“Today we gladly sing the praise of her whose daughters’ and whose sons’ now loyal voices proudly raise to bless her with our benisons.”
Translated into UChiconlang by the UChicago Constructed Languages Society.
The lyrics to UChicago’s alma mater were written by Edwin H. Lewis, PhD 1894, in English, and as far as we know, have never been translated—until now.
At The Core’s request, the student organization UChicago Constructed Languages Society translated the lyrics into UChiconlang, a language that the club is developing as a group project. The students not only translated the lyrics, but also made sure the syllables fit the music so it would be singable.
Hear an a cappella performance of the UChiconlang alma mater, sung by Lauren Schachter, PhD’19.
A constructed language, or conlang, is an invented language with its own vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Famous examples include Esperanto, Klingon, and the various languages in the Lord of the Rings series.
UChiconlang, which perhaps someday might achieve such levels of fame, is “based on the unique facets and contrivances of the UChicago experience,” according to the group’s working document on the project. For example, in UChiconlang, Northwestern is unpronounceable. In addition to High UChiconlang (“extremely ornate and difficult to speak”) and Low UChiconlang (“the common variant”), the club is working on a pidgin, Piji (pronounced to rhyme with Fiji).—Carrie Golus, AB’91, AM’93
