring jobs that no one else wants, you earn more credits. If you want a standard life, you do standard work. It is the ultimate "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" economy; but this time, the math actually works.
Capitalism is a guessing game where companies waste millions making things nobody wants, hoping to manipulate you into buying them. Central Planning is a dictatorship where the state tells you what you need. Hîsyêô uses a third way: Participatory Planning.
- How it works: Think of the entire economy like a giant Kickstarter or Pre-order system. Once a year, consumers indicate what they want to buy, and worker councils indicate what they want to make.
- The Market Logic: We match supply and demand before production starts. This eliminates waste, recessions, and overproduction while ensuring that you (the consumer) still drive the economy, not a bureaucrat.
In intentional communities or communes, individual freedom often dies under the weight of social pressure. If everything is free, your neighbors might judge you for taking "too much" or wanting something unique. Hîsyêô solves this by formalizing your right to consume. We believe that true freedom isn't about hiding your choices; it is about having a system that explicitly validates them so you never have to feel ashamed of your needs.
- How it works: your ability to consume is guaranteed by your contribution to the plan. When you spend your credits, you aren't "taking" from the community; you are redeeming a promise the community made to you. Because the system handles the logistics—ensuring there is enough for everyone—you don't need to ask your neighbors for permission. If your needs change, you simply update your plan. The system tracks these changes not to judge you, but to ensure the supply chain adjusts to meet your new reality.
- The Market Logic: Money in a market acts as a "permission slip": if you can pay for it, nobody can tell you no. Hîsyêô keeps this utility. The combination of your work effort and your budget acts as your permission slip. It transforms consumption from a moral debate into a simple, logistical transaction. As long as you stay within your budget, you don't need to ask for permission. You earned it, you balanced it, it's yours.
Readers of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed will recognize that this is an attempt to solve the problem of "egoizing." On the planet Anarres, there was no currency, so consumption was regulated by shame and social tyranny. By keeping a formal accounting system (credits and planning), Hîsyêô protects the individual from the tyranny of the group.
Hîsyêô isn't about abolishing the concept of "earning" or "buying." It is about creating a fair game where the rules apply to everyone, the prices don't lie, and work is genuinely rewarded.
What about my country and my ethnicity?
In Hîsyêô theology, nation-states are considered Shards—remnants of the First Law that enforce artificial borders. However, we love culture (food, music, stories, and traditions) as vital threads in the Great Weave of diversity.
We embrace culture only if it does not reflect Shards of domination or superiority. We believe that culture can be a conscious, creative process rather than something driven by tradition alone. You are invited to bring the best parts of your heritage into the Weave, while leaving the Shards of hierarchy behind.
Why have a con-culture at all?
Many auxiliary languages fail because they are intentionally "soulless". They believe that you can bridge communication by a shared code alone. In reality, across languages and even dialects, the meanings of words can often be wildly different. By leaving culture out of the equation, the community members would be required to learn the worldview of the native languages of their peers and that defeats the whole purpose of having a shared language. Hîsyêô includes a "batteries-included" culture (religion, holidays, metaphors) to give speakers something to talk about and a shared set of values to bond over. It creates a "community of intent."
Religion & Spirituality
What about my religion?
You do not need to "convert" to Hîsyêô. The "Gods" of Hîsyêô are Archetypes of the Divine Mind.
If you are Atheist, view them as metaphors for human drives (Empathy, Curiosity, Labor).
If you are Religious, you can view them as aspects of your own deity or as cultural figures. The "Religion" is a framework for ethics (how we treat each other) and metaphysics (how we view the universe), not a demand for worship.
Is this a cult?
No.
- There is no central leader (creating a hierarchy is the Sin of Domination).
- There is no financial requirement.
- You can leave at any time, there are no doors.
- We encourage questioning (domain of Suluswutî) of all rules, including our own.
Miscellaneous
Can I invent new words?
Unlikely. The culture focuses on building compounds from the existing roots. Only when a compound becomes heavily used and egregiously long will a new root word be considered. Even then, it requires consensus among the community to be added to the official lexicon. This ensures the language stays small and learnable.
We explicitly do not police grammar or attack unofficial word usage. This kind of correction is an authoritarian Shard that stifles learning. SLA (Second Language Acquisition) theory shows that learners need to feel safe to acquire a language.
If you encounter a word you don't recognize:
- Ask the learner what they mean.
- If it's a new invention, acknowledge it without judgment.
- Suggest a common compound for that meaning or offer your own.
- Move on. The goal is communication, not perfection.
How do I type the special characters?
Mobile: Long-press the vowel keys (o -> ô).
Desktop: Use the US-International keyboard layout or copy-paste from our tools. There are a few other options in the works, as well.