Fiwo is a constructed language engineered as a precision communication system rather than a natural or artistic language. Its purpose is to eliminate structural ambiguity, reduce interpretive guesswork, and make meaning explicit, inspectable, and deterministic. When used according to its rules, especially in Strict Mode, every valid Fiwo sentence yields exactly one syntactic interpretation.
Fiwo treats language as an interface:
an interface between human minds, between humans and machines, and between abstract thought and formal expression.
Rather than relying on inference, shared cultural assumptions, or pragmatic ambiguity, Fiwo encodes grammatical roles, hierarchy, and scope directly into its surface structure. Meaning is not guessed—it is declared.
Fiwo is designed around a single guiding objective:
to achieve deterministic precision without sacrificing learnability or practical use.
Absolute precision in language is easy to pursue—and equally easy to overdo. Systems that attempt to encode every nuance explicitly often become dense, fragile, and inaccessible to real users. At the other extreme, natural languages prioritize flexibility and expressiveness but rely heavily on ambiguity, inference, and shared context, which limits their reliability in technical, global, or machine-mediated communication.
Fiwo exists to walk the narrow path between these extremes.
Fiwo replaces interpretive guesswork with explicit structure. Meaning is not inferred from context, speaker intent, or cultural convention; it is encoded directly in the sentence form.
In Fiwo, grammatical roles, hierarchy, and scope are structurally visible. When used in Strict Mode, every valid sentence produces exactly one syntactic parse tree. If multiple interpretations are possible, the sentence is considered structurally incomplete and must be rewritten.
This ensures that meaning is declared, not negotiated.
Fiwo enforces a strict division between:
Lexical certainty is encoded through functional vowels that define word category. Structural certainty is encoded through a small, closed set of grammatical markers that control hierarchy and scope.
This separation prevents semantic drift, stabilizes the grammar over time, and allows meaning to scale in complexity without increasing ambiguity.
Rather than increasing precision by adding layers of inflection, cases, or specialized particles, Fiwo achieves clarity through minimal but mandatory structure.
A small number of structural markers—used consistently—provide the same disambiguating power as far more complex grammatical systems. This avoids the common failure mode of precision languages: becoming theoretically exact but practically unusable.
In Fiwo, complexity is allowed only when it produces measurable clarity.
Fiwo’s minimalism is not expressive limitation. Depth is achieved through controlled derivation and compositional rules, not through an ever-expanding lexicon or irregular forms.
A compact core vocabulary supports:
Learnability is treated as a hard requirement, not a secondary benefit.
Fiwo removes many of the obstacles that make natural languages difficult:
Once the core rules are learned, they apply universally. Progress comes from understanding structure rather than memorizing exceptions.
Humans favor rhythm, pattern reuse, and predictable structure.
Machines require explicit markers, deterministic rules, and unambiguous scope.
Fiwo is engineered at the intersection of these needs. Its phonology, morphology, and syntax are designed to remain intuitive for human speakers while being fully machine-parseable without heuristic interpretation.
Rather than optimizing for one at the expense of the other, Fiwo treats both humans and machines as first-class users of the language.
Fiwo is neither a natural language nor a programming language.
It is a precision protocol for meaning—a system that enforces clarity while remaining usable, learnable, and scalable.
By consciously limiting complexity and insisting on structural transparency, Fiwo demonstrates that precision and practicality are not opposing goals, but outcomes of intentional design.
Fiwo’s phonetic inventory was selected based on global prevalence, perceptual distinctness, and combinatory power.
The result is a phonology that feels familiar across linguistic backgrounds while remaining internally consistent.
Fiwo uses:
What you see is what you say.
This makes Fiwo:
Fiwo removes many of the obstacles that make natural languages difficult:
Instead, learners benefit from:
Once the rules are learned, they apply universally. Mastery comes from understanding structure, not accumulating exceptions.
Fiwo is designed for:
Natural language:
“I saw the man with the telescope.”
Multiple interpretations are possible.
Fiwo (Strict Mode):
Structure and scope are explicitly encoded, allowing only one valid reading. Any alternative interpretation must be structurally rewritten, making ambiguity impossible by design.
Fiwo is a language for those who want control over meaning, not negotiation with it.
By enforcing clarity at every level—from sound, to word, to sentence structure—it transforms language into a reliable tool for exact thought, human communication, and machine interaction.
Barends, J. L. A. (2026). The Fiwo Language: A Precision Protocol for Human and AI. Potchefstroom, South Africa.
Phonetics were chosen on their prevalence in the world languages and their distinctness from each other. Stress has no grammatical or semantic function.
| IPA Symbol | Assigned Key | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| /p/ | p | "pat" (Eng), "pan" (Spa) | Absent in Standard Arabic (uses /b/); often unaspirated in Mandarin. |
| /b/ | b | "bat" (Eng), "bebé" (Spa) | Absent in Mandarin (uses unaspirated /p/); merged with /v/ in Spanish. |
| /t/ | t | "top" (Eng), "tío" (Spa) | Universal. Dental in Romance/Indo-Aryan; Alveolar in English/Mandarin. |
| /d/ | d | "dog" (Eng), "dos" (Spa) | Absent in Mandarin (uses unaspirated /t/). |
| /k/ | k | "cat" (Eng), "casa" (Spa) | Universal voiceless velar stop. |
| /g/ | g | "go" (Eng), "gato" (Spa) | Absent in Mandarin; marginal/dialectal in Standard Arabic. |
| IPA Symbol | Assigned Key | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| /m/ | m | "man" (Eng), "mano" (Spa) | Universal bilabial nasal. |
| /n/ | n | "no" (Eng), "no" (Spa) | Universal alveolar/dental nasal. |
| /ŋ/ | nn | "sing" (Eng) | Phonemic in English, Mandarin, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu. Allophonic in Spanish. |
| IPA Symbol | Assigned Key | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| /f/ | f | "fan" (Eng), "fin" (Spa) | Universal labiodental fricative. |
| /v/ | v | "vest" (Eng), "vin" (Fre), "vida" (Por) | Voiced labiodental fricative. The voiced counterpart to /f/. Absent in Mandarin and Standard Spanish, but highly prevalent globally. |
| /s/ | s | "see" (Eng), "sí" (Spa) | Universal sibilant. |
| /z/ | z | "zoo" (Eng) | Absent in Mandarin (affricate only), Spanish (allophone), and Bengali. |
| /ʃ/ (sh) | c | "she" (Eng) | Absent in standard Spanish; pervasive in others. |
| /h/ | h | "hat" (Eng) | Absent in French, Spanish, Russian (/x/), and Portuguese. |
| /x/ (kh) | x | "México" (Spa), "Loch" (Eng) | Velar fricative; found in Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, and Urdu. |
| /tʃ/ (ch) | q | "chat" (Eng), "mucho" (Spa), "chi" (Man) | Voiceless postalveolar affricate. A very common sound globally that bridges the gap between /t/ and /ʃ/. |
| /ʒ/ (zh) | y | "vision" (Eng) | Found in English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Urdu. |
| IPA Symbol | Assigned Key | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| /l/ | l | "let" (Eng), "lo" (Spa) | Universal lateral. |
| /r/ | r | "red" (Eng), "pero" (Spa) | Broad category covering trills (Spanish/Russian), taps (Hindi), and approximants (English). |
| /w/ | w | "wet" (Eng) | Distinct in English, Mandarin, Arabic, French. Allophonic/Diphthong in others. |
| /j/ | j | "yes" (Eng), "yo" (Spa) | Universal palatal glide. |
| IPA Symbol | Assigned Key | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| /i/ | i | "see" (Eng), "sí" (Spa) | Universal high front vowel. |
| /e/ | e | "tres" (Spa) | Mid front vowel. Absent in Standard Arabic (uses /i, a, u/). |
| /a/ | a | "father" (Eng), "casa" (Spa) | Universal low vowel. |
| /o/ | o | "go" (Eng), "no" (Spa) | Mid back vowel. Absent in Standard Arabic. |
| /u/ | u | "boot" (Eng), "tú" (Spa) | Universal high back vowel. |
| /ə/ | ii | "about" (Eng) | Schwa; the "neutral" vowel of English, Mandarin, Hindi, Russian, French, and Portuguese. |
Fiwo uses a fixed, closed set of phonemes chosen for global prevalence and perceptual distinctness.
Consonants:
p, b, t, d, k, g, m, n, nn, f, v, s, z, c,y, h, x, q, l, r, w, j
Vowels:
i, e, a, o, u, ii
Orthography:
The final vowel of a word unambiguously determines its category.
| Ending | Category | Function |
|---|---|---|
-a, -o, -u |
Noun | Entities, objects, abstract things |
-i |
Verb | Actions, processes, states |
-e |
Modifier | Adjectives and adverbs |
-ii |
Preposition | Relations between entities or actions |
A word’s category is always recoverable without context.
Words may change category by changing their final vowel without changing the root meaning. This is done by adding a vowel to the end.
ibatu (Food) → batui (To eat)
ebeati (Close) → beatie (Closed)
nii (Near) → niie (Nearby)
onaqi (Work) → naqio (The work / The job)
aoeIn rare cases, derivation may be applied twice to obtain highly specific meanings, but each step must obey vowel rules.
Fiwo uses a fixed default order:
Subject – Verb – Object (SVO)
Example: mi lo batui te mito. (I eat meat)
An alternative passive-like structure is allowed:
Object – Verb – Subject (OVS)
This requires the particle bii.
Example: te mito lo batui bii mi ( the meat was eaten by me)
Fiwo separates lexical certainty from structural certainty.
Markers are structural particles, not content words.
lolo marks the start of the main predicate of a clause.lo is not the clause root.Structure: subject + lo + verb phrase
tete marks the start of the direct object phrase.te belongs to the object unless regrouped.Structure: verb + te + object phrase
lo and te are mandatoryWithout markers, ambiguity is possible.
With markers, ambiguity is structurally impossible.
pii)The particle pii acts as a grouping operator.
Example: foisa pii mi (my house or direct translation: house of me)
foisa nnofae je lande (small bird houses)foisa pii nnofa je lande (house of small birds)pii always groups the entire phrase to its right.
ne acts as a modifier. eg mi lo cali ne (I am not moving)je acts as a plural indication. eg mazo je (the trees)deExample:
mazo (the tree)
mazo de (a tree)
Tense markers appear after lo and before the verb.
| Marker | Meaning |
|---|---|
pa |
Past |
fu |
Future |
du |
Continuous |
Example:
mi lo pa cali (I moved)
mi lo fu cali (I will move)
mi lo du cali (I am moving )
Quantity and comparison are expressed using modifiers.
| Modifier | Meaning |
|---|---|
je |
Many / plural |
jete |
More |
jeme |
Most |
roza raja reso (One-Five-Six)ratso lta (Two-Zero)reso hana. = six containerskiiteqi ricae (3) = Like mildly; kiiteqi *rajae (5)* = Like intensely.A Fiwo sentence may begin with a Mood Tag.
Mood Tags explicitly encode the speaker’s communicative intent or tone, information that is normally conveyed through body language, facial expression, or vocal intonation in face-to-face speech but is often lost in written text.
Mood Tags apply to the entire sentence and must appear as the first character, before any words.
| Tag | Meaning |
|---|---|
! |
Command or imperative |
? |
Question or request for information |
% |
Factual or objective statement. Usually only used for scientific statements. |
# |
Emotional or subjective expression |
$ |
Sarcastic or ironic intent |
If no Mood Tag is present, the sentence is interpreted as neutral / declarative by default.
. , " ") function as in standard written languages.Mood Tags increase clarity in text-based communication by making intent explicit, improving both human understanding and machine interpretation without relying on inference.
The core grammar contains no exceptions; modes affect enforcement, not structure.
Grammar / Miscellaneous words in Fiwo form a closed class.
They exist solely to encode structure, logic, scope, or sentence control, not real-world meaning.
New grammar particles may only be introduced if they:
This rule prevents semantic drift, preserves morphological transparency, and ensures the grammar layer remains stable and predictable for both humans and machines.
Any valid Fiwo sentence in Strict Mode must produce exactly one possible syntactic parse tree.
This means:
This requirement is enforced through:
lo, te, pii) in Strict Mode.If a sentence allows more than one valid structural interpretation, it is invalid in Strict Mode and must be rewritten using markers or grouping particles. Only structurally complete sentences are considered valid Fiwo.
This rule guarantees lossless, machine-safe communication and prevents ambiguity from scaling as sentence complexity increases.
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Copyright © 2026 Joshua Leon Arkema Barends. Potchefstroom, South Africa.
The Fiwo language (also known as Fiwo morie) is a constructed language designed as a precision protocol for Human and Artificial Intelligence. The grammatical structure, lexicon, and documentation on this website are the intellectual property of the creator.
To balance legal protection with creative freedom, this work is released under a Dual-Permission Model:
You are free to use Fiwo for your creative projects without restriction.
No Credit Needed: You do not need to ask permission or credit the creator if you use Fiwo to write songs, books, poetry, scripts, or to translate your own website/content.
Your Rights: You retain full copyright ownership of any artistic work, story, or song you create using the Fiwo language.
The language documentation, dictionary data, and this website's interface/code are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Requirement: If you build a translation app, create a learning course, fork this website, or publish a dataset based on Fiwo, you must give appropriate credit to the creator.
Citation Format:
Source: "The Fiwo Language" by Joshua Leon Arkema Barends (2026).
The Fiwo language and all associated materials are provided "as is," without warranty of any kind. The creator assumes no responsibility for errors, misinterpretations, or consequences arising from the use of this language protocol in software or AI systems.