The Language You Use Determines What You Can Think

Derivation of Archtypal Meaning

The derivation of archetypal meaning in Ododu is based on the assumption that there are foundational morphemes and graphemes that cannot be converted or mapped into any other morphemes or graphemes. In terms of the graphemes this can be described by considering them as being topologically invariant.  They cannot be changed into each other by any homeomorphism or process that establishes a relationship or mapping of the essential characteristics of one grapheme into another.

In ODODU each letter is assigned a fundamental archetypal meaning that comprises a foundational morpheme and this morpheme is then linked to a unique, and also foundational, grapheme.  The contention is that this meaning, the morpheme, can be derived or deduced from the symbolic form of the grapheme.  Thus the grapheme illustrates and exemplifies the meaning of the morpheme, and how that meaning might have evolved from the relational nature of the universe.   

It is further assumed that these morphemes and graphemes can be ordered.  There are some that are more primary, more foundational and elemental, than others. By establishing an order of these graphemes and their corresponding morphemes we can identify a first and most primitive grapheme, and then a series of following graphemes that are sequentially ordered with respect to the first grapheme and all previous graphemes in the sequence. 

In Ododu there are four primary linked morpheme grapheme pairs, and four secondary morpheme grapheme pairs that are considered to be such primitives and they are represented by the eight vowels, U, I, E, A, O, Q, Y, and H. This assignment of vowels serves to identify a unique phoneme for each of the eight primary morpheme grapheme pairs.

The graphemes and morphemes for the 16 consonants are constructed in terms of the vowels and so their structure and meaning is related to that of the vowels. Since the consonants are also ordered they are constructed so that the morphemes and graphemes for each letter are related to the morphemes and graphemes of all the preceding letters. This comprises a form of topological morphogenesis that can apply to the construction of meaning in language. Consequently the process of saying or writing the alphabet mimics a morphogenetic process wherein each stage or letter evolves from the immediately preceding letter.

The view that there are elemental language morphemes, graphemes, and phonemes is similar to that proposed by W. John Weilgart in his constructed language, aUI, the Language of Space (link). He presented a language with letters that comprised elements of meaning that he believed represented the most basic and universal categories found in all languages.  He viewed these as being the ultimate linguistic semantic primitives, and thought that they could form the “periodic table” of the semantic elements of all human thought and expression. He also gave each morpheme a simple ideographic symbol.

However, he did not describe a protocol or procedure for choosing what the meanings were, why they were assigned to their specific ideographic symbol, and how they could be ordered. Consequently his definitions seem to be somewhat arbitrary and do not explain how and why the letters relate to the specific graphemes and phonemes that were chosen to represent them.

Ododu provides a rationale for the construction of these universal linguistic elements, and for the unique nature of each constituent grapheme and associated morpheme and phoneme. The construction also presents a natural ordering of these concepts and why the derivational process is sequential. This follows because we all live and exist in time, and that everything we do is ordered or sequenced by time.

Before beginning the derivation the ODODU alphabet we start with this diagrammatic presentation that illustrates the vowel and consonant relationships described above.


This shows that Ododu does not have a strictly linear alphabet. However, it can still be expressed in a linear fashion as; U, I, E, A, O, Q, Y, H, D, P, R, B, C, L, T, K, S, G, F, X, N, M, W, and Z.  This follows from the morphogenetic character of the development process.

Graphemes that illustrate the letters of this alphabet can be presented pictorially as;


This representation of the alphabet simply replaces the letters with graphemes or pictographs.  We have assumed that each letter represents a fundamental archetypal meaning that can be derived from a symbolic form. Such forms illustrate the individual meanings and how they might have evolved from the relational nature of the universe.  The pictographic alphabet presented above is one such interpretation.  Each of the 24 single letters is represented by a grapheme that is non homeomorphic or topologically invariant with respect to any other foundational grapheme.  None of these foundational graphemes can be converted into any of the other foundational graphemes by manipulation of its shape or size. You will also notice that all eight of the actual vowel letters themselves have a resemblance to the graphemes they represent.

The following discussion expands on this construction and provides a derivational argument for the assignment of meaning to each letter of the alphabet.

The derivation of ODODU begins by using the four fundamental types of relation, self relation, linear relation, relational relation, and interrelational relation (see Relational Systems), as the first four letter/concepts in ODODU.  The assumption is that these are the most fundamental morphemes and they represent, among other very general interpretations, the four dimensions of space and time as currently viewed by physics. They are assigned to the letters U, I, E, and A, and are designated as Primary Vowels. They are also pronounced as the long form of each vowel based on the hypothesis that the long form of a vowel is one of the most basic sounds we as humans can make. The graphemes associated with these four relational morphemes are also assumed to be the most fundamental archetypal forms that can be graphically produced, and consequently they actually represent the fundamental four dimensional space-time structure and form of the universe itself. 

The four Secondary Vowels arise when a distinction is made in the four dimensional space time that separates each of us from the rest of the universe.  This distinction or boundary allows for the generation of an additional series of fundamental morphemes and corresponding graphemes, that serve as reflections of the Primary Vowels. These reflections are represented by the letters O, Q, Y, and H. 

The foundational morphemes and graphemes that comprise the eight vowels are considered as preceding definition so they will be described and exemplified rather than defined.  Then the additional morphemes and graphemes that comprise the consonants can be defined in terms of them.

The rationale that is used in this presentation is derived from the work that Jon Ray Hamann has done with Relationalism and Relational Systems Theory (links).  Relationalism postulates that there are only four possible types of relations and these constitute four Relational Orders.  These comprise the concepts of Self Relation, Linear Relation, Relational Relation, and Intrerrelational Relation.  Relational Systems Theory exemplifies these relational orders by describing everything in terms of Systems of arbitrary natures, and the possible relations that can be defined relative to such systems.

Relational Systems can be represented by using circles as systems and lines as relations as follows.

Self Relation: a system related to itself


Linear Relation: a relation between or connecting two systems

Relational Relation: a relation relating a system with a relation

Note that the preceding grapheme is NOT the same as

In this diagram all relations are between systems and not between systems and relations. This illustrates the critical difference that Relationalism and Relational Systems Theory have when compared to the linear formalisms that only consider relations as occurring between systems.


Interreational Relation: a relation interrelating two other relations

By eliminating the system from these pictographic descriptions we can arrive at a more foundational representation of the four Relational Orders as follows:

Self Relation:

Linear Relation:


Relational Relation:



Interrelational Relation:

The initiating presumption in the development of Ododu is that the last four graphemes that were used to illustrate the four types of relation or the four Relational Orders are in fact the most foundational and primitive graphemes that we can create.  These four graphemes represent the four foundational morphemes that comprise the Primary Vowels and are the most fundamental explanation as to what these four initial morphemes mean. 

The following exemplifies and describes these concepts in more detail.

The Zero Order Relation. Self Relation.

This is the first grapheme. It represents and illustrates the morpheme of self relation. It is the origin, a beginning, the first symbol.  It is what results when we first touch a pen or pencil to a sheet of paper.  No matter what we are going to write or draw, it starts with a point on a sheet of paper. 

It is conceived in terms of a relation that is related to itself. In its simplest form its natural symbolic representation is a dot or a point. We represent this concept in ODODU with a capital letter U. Here a period would be a better choice than a U but the period on a modern keyboard is often hard to see and does not look like a letter. In fact a period is not usually considered to be a letter. So U is used as a substitute and this carries an additional benefit because U is a vowel with a long form pronunciation (phoneme).  Because it is desirable, and perhaps essential, to use letters from the Roman Alphabet to represent the Ododu graphemes and morphemes there were some arbitrary assingments that had to be made.  Since most of the other vowels have upper case letters that are arguably close to their assigned graphemes U became the leftover choice for a vowel representing a point. Also U did not obviously fit any of the other categories, and could be related to the U in Universe.

So U becomes self relation, the start of ourselves and the universe.  It can also be viewed as a point in or of the universe, a perspective from which to view the rest of the universe. It possesses only location, no width no length, no height, no mass.  It is just a point, but most importantly, a point in time.

The First Order Relation. Linear Relation

This is the concept of linear relation as represented by the letter I. It represents a line, but a line that is not comprised of points. It is a pure line, an entity all by itself. It can be conceived as a relation whose relating is undefined, it is unbounded, infinite in extent. It is the simplest grapheme we can draw after a point.

It does not inherently have to relate something to something else, although it can be used in combination with one or more points to illustrate a line segment. Its natural symbolic representation in Ododu is just a line.  Usually we will consider it to be a straight line but this interpretation requires a context such as a plane or a volume to have any meaning.  A line can also serve as a distance between two points.

The Second Order Relation. Relational Relation

This is the concept of Relational Relation. It is represented by the letter E and can be viewed as a relation related to another relation. Its natural symbolic representation in Ododu is a line, one end of which terminates somewhere in the middle of another line. The concept itself looks like the middle horizontal line ending at the vertical line in the letter E. 

From a geometrical perspective E could be viewed as defining a surface or a plane, and it is this conceptualization that qualifies it as the third most primary and fundamental morpheme and grapheme. The concept is that when a relation connects with another relation the result is not just two intersecting lines but a surface upon which we could draw many lines. The surface is not made up of points or lines itself, but it provides a form wherein lines and points can be located and described. It is a fundamentally different entity than a collection of points or lines. It is primary and not divisible into points or lines. We can draw lines on a surface, or locate points on a surface, but that does not explain the essence of a surface. It does not allow us to draw a surface on a point or a line.

This is the concept of a second order relation and why its grapheme is so different from viewing a surface as comprising an infinite number of lines.

The Third Order Relation. Interrelational Relation.

This is the last of the primary vowels and it represents the third order interrelational relation.  This is often illustrated relationally as;

In Ododu this will be represented by the letter A.

This is the concept of an Interrelational Relation and it can be viewed as a relation connecting or relating other relations. Its natural symbolic representation is a line which connects two other lines, somewhere other than at their ends. It looks like the letter H or the letter A where the cross bar is the defining relation.  The two lines which the interrelational relation connects may or may not themselves intersect.  In Ododu we choose the letter A because it can then naturally be represented with a long vowel sound or phoneme, a long A sound. H will be used as a reflection of A and will be the last Secondary Vowel. It will be pronounced with a short ah or hah phoneme.

A will be identified with the concepts of volume or space. As was the case for the E this will represent a fundamentally different concept than that of a point, a line, or a surface. It can provide a form for the expression of these prior concepts but they cannot provide a form for the expression of a space. Thus the pictograph above could represent a three dimensional Cartesian coordinate system comprising three mutually perpendicular coordinate axes.  In this sense an A represents the concept of a three dimensional volume or space, but this has to be understood as a structure that also exists in time.

The Primary Vowels of U, I, E and A are the four fundamental Relational Orders and they provide for an interpretation of the framework of the universe that is consistent with the concepts of space and time as they are used in physics and in our everyday life. The simple graphemes that have been chosen for these morphemes are in this sense the most primitive and essential graphemes that we can draw. It is within this framework, and the drawings and pictorial representations of this framework, that all other graphemes and their corresponding morphemes will be constructed and represented.

In later sections it will be argued that the pictorial nature of the four Primary Vowel graphemes is also representative of a quaternion as it is defined and used in mathematics. This stems from the one three nature of the graphemes; a form comprising a point, and three forms that are diagrammatically symbolized with one, two and three lines respectively. See the number and math section.

The next four Secondary Vowel letter/concepts are the vowels O, Q, Y, and H.  The generation and representation of the graphemes and morphemes of these four vowels is very similar to the presentation of G. Spencer Brown in Laws of Form (1969). Laws of Form starts with the concept of a distinction which is drawn as a boundary with separate sides (boundary). The boundary can be crossed (cross) and the cross can be marked (mark) to differentiate the two sides of the boundary. These concepts are described in terms of expressions, and indications of equivalent expressions are defined as equations (interactions).

These four concepts are very similar to the next series of primordial morpheme – grapheme pairs that constitute the Secondary Vowels of Ododu.  G. Spencer Brown was unaware of Relationalism and Relational Systems Theory when he published Laws of Form and he did not have a sense of the need for the four Relational Orders to comprise a framework (space – time) within which the boundaries, crosses, marks and equations could take place. While he understood the elemental nature of the forms he created his presentation generated significant confusion because of the lack of a foundational framework for their comprehension. Despite this, his four forms represent accurate expressions of the Secondary Vowels of Ododu.

 These are presented as follows;

The concept O is the concept of distinction.  It can be viewed as a form of self relation in that it is the simplest form that can be constructed in the Primary Vowel space time framework.  In this sense the O is an accurate representation of the concept itself in that we can picture it as a circle.  However, since it now exists within the context of the Primary Vowels it also can be viewed as a closed surface or sphere in three dimensional space.  Consequently O represents a boundary, a separation of two different things or places, an inside and an outside.

Q can now be seen as a cross.  A line or relation which crosses the distinction or boundary.  This could be an interaction between the inside and the outside, or an interaction between something inside with something else outside.  It could be only a relation or relationship between two such things or places.  It also could be a movement or transferal from one side to the other.

Once a boundary or a distinction is established it may not be obvious as to how to tell one side of the boundary from the other side, and so Y, the next letter concept, establishes the ability to mark or represent one or both of the distinguished things or spaces.  The concept is one of tagging or labeling, marking something so that it can be distinguished from other things. This can be illustrated by the tags used in comics that associate spoken or thought words with a specific comic character.

The final vowel, H, now represents the possible ways of interrelating all of the preceding concepts.  It includes relating different bounded spaces or their crosses, marked states, or contents and provides for a view of a totally connected and interrelated universe.

Once the Primary and Secondary Vowel groups have been constructed they are used to generate the consonants. This procedure comprises interrelating each one of the Primary Vowels with each of the Secondary Vowels. This process will be different than the pure non interactive association that characterizes the creation of the grammar. It will entail an actual interaction between each of the two vowels that comprise a Primary - Secondary Vowel pair. The nature of this interaction will be undefined here but in subsequent sections it will serve as a paradigm and a source for the essence and behavior of quaternions in mathematics and the principle of relativity as it applies to coordinate transformations in the four dimensional space – time of physics. Thus it will involve a description of how each Primary Vowel changes with respect to the changes in each Secondary Vowel relative to each specific interaction.

In the formation of the consonants this will result in a serially subsumptive procedure that closely resembles the beginning of morphogenesis in a fertilized egg in biology.  As each consonant is formed it will be arranged in a series such that each consonant contains all of the graphemes of the prior consonants in the series. The morphemes that correspond to these graphemes will provide a relational basis for the construction of reality in a conscious entity.  It applies to our own personal history as we grow from a fertilized egg into a newborn baby, then how we learn and develop from a baby into an adult, and, on a simpler scale, it mirrors the process that we subconsciously repeat each day when we wake up from sleep.

The following presents and describes the pictographic derivation of the consonants.

This is the concept of consciousness and it is represented by the pictograph;
Here a point, U, is contained within a boundary or distinction, O.  Since our primary assumption is that the universe is comprised of conscious entities and their communicating languages this will represent a conscious entity, like you or I.  This entity exists and it is distinguished from everything else in the universe.  Thus UDU is consciousness, the fundamental particularized unit of existence and the universe.  Each UDU represents a unique component and perspective of the universe and the universe itself is composed of such bounded conscious entities.
This is the concept of desire, need, and it is represented by the pictograph;
In UPU a conscious entity UDU experiences the most primal urge.  It wants.  It hungers.  It desires.  This is a driving force which acts on the UDU.  It is represented as a linear relation.  It bears directly on the consciousness.
This is the concept of emotion, feeling, and it is represented by the pictograph;
The presence of desire in the conscious entity generates an emotional response, a feeling.  The feeling is related to the desire.  Hence the defining characteristic is the relational relation.  The feeling is derivative from, and coexistent with, the desire or want.
This is the concept of choice, decision, belief, and it is represented by the pictograph;
The interrelation between want and emotion generates choice, decision, and then belief.  The consciousness entity is not static but must act to continue to exist and survive.  This is resolved through the interrelation of desire and feeling.
The first four consonant words; UDU, UPU, URU, and UBU, represent a psychological or mind basis for the conscious entity.  Given the primary assumption that consciousness is the defining characteristic of the universe, and of those of us who comprise the universe, then these are the initial archetypal concepts.  Since they culminate in choice, the decision to act, there then needs to be a way for this to happen.  Therefore the next group of four archetypal consonant words involve a derivation of how a conscious entity can act to implement choice.  Thus;
This is the concept of body and it is represented by the pictograph;
Here a cross is made originating from within the psychological conscious boundary and continuing into the rest of the universe outside the psychological boundary.  But it is a self relational cross so it creates a new distinction via the act of the cross.  This generates a body, an entity outside the psychological boundary but containing it.  This allows the conscious entity to employ other aspects of the universe to effect the choices and decisions it makes.  Having such a body allows it to act, therefore;
This is the concept of action, and it is represented by the pictograph;
By generating a liner relational cross (not the self relational cross which created the body itself) the conscious entity can now act in the universe.  It can do something in response to the choices it makes at the psychological level.  The linear relation extending outside the body allows action on, or interaction with, other elements of the universe.
This is the concept of sensation and it is represented by the pictograph;
Once the body acts it is essential to get feedback as to the effect of the action.  Therefore the body generates another cross, this time of a relational relation nature.  This constitutes sensation.  The detection of other things and events in the universe outside the body of the conscious entity.  This detection ability will allow for the recognition of consequences of actions which the body itself has preformed.  By correlating and interrelating these consequences with the actions performed we get;
This is the concept of creation and it is represented by the pictograph;
Alternatively, it could be represented by;

This is creativity.  The body, under the direction of the psychological consciousness, can now create things in the universe outside of the body of the conscious entity.  This is a process that utilizes the interrelation of sensation and action and this correlation allows us to make and use things to respond to our wants, feelings and choices. A primary result of this creative ability is the creation of signs and language.  To illustrate this concept we derive;

This is the concept of symbol and it is represented by the pictograph; 

Here the conscious entity is designating and identifying some part of the universe as a symbol.  Usually what is designated is external to the body of the conscious entity but it could designate its own body, or a part of its body, or some creation made by its body, as a symbol. Although the symbol is created by a process interrelating both sensation and action it is still detectable by the creating conscious entity, and this additional sensation is shown in the above grapheme.  Once a symbol has been designated it is assigned a meaning via;


This is the concept of meaning. It describes the morpheme that is associated with the created symbol or grapheme. It is in turn represented by the additional pictograph;

The meaning is specified or designated or identified by the conscious entity and then related to the symbol previously or simultaneously designated.  Once this has occurred there is an image generated by the conscious entity which is related to the relating of symbol and meaning.  This generates;
This is the concept of image and it is represented by the pictograph;
When an image is created in this manner it can persist in the universe external to the creating conscious entity.  However, there is a type of image which includes the creating conscious entity and this is then considered to be a memory.  It can be shown as;
A further elaboration shows images persisting in, and associated with, memory as;
The interrelation of all of the symbols, meanings, and images by conscious entities is what generates language, and the thoughts, ideas, and concepts which comprise this interrelating.  This is thinking.  This is the creation and use of language.  This is;
To represent UXU, thought and language, through the use of the pictographs would involve taking the letter symbols, the pictographs, and the sentences we have used so far, and placing them in the various bounded areas of additional pictographs, and then connecting them to other similarly constructed pictographs.  We will illustrate this in the following manner.  First lets take the initial UFU pictograph and rearrange it as follows:
 Now if we expand the three outer loops we get;
This gets a little confusing so lets go back and add some color to the rearranged UFU pictograph as follows:
Now when we expand the outer loops it looks like:
Adding white and black this becomes:
At this point we still can detect a conscious entity, an UDU, in the center which is generating all of this. However, if we invert the white and black to,
then we no longer can detect any creator or generating conscious entity for the pictograph or its created image.  Inverting the white and black again generates;
where we again cannot detect any creator for the image.
There are lots of interesting interpretations we can make of these pictographs.  For now we will mention only a few and return in the future for a more detailed discussion.
The UXU pictographs look like Venn diagrams and this suggests a connection with set theory and basic logic as represented by an algebra of propositions.  This fits in nicely with the contention that UXU represents thought and thinking.  We also notice that there are two sets of four colors which can also be interpreted as consisting of a 1 to 3 pattern,  much like the pattern we have deduced for our two sets of vowels.  Thus we could say that the last UXU pictograph is composed of UIEA, represented as black, blue, yellow and red, and of OQYH which would be represented as white, green, purple and orange.  We could also interpret this as relating to music where UIEA, the black, blue, yellow, and red quartet represents a C major seventh chord and OQYH, the white, green, purple, and orange quartet represents a D minor seventh chord.  The two chords together comprise all the notes of an octave musical scale.  This would consist of all the white keys on a piano for an octave in the key of C.  This suggests that ODODU may be able to be "spoken" through musical tones alone and is not strictly dependent on our ability to speak with defined sound patterns which we identify as words.  More on all of this in the future.
Thus it would seem that this may as far as this can go.  There are no more increasingly subsumptive pictographs to draw that aren't already included, at least conceptually, in UXU.  But fortunately, we still have the real world to deal with.
When we started we assumed that the universe is comprised of conscious entities, like you and I, which communicate and interact with each other using language.  We also assumed that relation was the fundamental reality which underlies all of this.  So how can the physical world be compatible with these assumptions?  How does it fit in.
So far, all of the concepts presented have been illustrated with pictographs which have been bounded.  We have assumed an inside and an outside and there has always been something inside that is connected in some manner to consciousness.  The assumption has been that such boundaries and what they contain are real and we have always been able to identify the connection to consciousness.  But this may not always be the case.  There may be some boundaries that we can detect, but for which we are not able to detect a connection to consciousness inside the boundary.  We now define such boundaries as things.

Suppose we consider the last two pictographs of UXU.  If we were to put an axis through the center of the pictograph, perpendicular to the plane of the paper or screen, and rotate it we would see the color merging into various shades of brown. The exact shades of brown will be dependent on the proportions of the various primary and secondary colors, the red, yellow, blue, and purple, green, and orange, and the gray scale that results from mixing white and black. We can use this vast array of colors to represent and equally vast array of things.  Things that have been created by an unknown or undetected conscious entity but which are nonetheless detectable by ourselves.  We represent such things as; 

This is a thing.  We can detect it.  It is real, but we cannot detect its creator or its role as consciousness or language.  We can see how we can interact things, or they can interact with each other, as;
In a similar manner we can consider the concept of property or characteristic related to things and their interactions as;
The last possibility of ways to connect or interrelate things can then be represented as;

This is the final mode of connection.  It is covariance, the interrelation of everything with everything else. It completes the structure and function of the universe and ourselves as a part or point in that universe.

Now we find that these four pictographs showing UNU, UMU, UWU, and UZU are the basic representations of Relational Systems Theory.  We have returned to our starting point.