Iconic - The Universal Icon Language 😃🔨💬

Introduction

Note: I am currently working on a new tutorial, stay tuned! 😉

For a short motivation see Home, where you can also browse through the language cards. For a language summary see Rules. The introduction starts at Word Creation.

1. Word Creation

The standard vocabulary is contained in the Online Converter on Lingojam as well as in the AutoHotkey Script on Windows. You can follow this introduction by typing words in typewriter font in the examples. Letters in parentheses can be omitted for convenience, but numbers need to be typed for disambiguation. Please feel free to experiment with Iconic and have fun!

In Iconic, every icon represents a concept, which can be expanded with other icons and markers for different purposes. The 💃 dancer icon, for example, represents the concept of dancing and can be expanded to 💃🧒 dancer person, meaning dancer, or 💃🎬 dancer do, meaning to dance.

There are four methods of word creation in Iconic. Rebus Writing - substituting a difficult to depict word with an easier word that sounds similar - is deliberately avoided as it is neither international nor purely visual.

1.1 By Symbol

The most fundamental method of word creation is by symbol. A symbol is an abstract depiction of either the concept in question or an object associated with it. Some symbols like ❤️ love are widely used, others like 🐸 frog are intuitive. The fixed symbols of Iconic are chosen to be evocative of the concept in question.

Examples:

Sometimes it is unclear whether an icon is to be understood literally or figuratively. This can be distinguished using the 👌 lit(eral) and ⭐ fig(urative) = * markers. Some of the above icons change their meaning with the 👌 lit(eral) marker as follows:

Examples:

By contrast, the ⭐ fig(urative) = * marker indicates abstract concepts like ⚖️⭐ justice or abstract categories like 🍽️⭐ food.

Examples:

1.2 By Example

Categories of concrete objects are often indicated by example. 🍎〰️ apple ~, for instance, reads “something like an apple” and means “fruit”. Compare 🔨⭐ method to 🔨〰️ tool.

Examples:

1.3 By Comparison

Adjectives are most often represented by comparison. The group 🐘🤲 elephant like = big, for example, reads “like an elephant”. The opposite of an attribute can be indicated with the contrast marker ⚡️ but.

Examples:

To talk about abstract properties, we add ⭐ fig(urative) = * such as in 🐘🤲⭐ big * = size.

Some verbs like 🦘🎬 tojump, 🐦🎬 tofly, or 🐶🎬 toserve also use comparison without the explicit 🤲 like marker.

1.4 By Description

When there is no suitable symbol, example, or comparison for the concept in question, it needs to be described or defined. For simple concepts a group of icons suffices where the last icon represents the base meaning, modified by preceding icons.

Examples:

More complex descriptions require additional structures, which are introduced in the following sections.

2. Syntax

2.1 Sentence Structure

To understand the syntax of Iconic, it is time for our first sentence:

🏃💨◻️☕🎨🦊▫️🦥🤲🐶⬆️▫️🦘🎬▪️
quick ; brown fox , lazy dog above , tojump .
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Let us break down this famous pangram. The most fundamental part of a sentence are its icons:

🏃, 💨, ☕, 🎨, 🦊
run, air, coffee, palette, fox

🦥, 🐶, ⬆️, 🦘
sloth, dog, up, kangaroo

As in the last section, adjacent icons form groups:

🏃💨, ☕🎨
quick, brown

Let us call an icon or a group a concept. To connect concepts we use relation markers:

🎬, 🤲
do, like

Relation markers, relations for short, are the bread and butter of Iconic and serve multiple similar purposes. Let us focus on the first part of the sentence:

🏃💨◻️☕🎨🦊
quick ; brown fox

The 🦊 fox concept is augmented by the two preceding attributes 🏃💨 quick and ☕🎨 brown. A big interbox ◻️ ";" may be used after attributes for clarity, here it separates the two attributes.

Let us call a concept with or without attributes a phrase. Our sentence contains the following phrases. Phrases are always separated by small interboxes ▫️ ",".

🏃💨◻️☕🎨🦊
quick brown fox
🦥🤲🐶⬆️
above the lazy dog
🦘🎬
jump

To connect phrases into a clause we may also use relation markers, here the 🎬 do relation, which indicates the verb of a clause. An optional black interpoint ▪️ "." marks the end of a sentence.

🏃💨◻️☕🎨🦊▫️🦥🤲🐶⬆️▫️🦘🎬▪️
quick ; brown fox , lazy dog above , tojump .

All fixed symbols may also be used as standalone icons. The 👌 lit(eral) or ⭐ fig(urative) * suffix make it clear that a fixed symbol is used as a normal icon, but they are not always necessary.

Instead of ending the sentence, we can also expand it with another clause:

🏃💨◻️☕🎨🦊▫️🦥🤲🐶⬆️▫️🦘🎬➕▫️
💧🕳📬▫️↘️🎬▪️
quick ; brown fox , lazy dog above , tojump
and , pond to , tofall .
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog and falls into a pond.

New relation markers are the addition marker ➕ "+, with, and", as well as the destination marker 📬 to. The addition marker ➕ + connects the two clauses. The verb marks the end of a clause and comes last. Other than that word order is free.

As we have seen, relation markers connect attributes, phrases, and clauses, as well as indicating word types like nouns, adjectives, or verbs. Aren’t they amazing? A complete list of all relations and other fixed symbols can be found on the Cheat Sheet. In the Language Tour the fixed symbols are introduced gradually.

If you want to practice your understanding of Iconic so far, here is another well-known pangram without solution:

🥊🎬5🧙🏻🧙🏻▫️🏃💨▫️🦘🎬▪️
tobox 5 wizard wizard , quick , jump .

New structures include duplication 🧙🏻🧙🏻 of an icon 🧙🏻 as an optional way to indicate plurality, the number 5 acting as an attribute, and the similarity marker 🤲 like used after a phrase, creating an adverb.

2.2 Word Modification

You may have noticed that translations into Iconic do not include articles, i.e. “the” and “a”. This is because article use differs wildly between languages, making articles neither international, intuitive, nor simple. If needed, articles can be expressed via the prefixes 👇 this, 👆 that, and ❗ !, a, some. Prefixes always come directly before a concept, suffixes directly after it. Examples of suffixes are 👌 lit(erally), ⭐ fig(urative) = *, and 〰️ example = ~ from the Word Creation section before. Prefixes and suffixes may be stacked.

The last element in the syntax of Iconic are verb modifiers, modifiers for short, which appear in front of the action marker 🎬 do or 🎬🤲 done. The following examples use the 💪 can1 modifier, the 💖 want modifier, and the 👀⭐ try modifier. (In the Online Converter use “-” for modifiers after verbs, e.g. 🐦💪🎬 tofly -can1).

Examples:

As you can see, modifiers may be combined, with the more base meaning coming later - as always. The last example shows how to inject emotions into sentences by using emotions as verb modifiers - a feature unique to Iconic! A non-exhaustive list of Emotions can be found on the Cheat Sheet.

Verb modifiers may also be used as standalone verbs, like 💖🎬 want, 💪🎬 can, 👀⭐🎬 try and 😃🎬 be happy. Some relation markers like ⛲ from double as a verb modifier, in this case ⛲ start. In the rare case that both interpretations are possible, the symbol is a verb modifier.

This concludes the basic syntax of Iconic! You can find a Syntax Summary with a few minor additions on the Cheat Sheet. In the next section we will discuss a series of examples covering all fixed symbols.

3. Language Tour

This is a collection of sayings, proverbs, and general silliness of my own making to showcase the features of Iconic. Take it with a pinch of salt! 😉

3.1 Conversation

👋💬▫️🌍⭐❗▪️
hello , world1 ! .
Hello World!

The exclamation 👋💬 hello requires no relation marker. The ❗ ! suffix is used to address someone or something.

👉▫️❓🤲▫️📦▪️
you , how2 , be ? .
How are you?

The subject of this sentence is the pronoun 👉, which may followed by the ☝️ sub subject marker for emphasis or clarity. The 🤲 like relation indicates a description. The category relation 📦 be is an alternative for the action relation 🎬 do. ❓ what = ? is a pronoun in the combination ❓🤲 what like = how2. Pronouns work like regular icons.

👈▫️⚪👍📦▪️
i , fine2 be .
I’m fine.

👈 i is a pronoun and ⚪ about2 a suffix weakening 👍 good1 to ⚪👍 fine2, “about good”.

👉🧒🏷️▫️❓📦▪️
your name1 , what be .
What is your name?

Here the 👉 you pronoun means “your” in front of 🧒🏷️ person label = name1, indicating an association.

👉🔍◻️👥✨🎬▫️👍📦❗❗▪️
you ob ; tomeet , good1 be ! ! .
Nice to meet you!

The 👥 group pronoun is used in combination with the modifier ✨ become and the action marker 🎬 do to create 👥✨🎬 group become do = tomeet, “to become a group”. Together with the 🔍 ob(ject) relation this creates the subject of the sentence, “to meet you”. An exclamation requires double exclamation marks ❗❗ ! ! since a single exclamation mark at the end of a clause indicates a command.

Comment:
Languages differ in their use of relations. Japanese, for instance, uses the word “meet” (会う) not with the 🔍 ob(ject) (を) relation, but with the addition relation ➕ "+, with, and" (と). Both versions are equally correct - such translation artifacts are different flavours of the same meaning, enriching the language. Anything goes, as long as one can communicate.

👈🎁▫️🎁🎬❗▪️
i for , tohelp ! .
Help me!

This sentence contains the 🎁 for relation in 👈🎁, “for me”, which doubles as the 🎁 help modifier in 🎁🎬 tohelp. An exclamation mark ❗ ! at the end of a clause indicates a command.

🙇❗❗▫️🧈🔍▫️👈🎁▫️✋️🎁🙏🎬❓▪️
sorry1 ! ! , butter ob , i for , togive -please ?
Excuse me, could you give me the butter, please?

Here 🙇 sorry1 is used as a standalone to call someone’s attention. The verb ✋️🎁🎬 togive uses the 🎁 help modifier. The 🙏 please modifier, along with a question mark at the end of the clause, turns this sentence into a polite request.

🙏🙏❗❗▪️
thanks ! ! .
Thank you!

Doubling 🙏 please yields 🙏🙏 thanks.

❓🧒▫️💡🎬❓❗▪️
who , toknow ? !
Who knows?

As a prefix ❓ means “what” or “which”, yielding ❓🧒 which person = who. The ❓❗ ? ! combination indicates a rhetorical question where the speaker thinks that no answer exists or that it is obviously “no”. This is optional, a simple ❓ ? is also sufficient. This sentence also features the 💡 because relation as a standalone in 💡🎬 toknow.

👇▫️🙂🤲💡🎬❗❓▪️
this , easy toknow ! ? .
Isn’t it obvious?

For another kind of rhetorical question the speaker expects no answer because it is implied to be obvious or “yes”. This is indicated by the combination ❗❓ ! ?, but again a simple ❓ also suffices. Besides 👇 this as a new pronoun, this sentence features the group 🙂🤲 easy in 🙂🤲💡🎬 easy toknow, “easy to know”, meaning “obvious”.

3.2 Thinking & Learning

👈▫️💭🎬💡▫️👈▫️📦▪️
i , tothink because , i (sub) be .
I think, therefore I am.

This sentence contains the 💭 topic relation as a standalone, meaning 💭🎬 think. The 💡 because relation indicates a causal relationship. This makes the first clause a dependent clause - “Because I think, I am.”

👉▫️↩︎️🧍🤲▫️💭👍🎬▪️
you , self like , tothink may .
You are allowed to think for yourself.

The 👍 may modifier indicates permission.

⛔🔶💭◻️❗❗🔊▪️
nothing about1 ; lot sound .
Much ado about nothing.

“Nothing” is rendered as ⛔🔶 not something, using the prefix ⛔ not and the pronoun 🔶 (some)thing. This is turned into the topic of the sentence with the 💭 topic, about1 relation. The ❗❗ much prefix is the duplication plural of the ❗ a, some prefix. The big interbox ◻️ ";" is used instead of the small ▫️ "," interbox since the phrase ⛔🔶💭, “about nothing”, is an attribute to ❗❗🔊, “much ado”.

⛔👀🎬▫️⛔💭🎬▪️
not tosee , not tothink .
Not seeing, not thinking

The ⛔ not prefix also negates verbs.

👈▫️⛔🔶🔍▫️💡🎬🔍▫️👈▫️💡🎬▪️
i , not something ob , toknow ob , i , toknow .
I know that I know nothing.

This sentence contains two clauses, the first of which is a dependent clause as indicated by the 🔍 ob(ject) relation. Indirect speech is expressed in the same manner.

💡🔥🎬🧒▫️💡✨🎬▪️
toteach person , tolearn .
Who teaches learns.

The 🔥 let modifier means as much as “let/make someone do something”, in this case 💡🔥🎬 toknow -let = toteach, “letting someone know”. Similarly, the ✨ become modifier is used in 💡✨🎬 toknow -become = tolearn, “coming to know something”.

🔍🎬🧒▫️👀✨🎬▪️
toseek person , tofind .
Who seeks finds.

This sentence uses the 🔍 ob(ject) relation as a standalone meaning “to search, seek”. 👀🎬 see is expanded with the ✨ become modifier to “find”, “coming to see”.

💡💖🎬▫️🐈🔍▫️⬅️🕒▫️☠️🔥🎬▪️
curiosity , cat ob , ago , tokill .
Curiosity killed the cat.

The 💖 want modifier is used in 💡💖🎬 toknow -want = curiosity, “wanting to know”. The past tense is expressed via ⬅️🕒 before time = ago, using the 🕒 time relation. ☠️🎬 todie is expanded with 🔥 let to ☠️🔥🎬 tokill, “let/make die”.

💡✨👣🎬▫️💯🤲🔥🎬▪️
practice , perfect tocause .
Practice makes perfect.

The 👣 continue modifier is used in 💡✨👣🎬 toknow -become -continue = topractice, “continuing to come to know”.

➕🐒▫️🌳⛲▫️↘️🎬▪️
also monkey , tree from , tofall .
Even monkeys fall from trees.

New markers are the ➕ "also, +" prefix and the ⛲ from relation, indicating an origin.

🤏💡✨🎬▫️⚠️🤲🔶📦▪️
little tolearn , dangerous thing be .
A little learning is a dangerous thing.

The 🤏 little prefix is a new marker. ⚠️🤲 danger like = dangerous.

🤐🎬🧒▫️🤝⭐🌟🎬▪️
silent do person , toagree -seem .
Who is silent seems to agree.

The 🌟 seem modifier is new.

🙂🤲💬🎬⚡️▫️😧🤲🎬▪️
easy tosay but , hard do .
Easy to say, hard to do

The opposite of 🙂🤲 easy is 😧🤲 hard. The ⚡️ but relation indicates a contradiction or the opposite of something.

1.🤲▫️💭☝️🎬➕▫️👇➡️🕒▫️☝️🎬▪️
1. like , tothink -should1 and , this then time , do -should1 .
One should think first and act second!

This sentence contains the ☝️ should1 modifier as well as the ➕ and, with relation. Ordinal numbers are represented using arabic numerals.

❤️🎬▫️🧙🏻🤲📦➕▫️💢🎬▫️🧙🏻⚡️🤲📦▪️
tolove , wise be and , tohate , wise but be .
To love is wise, to hate is foolish.

This sentence features the ❤️ love and the 💢 hate modifiers as standalones. The ⚡️ but relation is used to indicate the opposite of a concept.

🐘🤲🔶▫️“❓”⛔🛑🎬📦▪️
important thing , toquestion -not -stop be .
The important thing is to not stop questioning.

“Important” is expressed as 🐘🤲🔶 big thing. The 🛑 stop modifier is selectively negated by ⛔ not.

3.3 Life

♾️👈👈▫️=🤏🚢⚓▫️📦▪️
all we , = boat place , be .
We are all in the same boat.

Duplication of the pronoun 👈 i yields 👈👈 we, emphasized with the ♾️ all prefix in ♾️👈👈 all we, “we all”. The ⚓ place relation is used to indicate a location. The prefix 🤏 little weakens 🚢 ship to 🤏🚢 boat.

🐞〰️▫️👆🔶🕳💦🤴🏻📦▪️
bug , it hole part king be .
A bug is the king of its hole.

“It” is rendered as 👆🔶 that thing using the 👆 that pronoun. The 💦 part relation indicates a part of a whole.

Comment:
We can build more specific pronouns by expansion, e.g.  👆🧒 that person = they (Sg.), 👆👨 that man = he, 👆👩 that woman = she or 👆👥 that group = they (Pl.).

👈▫️👈♾️🔍▫️👈➕▫️👜🎬▪️
i , my all ob , i with , tohave .
All that is mine I carry with me.

Both the ♾️ all prefix and the 👜 have1 relation are used as standalones.

🌼⚖️🍡▪️
flower than dango .
Dangos over flowers.

The ⚖️ than relation serves for comparison, here we compare dangos, a Japanese food, to flowers. Without an adjective, this means “rather than” or “over”.

Comment:
In this case the plural feels more natural in English. In Iconic there are different ways to indicate plurality, which is necessary when talking about specific objects or persons, but not when talking about things in general.

1🖼️▫️1000💬💦⚖️▫️=👍📦▪️
1 picture , 1000 word than , = good be .
A picture is worth a thousand words.

Here the 💦 part relation is a standalone in 💬💦 say part = word, “part of speech”. To indicate that a picture is worth even more than a thousand words, simply change =👍📦 "= good1 be" to 👍📦 good1 be, which means “better” in the context of a comparison with ⚖️ than.

👼⚓▫️🐶🎬⚖️▫️👿⚓▫️🤴🏻🎬▪️
heaven , toserve than , hell , torule .
Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.

We can even compare entire clauses to one another! The “better” is implicit.

⚔️⛲🎬▫️♾️⚖️👍🛡️⭐📦▪️
attack , best defense be .
Attack is the best defense.

The most of something is expressed with the prefix ♾️⚖️ most1, “compared to all”, used in ♾️⚖️👍 most1 good1 = best. The modifier ⛲ start appears in ⚔️⛲🎬 attack, “start to fight”.

2👿⭐💦◻️⚖️🤏🔶▪️
2 evil part ; less thing .
The lesser of two evils

We can also use ⚖️ more1 as a prefix, changing 🤏 little to ⚖️🤏 more1 little = less.

♾️⚖️🤏✊️⭐📦◻️🚶⚓▪️
least resistance be ; way1 .
The way of least resistance

Here the ✊️ against relation is used as a standalone in ✊️⭐ resistance.

♾️🚶⚓▫️Roma🏘️📬▫️🚶🔥🎬▪️
all way1 , Roma city to , tolead .
All roads lead to Rome.

The 📬 to relation indicates a destination, in this case the eternal city written in its original language Latin/Italian. 🚶🎬 go is expanded with the 🔥 let modifier to 🚶🔥🎬 tolead, “let/make go”.

Comment:
Proper names may use any writing system. The first occurrence of a name in a text or conversation should include an explanation in Iconic or a transcription in the Latin alphabet in parentheses. Alternatively, or additionally, unknown names may also be followed by a category such as 🏘️ city or 🧒 person, e.g. “Roma🏘️”, “the city of Rome”.

➕Roma🏘️▫️1☀️🕒📏▫️⛔🧱🏁🎬🤲▪️
also Roma city , 1 day deg , not
tobuild -finish like .
Rome was not built in a day either.

The passive voice is expressed with the 🎬🤲 done relation, which is an alternative for 🎬 do. The 📏 deg(ree) relation indicates a measurement or restriction in 1☀️🕒📏, “within a day”. The 🧱 made relation indicates a material and means “make, build” as a standalone. The 🏁 fin(ish) modifier indicates completion.

👉▫️👈🎁▫️🎬❓🤲▫️👈▫️👉🎁▫️🎬▪️
you , i for , do ? like , i , you for , do .
As you do to me, I do to you.

To disambiguate the passive 🎬🤲 done from showing a similarity of action, we express the latter using 🎬❓🤲 do what like. In isolation and without modifier, 🎬 do means “to do”.

💰🎁🔶🎬▫️🐴📦☝️🎬➕▫️🐴🎬🧒📦⛔☝️🎬▪️
work1 , horse be should1 do and ,
rider be not should1 do .
Work should be your horse, not your rider!

Here “work” is translated as 💰🎁🔶🎬 money for do, “doing something for money”.

🧒⌛💭▫️🧒▫️🌴2🔶🔍▫️☝️🎬:▫️⚠️🎬➕💖🎬▪️
life1 topic , person , only 2 thing ob , should1 do: , must do and want do .
In life you should do only two things: what you have to do
and what you want to do.

Here the 💭 topic relation introduces the sentence topic, “life”. Apart from the new 🌴 only prefix, this sentence features three contrasting modifiers: ☝️ should1, ⚠️ must, and 💖 want. Also, two concepts may be combined using the ➕ +, with, and relation. Alternatives include the strict ✖️ or alternative relation, indicating that only one option is possible, and the ➕✖️ andor option relation, indicating that only one or both options are possible.

💖🔍▫️⚠️🔍👀🎬❗▫️👜✨🤔🎬❗❗▪️
towant ob , beware ! , get might ! ! .
Be careful what you wish for, you might get it!

“Be careful” is translated as ⚠️🔍👀🎬 danger ob see = beware. The 🤔 might modifier indicates speculation in 👜✨🤔🎬 tohave -become -might, “might get”.

3.4 People

👉▫️👉✊️💔🎬🔶🔍▫️➕🔀🧒✊️▫️⛔🎬❗▪️
you , you against do -notwant thing ob , also other person against , not do ! .
Do not do to others what you do not want done to you!

This sentence features the 💔 notwant modifier as the opposite of 💖 want. It also contains the 🔀 another1 prefix and the ✊️ against relation.

👉▫️🕊️⭐🔍▫️💖🎬➡️⭐▫️⚔️💪✨🎬❗▪️
you , peace ob , towant if , tofight
-can1 -become ! .
If you want peace, prepare for war!

Conditionals of all kinds are expressed with the ➡️⭐ if relation. The 💪 can1 modifier occurs in ⚔️💪✨🎬 tofight -can -become, “become able to fight”.

👉▫️✋️🎁🎬🔥▫️👈▫️✋️🎁🎬▪️
you , give sothat , i , give .
I give such that you may give.

The 🔥 let modifier doubles as the 🔥 sothat relation, indicating an intended or unintended consequence. By contrast, the 🎁 for relation only indicates intended consequences.

👁️➗👁️▫️🦷➗🦷▪️
eye per eye , tooth per tooth .
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth

The ➗ per relation indicates a correlation.

“👁️➗👁️”▫️♾️🤲🌍⭐🔍▫️👀⛔💪🔥🎬▪️
"eye per eye" , whole world1 ob , blind -let .
“An eye for an eye” makes the whole world blind.

Putting anything into quotation marks “” creates a an icon acting as a quote or direct speech. “Whole” is translated as ♾️🤲 all like to differentiate it from ♾️ all. “Blind” is 👀⛔💪🎬 tosee -not -can, “cannot see”.

🧒▫️⬅️🕒🤲➗▫️☠️🎬▫️🧵🤲➗🕒▫️☠️🤲📦▪️
person , early per , todie , long per time , dead1 be .
The earlier one does, the longer one is dead.

The ➗ per relation also correlates attributes and clauses, in this case ⬅️🕒🤲 left1 time like = early with 🧵🤲 thread like = long.

➖💀⭐🔍▫️➖🤕❤️⭐🔍▫️👈▫️😱🎬▪️
neither death ob , nor pain ob , i , tofear .
I fear neither death nor pain.

When using the ➖ "neither, -" prefix, negation of the verb is not necessary. ❤️⭐ feeling is used as a compound in 🤕❤️⭐ pain.

⚔️🔨◻️🧒⌛🎬🧒▫️⚔️🔨▫️➡️🕒▫️☠️🎬▪️
swords by ; tolive2 person , swords by , future , todie.
Who lives by the sword will die by the sword.

The 🔨 by relation indicates a method.

🦁🧒▫️⚠️🎬🔍▫️⛔✖️🎬▪️
hero , duty ob , not tochoose .
The hero doesn’t choose the duty.

The ✖️ or relation as a standalone means ✖️🎬 choose.

⚖️🐘🤲🐟▫️⚖️🐭🤲🐟🔍▫️🍽️🎬▪️
more big fish , more small fish ob , toeat .
The bigger fish eats the smaller fish.

As before, the ⚖️ than relation doubles as the ⚖️ more1 prefix.

👈▫️🐈🔍▫️🍳🙃🎬❗❗▪️
i , cat ob , tocook -oops ! ! .
Oops, I cooked the cat!

The 🙃 oops modifier indicates doing something unintentionally.

🌾🧂⭐🔀▫️💬🔍▫️⛔✋️🎁🎬❗▪️
flour instead , talk ob , not togive ! .
Don’t give words instead of flour!

This sentence features the 🔀 inst(ead) relation. 🌾🧂⭐ grain1 powder means “flour”.

🤯🍳🎬👥▫️💧🤲🍽️⭐🔍▫️👎📦🔥🎬▪️
toom tocook people , watery food ob , tospoil .
Too many cooks spoil the broth.

The 🤯 toom(uch) modifier doubles as a prefix with the same meaning. This also applies to the 🙂📏 easy and 😧📏 hard1 modifiers, which mean 🙂📏 enough and 😧📏 notenough as a prefix respectively.

🌼▫️🌍🧱⭐➖▫️⛔🌳🤲↗️🎬▪️
flower sub , earth1 without , not togrow .
A flower doesn’t grow without earth.

This sentence contains the 🧱 made material relation in 🌍🧱⭐ earth2 material = earth1, as well as the separation relation ➖ "-, without".

❗👥▫️🌍◻️🔥👌🎬🔍▫️👀🌴💖🎬▪️
some people , world ; toburn ob , tosee
-only -want .
Some people just want to see the world burn.

This sentence contains the ❗ some prefix as well as the 🌴 only prefix applied to the 💖 want modifier.

🌴🌴🕒▫️🐭🤲🐦🔍◻️🕸️🎬🎁▫️🌳▫️🪓🎬🤲▪️
few time , small bird ob ; tocatch1 for ,
tree , tofell like .
Sometimes to catch a sparrow a tree is felled.

The duplication plural of the 🌴 only prefix is the 🌴🌴 few prefix. The 🎁 for relation indicates a purpose in 🕸️🎬🎁 catch for, “in order to catch”.

☝️👌🔍▫️👋⭐🎬➕▫️👆👥▫️♾️🤲✋️🔍▫️✋️👜🎬▪️
finger lit ob , tooffer and , they people ,
whole hand ob , totake .
Offer them a finger and they take the entire hand!

The 👋⭐ invite modifier is used as a standalone meaning “to offer”. “They” is translated using 👆 that, pro(noun) combined with the 👥 group pronoun, which is the plural of 🧒 person.

♾️❗▫️💪🎬▪️
anything , can1 do .
Anything goes.

The ♾️❗ any prefix is used as a standalone.

👇🔍▫️👀💔➖🎬❗▪️
this ob , toignore -noteven ! .
Don’t even ignore it!

This sentence features the ➖ "-nor, -noteven" modifier with 👀💔🎬 toignore, “not wanting to see”.

👉▫️🚶💨👍🎬⚡️▫️↩︎️🤲▫️🚶👎🎬▪️
you , toleave -may but , back2 , togo -maynot .
You may leave, but you may not return!

The opposite of the 👍 may modifier indicating permision is the 👎 maynot modifier indicating prohibition. These two modifiers double as 👍 good1 and 👎 bad.

🦟🤲🔶🔍▫️🐘✨▫️⛔🔀🎬❗▪️
fly ob , elephant become , not tochange ! .
Don’t turn a fly into an elephant!

The ✨ bec(ome) modifier doubles as the ✨ bec(ome) relation, indicating the end state of a transformation.

👈💭▫️👉▫️🚶💨💔🎬❗❗▪️
i topic , you , toleave -notwant ! ! .
I don’t want you to leave!

Here the 💭 topic relation indicates whose emotions or impressions we are talking about when using the 💔 notwant modifier or any other emotional modifier. By default, this emphatic subject is the normal subject.

3.5 Conventions

This concludes the overview over the fixed symbols of Iconic! To top things off here are a few pragmatic suggestions:

• Dates are yyyy-mm-dd📅, e.g. 2022-10-13📅, 10-13📅, or 13📅, using 📅 calendar. (cf. ISO 8601)
• The time is hh:mm:ss🕒, e.g. 12:14:00🕒, 12:14🕒, or 12🕒, using 🕒 time.
• The day of the week is 1/7☀️🕒 to 7/7☀️🕒, using ☀️🕒 day.
• Months are 1/12🌙⌛ to 12/12🌙⌛, using 🌙⌛ month.
• For physical measurements we use SI Units, like m for meter or kg for kilogram. Imperial units are also admissable.
• Country names are written using two letter Country Codes (ISO 3166-1). Germany, for instance, is DE🌍🏳️ using 🌍🏳️ country1, the German language is DE💬 using 💬 language2 and a German person is DE🧒 using 🧒 person. Colored country flags do not work in black and white.

4. Encoding & Fonts

Almost all typable characters, including emojis, are standardized under Unicode, meaning an Iconic text should look similar on all platforms. I currently use the Windows 10 version of the font Segoe UI Emoji, which is why this version of Iconic uses only symbols contained in Unicode 12. The idea is to update the standard vocabulary with newer emojis as they become more widely adopted.

Iconic works best with an Emoji font providing outlines, adequate spacing, and distinctive shapes. Outlines and adequate spacing can easily be accomplished with any font - this website uses additional spacing and a drop shadows for sentences in Iconic.

For the sake of compatibility, Iconic should be perfectly readable in black and white and not rely on Zero Width Joiner or other combined or animated emojis. Use Emojipedia as a reference.

5. AutoHotkey Script

Download

The AutoHotkey script contains the standard library.

After installing AutoHotkey on Windows, double click on the provided ‘Iconic.ahk’ file. A green icon with the letter H (as in Hotkey) should appear in the taskbar, meaning the script is active. Open any text editor, type a common English word and press space or enter. The word should be transformed into one or more emoji characters. If a word is ambiguous, a number followed by a question mark will appear instead. In this case, delete the number and question mark and type the word again directly followed by a positive number not greater than the number displayed before. If nothing happens, the word is not contained in the dictionary.

To pause or unpause the script, press Ctrl + Alt + A, with the paused script indicated by an S in the icon instead of the previous H. If the script is not paused, press Esc to close it or Ctrl + Alt + R to reload it after changes. Please edit the script for your personal use as you see fit!

6. How to contribute

Try it out and share your experiments on Reddit or Discord! Feedback is also always welcome! 🙂

Thank you for your interest and enjoy the extra Material! 😃