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The Idrani Standard Metalinguistic Specification is the only official description of the Idrani language as created by Trent M. Pehrson. All information in this document is the sole property of Trent M. Pehrson unless otherwise specified. For information on terms of use use and copyright policies, click on the link labeled 'terms of use' in the navigation bar at the top of this page.
Culture

 

Cultural Overview
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What is Idrani Culture?

While it may be said that there is a central schema upon which the creator of Idrani bases its philosophical underpinnings, there is no single cultural model stemming from that schema. Instead, there are many cultural ideas which have stemmed from it and which have driven various creative efforts in the language.

For example, some of these cultural attempts have been framed in an imagined world bereft of technologies common today. Others have been built around an Idrani in a tremendously technological world beyond that of today. Of course, these two worlds could easily be merely differing time frames in a single world which possesses the odd characteristic of having a single language which spans them both. There are, however, several cultural themes which have been present in almost all creative attempts with Idrani. Some of these are described in greater detail in this section of the specification.

 

Cultural Features
Taxonomy for familial relations.
This section describes the tradition of proper naming.
Some common principles of the Idrani cultural schema.
Currently established metrics and currency.

 

 

Familial Relationship Taxonomy
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Familial Taxonomy

Familial relationship taxonomy is very specific and yet very fluid in Idrani. Each familial title is constructed on the fly by compounding only a handful of root morphemes. The first group of these morphemes are known as the base relations and include root morphemes which represent mother father sister brother son daughter husband and wife. To these is added one other root morpheme which indicates a step relationship or a non-genetic relationship such as adoption. These morphemes are listed following:--


mother: mo
father: te
sister: je
brother: bru
son: cha
daughter: che
husband: sa
wife: fi
adoptive: nu

These morphemes are compounded to create stems which indicate familial relationships. The goal is always to create the shortest stem possible to indicate the desired relationship. Some simple examples follow:

moje: maternal aunt
tebrucha: male cousin (son of paternal uncle)
moteje: sister of maternal grandfather
chesa: son-in-law
nucha: step son, adopted son

With 'mo, te, cha' and 'che', duplication of the vowel indicates two generations. Thus 'mooje' means sister of maternal grandmother and 'chaafi' means wife of son's son. A duplicate vowel with an interfixed glottal stop indicates three generations. Thus mo'oje means sister of maternal grandmother's mother and 'cha'afi' means wife of son's son's son.

When indicating the relationships of father, mother or wife independent of compounding to represent more complex relationships, the morphemes above should not be used. Rather 'teda' meaning daddy or dad, 'isa' meaning father, 'moma' meaning mommy or mom, 'aiti' meaning mother, and 'fvai' meaning wife should be used. There are also generic terms for grandmother and grandfather which do not specify the maternity or paternity of the line. These are 'jema' meaning granny, grammy, or grandma, 'djeti' meaning grandmother, 'jeda' meaning grandpa, and 'djeqai' meaning grandfather.

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Idrani Proper Names
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Proper Names

In the Idrani naming tradition, the full Idrani name or 'wimo' consists of a geneological name, known as the 'djewi', a self given name assumed at the age of passage into adulthood, known as the 'itsewi', and a mode name which describes a notable distinction that sets the bearer apart from others with similar or same names, known as the 'tewi'. When someone is asked for their full name, or 'wimo', the names are given in the order described above, namely djewi, itsewi, and tewi.

The Djewi or Geneological Name

The geneological name consists of three components and relates the individual bearing it to their parents, spouse, siblings and children. It also indicates the gender of the individual and provides a given name for that individual. The first component is known as the 'pewi', the second component is known as the 'wi' and the third component is known as the 'mushawi'. To illustrate the workings of each of these components, consider the generational diagram below.



Paternal Grandfather
Paternal Grandmother
Maternal Grandfather
Maternal Grandmother
Jo'os Men Sin
Juh Sil Mel
Le'ekh Klar Fer
Fel Feis Klas
Father
Mother
Me'el Roi Lih
Fer Lin Ron
Offspring

Ro'on Tset (Ahn)
Lihi Jil (Ahn)

 

The Pewi Portion of the Djewi

We will begin with an analysis of the name 'Me'el Roi Lih' under the heading 'Father' in the above diagram. The first part of the name, 'Me'el', is the pewi. It links Me'el Roi Lih to his parents-- his father being 'Jo'os Men Sin' under the heading 'Paternal Grandfather' and his mother being 'Juh Sil Mel' under the heading 'Paternal Grandmother'. This linkage is signified in the construction of the name 'Me'el'. The initial consonant and vowel ('m' and 'e' respectively) in 'Me'el' are extracted from the wi of Me'el Roi Lih's father, Jo'os Men Sin. The final consonant is 'l' and is extracted from the wi of Me'el Roi Lih's mother, Juhu Sil Mel. This provides us with the CVC combination 'mel'. But this portion of the name is not completed yet. Because Me'el Roi Lih is a male, the vocalic portion of the name (namely 'e') is duplicated and the duplicated vowels are then interfixed with a glottal stop, yielding the name 'Me'el', which establishes gender and parentage of Me'el Roi Lih by systematically deriving from the names of his parents.

For females, the initial consonant and vowel of the pewi come from the initial consonant and vowel of the mother's wi and the final consonant from the the final consonant of the wi of the father. So, Fer Lin Ron got her pewi, 'Fer', by taking the CV combination from the wi of her mother, which wi is 'Feis', and combining it with the last consonant of her father's wi, which wi is 'Klar' to yield 'Fer'. For a female, the vocalic duplication and intervocalic glottal stop are not added.

The pewi also links siblings of the same gender to one another because all male siblings in a family will have the same pewi and all female siblings will have the same pewi.

The pewi also links a child to their parent of the opposite sex because the pewi of the child will always correspond to the mushawi of the parent of the opposite sex.

The Wi Portion of the Djewi

The second part of Me'el Roi Lih's name (namely 'Roi') is given by his parents at birth. This is the closest Idrani equivalent to a given name familiar in the naming traditions of America and Europe with one major difference. The wi is always meaningful as a word. For example, the American name 'Michael' is quite common. When an individual named Michael is asked what his name means, he will likely respond that he doesn't know or that it is the same name given to an ancestor or to the biblical Archangel. However, the actual meaning of the name is usually considered superfluous. Most Americans simply regard their names as labels for themselves which are simply symbolic representations of themselves. While the Idrani wi also serves this purpose, it is also always meaningful as a word. In fact, any Idrani stem can be a wi.

When used in the djewi, the wi is truncated to be a CV, CVC or CVV monosyllable. For example, in the diagram above, under the heading 'Offspring' is the name 'Ro'on Tset Ahn', the wi of which is 'Tset'. The wi 'Tset' is a truncated version of the stem 'tsete' which means blue or blueness. The wi is given by parents at birth or shortly thereafter and is given as a token of hope for what the offspring may become, or as a remembrance of something special related to the child during gestation, birth or infancy immediately following birth. The wi 'Tsete', for example, may have been given because a child miraculously survived oxygen depravation due to complications and was bluish upon delivery. Or, the child may have so loved blueberries that he covered himself in them during an early feeding in his ravenousness and that his parents wanted to mark the memory in his wi.

The story associated with the wi is told to the child repeatedly throughout his life. It is also a very common practice to ask someone about the origins of their wi to initiate a friendly conversation. In any familiar or informal setting, individuals are generally called by their wi in its full form.

The Mushawi Portion of the Djewi

The third portion of the genealogical name, or djewi links spouses together and is called the mushawi. For example, the third portion of Mel Roi Lih's name is 'Lih'. The onset and nucleus of 'Lih' (namely 'l' and 'i' respectively) are taken from the wi of his wife, Fere Lin Ron. The coda is the coda of his own wi which is 'Roi'. But since 'Roi' has no coda, the default coda, 'h' must be used. Thus combining the onset and nucleus 'li' from 'Lin', which is the wi of his wife, and the coda 'h' from his own wi, we get 'Lih', which is his married name. Before marriage, as is illustrated with the two individuals under the heading 'Offspring', the third part of the geneological name does not exist. However, the universal 'Ahn', may be inserted which indicates that the individual is single.

The Itsewi

The self-given name taken on at the right of passage is known as the itsewi. In format, it is any stem. It is given in the same gist as the wi portion of the djewi but is self-given. The itsewi is a name used in formal address of a familiar person. It is also a way to establish a boundary of intimacy in initial meetings. When someone is asked for their first name or wido either the wi or the itsewi can be given in response. Giving the itsewi signifies a desire for a continued deepening of the intimacy of the relationship. Giving the wi signifies a satisfaction with a less deep or acquaintance level relationship.

The Tewi

The tewi is a stem or phrase which sets a person apart by the thing they do uniquely or by their primary role. Examples of a tewi are 'fiyi tseten' meaning Tsete's wife, 'teshikeigo' meaning spoke maker, or 'tansash dahinpuknok' meaning dances with wolves (to borrow from the movie Dances With Wolves). The tewi may be changed at will. It can be suggested by an outsider, and, in fact, may often originate in a nick name sort of way. However, the tewi must be accepted by the individual or must be self-originated or self-given. The tewi can be thought of as a trademark, slogan, or even as an advertisement for an individual.

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The Idrani Schema
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The Idrani Schema

Several principles are paramount in the Idrani schema, God, family, atonement, scope-continuity, will, law, science, and metaphor. Each of these concepts dovetails with the other in the Idrani schema. An attempt will be made below to describe these concepts in a way that flows and that shows how they intersect.

Scope-continuity
Scope-continuity is a multifaceted principle. In part, it is a label applied to the phenomenon of infinite continuation. The universe is infinite in continuation. It can be described as an utterly endless, heterogeneous whole. Human perception, however, takes place within the universe. This fact dictates that human perception, regardless of whether it is being considered collectively or individually, diachronically or synchronically is always only a part of the total universe. In other words, because human perception is a part of the universe, it can never include the whole universe.

Further more, expansion of human perception expands the universe because that perception is a universal constituent. This means that, perceiving, and learning can never end for humans. As human scope expands, the universe expands. Universal expansion creates universal change. Universal change means there is more to learn, and learning more expands human scope. This endless, process is scope-continuity. Scope-continuity is driven and sustained by two of the other principles in the Idrani schema, namely will and law.

Will
Will is enigmatic and sacred in the Idrani schema. When properly understood, it is powerful. Will is the ability to evaluate an influence as good or evil, and to accept or reject that influence through manifesting action that either reinforces that influence or weakens it. Will is the initial, original and primordial force that causes action and thus, configurational change in the universe. Configurational change in the universe creates new influence which is the context for will.

Will remains an enigma because the ability to choose between good and evil and to accept or reject good or evil in action is inexplicable. Humans are simply endowed with it. Will is sacred because it is at the core of personal identity and definition. Will is also sacred and revered in the Idrani schema because it is powerful. It is powerful because it initializes change that extends beyond human scope and ripples through the entire fabric of the universe. Change, in turn, presents influences to the will of each individual therein.

In brief, will is sacred in the Idrani schema because it is recognized as one's individual ability to continually choose how one will change everything for everyone. The facts that the full scope of change is outside one's perception, and that the full impact of change may not be personally perceived by one do not alter the fact that will initiates actions which change everything. In the Idrani schema, continual personal impact upon the entire universe is an inescapable characteristic of being human.

Law
Law is the governor of consequence. It shapes, and infinitely extends will-initiated action into a form of influence. It is not subject to will; it is the inescapable manifestation of will. Such manifestations are fractal-like-having identifiable patterns of outcome, yet having infinite permutation around those patterns because of the ever changing nature of the universe. Law also has infinite reach. Accordingly, law continually extends will-endlessly reconfiguring the entire universe in a pattern-wise way. This pattern-wise unfolding of change provides the ability to use will in a partially knowledgeable way, or in other words, to learn the difference between outcomes in terms of good and evil and to proactively initiate or not initiate such patterns in the future.

Science
To the science-minded, the concept of law being the pattern-wise reaction to and amplification of will likely sounds implausible if not ridiculous. Yet, with further inspection, the practice of science, itself, can demonstrate the validity of the concept of law as the extensional mode of will.

The scientific method can be summarized in four points. 1) Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena. 2) Formulation of an hypothesis to explain the phenomena. 3) Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations. 4) Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.

If the results of experiments remain consistent, the hypothesis is regarded as theory or natural law. Otherwise, the hypothesis must be rejected or modified. The point of science is obtaining the knowledge to predict certain outcomes, or to understand relationships between sets of events.

So how do the processes and goals of science integrate with the Idrani principles of will and law? The answer to the second half of the above question is clear. Science is the search for an understanding of what consequence, or type of consequence may follow an event. The typicality of outcomes observed through scientific experimentation is the same typicality embodied in the Idrani principle of law, namely recognizable patterns of outcome.

So, what about science and the Idrani concept of will? Scientific knowledge is dependent upon the scientific method outlined above. Step four, experimentation, is paramount to scientific learning. This is where science attaches to the Idrani concept of will.

Clearly, no science experiment is put into motion except by an initial force of will-- the choice to drop a ball, the decision to pull a pin-- the very choice to do an experiment. The manifestation of natural law is always caused by will in an experiment. This means that every natural law discovered in science is predicated upon an act of will. Will initiates each experiment and law extends that initial act in a pattern-wise way, manifesting an outcome.

This fact carries with it an astonishing concept. Specifically, that every science experiment carried out is always a part of an additional experiment which tests the hypothesis that law is only manifested following an act of will, or in other words that outcomes are initiated by acts of will. By the very reasoning of science itself, the consistency with which every experimental outcome begins with willful initiation suggests that all outcomes begin with willful initiation. Yet, many modern scientists overlook or dismiss this overarching experiment and its implications despite its congruence with the methods of science and its time-tested consistency over the entire period of the existence of science.

However, in the Idrani schema, science is a very valid and important way to learn not only of the patterns of outcome but of how such patterns are initiated with will.

God
Since, in the Idrani schema, all reactions can trace their heritage to an act of will, the reaction which is the universe itself must also have started with a primary act of will. By this reasoning, the Idrani schema not only believes in a supreme being, but finds that belief and the practice and principles of science to be in perfect harmony.

Further, in the Idrani schema, God is an omniscient individual and the spiritual father of all humans in a very literal way and the temporal Father of all humans because His act of will initiated the universe which includes the physical portion of the human being. In this way, God is seen as the Master of the Universe and its Creator, and so, He is the Creator of human kind.

What is more, in the Idrani schema, because God is seen as a Father and humans as His children, the Idrani schema includes the belief that human mortality is a kind of childhood-a rearing in a sort of universe-nursery designed by God to help humans become like God just as mortal human parents rear their mortal children in preparation for their adulthood. Paramount to this up-brining is the ability of mortals humans to chose to become Godlike and perfect or not. Making such a choice is the ultimate purpose of existence in this universe-nursery and is manifested through acts of will and recorded in the universal changes such actions create.

Because of the limitations of human mortals, namely their short life spans and resultant finite understanding, they cannot fully envision and thus control the influence of their choices on the universe sufficiently to prevent harming one another and the rest of the universe. They can only choose whether or not they wish to become godlike and do the best they can with a finite understanding to make good or evil choices correspondingly. This means that for mortal humans, becoming perfect, like God, is impossible without further provision. Thus, the concept of Atonement exists in the Idrani schema.

Atonement
Atonement is essentially the making up of all the difference between each willing mortal's ability to become like God and their actually becoming like God. The imperfections of all mortal humans revolve around two points. First, a human can intentionally or willfully choose evil, which is to choose not to become like God. Second, even a mortal human who wishes to choose good is imperfect because of their finite nature. A finite being can only think and act in a finite way. Thus, even a well intentioned mortal human can make errors in judgment which injure and corrupt regardless of their best efforts. Hence, the need for atonement in the Idrani schema is clear.

Atonement is accomplished through Eshuqai who is not only a spiritual son of God in a literal way, but is temporally begotten by God also-by God and a mortal mother named Eihai. Obviously and despite the Idrani names, this is a Christian philosophy. The dual nature of Eshuqai allowed him to be both mortal and perfect in his own life on this earth. His divine nature gave him the ability to actually become godlike in this life.

It also allowed him to perfect every willing mortal human and to correct the corruption and injury inflicted by them on each other and the universe without changing the demands of law that such corruption unfold in response to the imperfect acts of mortal humans. He did this by taking the unfolding of that corruption upon himself-every form of pain, illness, evil, destruction and imperfection. His perfect nature-His divine nature allowed him to survive it. His creative power as a God allowed him to remove it from its original place, namely mortal humanity, for all those who wish him to. And in this way, perfection comes.

In short, atonement is the sacrifice of the Son of God which repairs infinite imperfections and damage and which infinitely perfects mortal humans allowing them to continue forever and to become the grand family of God, as beings like God, each beginning new mortal dominions as God does.

Family
Because of the endless nature of families in the Idrani schema, family is very highly valued and very highly prized. This is true both for immediate parentage as well as for ancestral parentage. This is true for the immediate offspring as well as for the generations of future progeny. Family is seen as an endless chain which includes all of humanity, and which is kept intact forever by willfully and daily being as godlike as possible, which manifests the individual's will and desire to do so allowing Eshuqai to do what is truly needful for that individual to actually accomplishes it.

This view on family inspires the recording and keeping of stories and genealogies for the purpose of passing down the instructions, wisdom, history and familiar love that will best preserve the family. It also inspires devotion to ancient scriptural texts which detail the knowledge, behaviors and ordinances that best bring families together and protect and nurture them on the path to becoming Godlike Naturally, the texts revered as canonical scripture in the Idrani schema are those which describe the path Eshuqai followed because He is the only one who truly traversed the path of perfection.

Metaphorical Symbolism
The incomprehensible nature of the universe and of God to the Idrani schema, and the respect and reverence it engenders lead to the use of metaphorical symbols in describing profound topics. While this does create the appearance of esoterism to the outsider, it is actually done for a very important reason. It provides a human-perceptible way of dealing with something that is infinite and otherwise incomprehensible to humans. The metaphor begins by merely representing itself but is always for the purpose of moving from that point to a deeper and more interrelated understanding of God and the universe. Each symbol growing in meaning until, at last, they grow and knit together into a complete whole.

 

Metrics and Currency
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Gharubaaks-- the Idrani Metric Standard

The Idrani standard for all measure is known as gharubaaks. In terms of its value as a standard, gharubaaks is 1.801508 cc of pure water in an exactly cubic configuration, in a total vacuum. From this standard all the other units of measure are derived in a decimal progression of orders.

 

Time: The Temporal Gharubaaks

The time aspect of gharubaaks (or temporal gharubaaks) is 0.00000000006004 seconds, or 6.004 x 10^-11 s. This is the time it takes for light to travel across one face of gharubaaks on a vector which is exactly parallel to four of gharubaaks' edges and exactly perpendicular to eight of gharubaaks' edges. Because this unit is too small for common use in measuring quantities of time, the table below will begin with the temporal unit known as the polki which is ten billion temporal gharubaaks or roughly 0.6 seconds.

 

polki peki uti kehri khunti pokhai laiko latnai khiri nyosa khintri hulti  
0.6 6.0 60.0 600.0                 seconds
  0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0               minutes
      0.1 1.6 16.6 166.6           hours
          0.6 6.9 69.4 694.1       days
            0.9 9.9 99.1 991.6     weeks
              0.19 1.9 19.0 190.0   years
                0.19 1.9 19.0 190.0 decades
                  0.19 1.9 19.0 centuries
                    0.19 1.9 millennia

 

Monetary Values and Currency: The Monetary Gharubaaks


The smallest unit of currency is the sunkoi. The sunkoi is the value of one gharubaaks (or one monetary gharubaaks). In terms of US dollars, the sunkoi is roughly equivalent to $0.0043 US or just under one half cent. The commonly referred to unit of currency, however, is the sunti, which is equivalent to 100 sunkoi or roughly $0.43 US. Whenever prices are listed or quoted, they are listed or quoted in quantities of sunti and sunkoi. However, in slang expressions where a monetary context is understood, amounts may be spoken of in terms of gharubaaks.

The denominations of Idrani currency are systematically named. Their names are each composed of three morphemes. First, a CV basic numeric morpheme which indicates a multiple of one, two, three, or seven. Second, a morpheme consisting of 'n' coupled with another consonant which indicates that the amount is monetary. Third, a vocalic basic numeric morpheme which indicates the order of ten of the denomination. So, 'sunti' expresses the monetary value of one hundred monetary gharubaaks because 'su' is the CV basic numeric morpheme for the value of one, meaning that the denomination is a multiple of one. The 'nt' portion of 'sunti' indicates that the amount is monetary. Finally, the 'i' is the vocalic portion of 'di' which indicates the value 2 as the order of ten. So, 1 x 10^2, or one hundred in monetary representation of gharubaaks. Below are the components for all the monetary denominations, there are no other denominations minted:

Multiples of Orders of Ten Gharubaaks:
su = 1
di= 2
te = 3
kseu = 7

Gharubaaks on Orders of Ten:
nkoi = 1
nku = 10
nti = 100 = $0.43 US
nwe = 1,000
nseu = 10,000
nqo = 100,000
nmou = 1,000,000
nhua = 10,000,000
nhla = 100,000,000
nshau = 1,000,000,000

 

Length: The Linear Gharubaaks


The ploi is equivalent to the length of one edge of gharubaaks (or one linear gharubaaks), namely 1.801508 cm, and is the standard interval of length. The rest of the units of length are derived from the ploi and are listed below:

1 ipfi = 1/10 upsu = 0.018 cm
1 uspu = 1/10 ploi = 0.180 cm
1 ploi = 1.80 cm
1 dlu = 10 ploi = 18.01 cm
1 tli = 10 dlu = 1.80 m
1 dne = 10 tli = 18.01 m
1 tneu = 10 dne = 180.15 m
1 tho = 10 tneu = 1.80 km

 

Area: The Planar Gharubaaks


The reloi is equivalent to the area of any planar side of gharubaaks (or one planar gharubaaks) or 1.801508 cm square, and is the standard unit of area. The rest of the units of area are derived from the reloi and are listed below:

1 reloi = 1.80 cm^2
1 yeyu = 10 reloi = 18.01 cm^2
1 wari = 10 yeyu = 1.80 meters^2
1 liwe = 10 wari = 18.01 meters^2
1 reu = 10 liwe = 180.15 meters^2
1 wayo = 10 reu = 1.80 hectars

 

Volume: The Volumetric Gharubaaks


The ahoi is equivalent to the volume of gharubaaks (or one volumetric gharubaaks) or 1.801508 cc, and is the standard unit of volume. The rest of the units of volume are derived from the ahoi and are listed below:

1 ahoi = 1.80cc
1 ekhu = 10 ahoi = 1.80 dl
1 ighi = 10 ekhu = 18.01 l
1 ohe = 10 ighi = 180.15 l
1 ukheu = 10 ohe = 1.80 kl
1 agho = 10 ukheu = 18.01 kl

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