Hymmnos Quatrasphere

Published
2015-01-04
Last modified
2015-01-04

Hymmnos is a language, or a set of dialects, created specifically for the Ar Tonelico series of video games. It is an extremely interesting language, being a blend of a human language and a programming language with a heavy emphasis on emotion, but there's one feature in particular that I want to talk about now: Binasphere.

Binasphere is a construct whereby two lines of lyrics or text are interwoven, such that they are said or sung simultaneously. Here's an example shamelessly pulled from the link above:

=> RRHA RRHA GUWO Ax GAx PEx GIS A GAx TIE INNx
GIS NA GRAN GAx PAUL NOx TYUNY INI SAASH AR YANJE
CIEL EN INI LA ZAx AR HHA CIEL RRHA RRHA Ax GUWO
GA PEx GAx A TYUNY RA HARx AR CIEL
TES EN YORA INI CHYET WAx SOR GAx LAx TYUNx SYE LA
FORx GANx ART SA DAL FAYx WASSA RA CIEL
EXEC hymme 2x1/0>>01101010

The text is decoded using the pattern provided at the very end: 01101010. Each binary digit indicates whether the corresponding word fragment belongs to the first line or second line, and the pattern repeats until all of the words are exhausted. Word fragments that end in "x" are incomplete and should be joined with the next word fragment in that line to form a complete word.

RRHA           Ax     PEx     A GAx
0    1    1    0  1   0   1   0/0   1   1
     RRHA GUWO    GAx     GIS       TIE INNx
--------------------------------------------------
RRHA Ax PEx A GAx
RRHA GUWO GAx GIS TIE INNx

GIS    GRAN     PAUL NOx           SAASH    YANJE
0   1  0    1   0   /0   1     1   0     1  0
    NA      GAx          TYUNY INI       AR
--------------------------------------------------
GIS GRAN PAUL NOx SAASH YANJE
NA GAx TYUNY INI AR

     EN INI        AR     CIEL      RRHA Ax
1    0 /0   1  1   0  1   0    1    0   /0  1
CIEL        LA ZAx    HHA      RRHA         GUWO
--------------------------------------------------
EN INI AR CIEL RRHA Ax
CIEL LA ZAx HHA RRHA GUWO

   PEx     A       RA HARx
1  0   1   0 1     0 /0    1  1
GA     GAx   TYUNY         AR CIEL
--------------------------------------------------
PEx A RA HARx
GA GAx TYUNY AR CIEL

TES    YORA     CHYET WAx         LAx       SYE
0   1  0    1   0    /0   1   1   0   1     0   1
    EN      INI           SOR GAx     TYUNx     LA
--------------------------------------------------
TES YORA CHYET WAx LAx SYE
EN INI SOR GAx TYUNx LA

FORx GANx        DAL      WASSA    CIEL
0   /0    1   1  0   1    0     1  0
          ART SA     FAYx       RA
--------------------------------------------------
FORx GANx DAL WASSA CIEL
ART SA FAYx RA

Then we join up all of the lines and combine word fragments.

The first chorus:

RRHA Ax PEx A GAx
GIS GRAN PAUL NOx SAASH YANJE
EN INI AR CIEL RRHA Ax
PEx A RA HARx
TES YORA CHYET WAx LAx SYE
FORx GANx DAL WASSA CIEL
-------------------------------------------------------------
Rrha apea gagis gran paul nosaash yanje en ini ar ciel.
Rrha apea ra hartes yora chyet walasye forgandal wassa ciel.

In this delightful trance, I feel that the way will be opened, for the
goddess to purify this world forever.
In the midst of this trance of delight, I will love your special persons,
because of the festival of the world.

The second chorus:

RRHA GUWO GAx GIS TIE INNx
NA GAx TYUNY INI AR
CIEL LA ZAx HHA RRHA GUWO
GA GAx TYUNY AR CIEL
EN INI SOR GAx TYUNx LA
ART SA FAYx RA
-------------------------------------------------------------
Rrha guwo gagis tie innna gatyuny ini ar ciel la zahha.
Rrha guwo ga gatyuny ar ciel en ini sor gatyunla art sa fayra.

In this trance of hatred, I shall tie this curse to the inside of my mind,
and then, I shall purify and make advance this world.
In this transient anger, I shall purify this accursed world through the
flames of the hell.

Note that these two choruses are being sung simultaneously, which in this case sets their opposing feeling against one another in sharp relief: the first chorus is singing about the act of purification with joy, and the second chorus is singing about the same act with hatred.

Here's an English example (if you actually want this feature in English, take a look at Babel):

=> BIx RDS THE YELLx OW SIx NG FLOx THEx WERS
IR JOY SWx AY IN TO THE THE SKY WIND
EXEC hymme 2x1/0>>1100011010

        THE YELLx OW        FLOx      WERS
1   1   0   0     0  1   1  0    1    0
BIx RDS              SIx NG      THEx
------------------------------------------
THE YELLx OW FLOx WERS
BIx RDS SIx NG THEx

       SWx AY IN        THE     WIND
1   1  0  0   0  1  1   0   1   0
IR JOY           TO THE     SKY
------------------------------------------
SWx AY IN THE WIND
IR JOY TO THE SKY

THE YELLx OW FLOx WERS SWx AY IN THE WIND
------------------------------------------
The yellow flowers sway in the wind.

BIx RDS SIx NG THEx IR JOY TO THE SKY
------------------------------------------
Birds sing their joy to the sky.

As a programmer, the Binasphere syntax is extremely attractive, and as a programmer, I can't help but wonder whether we can do more, like, say, create a Quatrasphere syntax which combines four lines into one. First, though, we have to break down the syntax to make sure we know how it works.

=> *text*
EXEC hymme 2x1/0>>*pattern*

It's easy to see that => is a beginning marker. EXEC is "execute", as in "run a process to decode the Binasphere text": echo $text | exec decode $pattern. "Hymme" in Hymmnos means "sing, play (an instrument), resonate", but as a noun, it means "waves, waving, vibration of formless things". In this case, I'm willing to leave it as a "decode" symbol or function, as it's not terribly important.

What is important, is the following 2x1/0>>01101010. This is Hymmnos Binary, which follows the format #x#>>####. The problem is figuring out what each of the fields mean, since the syntax isn't used very often and therefore there aren't many Hymmnos texts to reference. The third field is the binary data—in this case, the pattern for the Binasphere. The first field, `2` may refer to a number of things. It may be referring to the two lines of lyrics that are interwoven in the Binasphere, or it may be referring to the fact that the third field, the data field, is in base 2, binary. Then there's the second field, `1/0`, which may refer to the fact that the binary digits to use are 0 and 1, or that the range of acceptable digits are from 0 to 1, or it may be indicating the association of the lyric lines to digits in reverse order. Based on these guesses, the associated format for Quatrasphere may be any one of the following:

# 4 lines/base 4, digits ranging from 3 to 0, base 4 data
4x3/0>>01230123

# 4 lines/base 4, assign patterns, base 4 data
4x3/2/1/0>>01230123

# 4 lines, digits ranging from 11 to 0 base 2, binary data
4x11/0>>0001101100011011

# 4 lines, assign values, binary data
4x11/10/1/0>>0001101100011011

# 4 lines, patterns ranging from 11 to 00 base 2, binary data
4x11/00>>0001101100011011

# 4 lines, assing patterns, binary data
4x11/10/01/00>>0001101100011011

# binary data, values ranging from 11 to 0
2x11/0>>0001101100011011

# binary data, patterns ranging from 11 to 00
2x11/00>>0001101100011011

# binary data, assign values
2x11/10/1/0>>0001101100011011

# binary data, assign patterns
2x11/10/01/00>>0001101100011011

I think it's very likely that the data itself is in binary, as Hymmnos sticks with binary for most data (for example, the song chmod b111000000/n uses binary, instead of octal: chmod o700/n). There isn't any way to figure out the first or second fields though, so I just follow my hacker instincts and assume that the first field indicates the number of lines, and the second field indicates the range of values to use. The grammar then looks like this:

=> *text*
EXEC hymme 4x11/0>>*pattern*

where the pattern uses two digits for each word fragment, such that 00 refers to the first line, 01 refers to the second line, 10 refers to the third line, and 11 refers to the fourth line. If we were to extend this to Octasphere, we would then get something like

EXEC hymme 8x111/0>>000001010011100101110111

and Sextasphere:

EXEC hymme 6x100/0>>000001010011100

Before I wrap this up with an example of Quatrasphere in action, I should point out that within the Ar Tonelico world, Hymmnos songs are programs that are executed by a server and require processing power. Thus, extending Binasphere to Quatrasphere and beyond would be extremely resource-demanding, and it is possible that they cannot be run by any of the servers or Reyvateils in the series.

And now I present to you an epic linguistic treat; I hope you enjoy it.

=> WAS HEMx CEZx LYE WAx S LYEMx GRANx YEA AR
ME RA AEx SPHAEx LA ERRx A JE CHS HYMx AG CEx ME
MATx ARx HOU CET MEA YAx EN AR YLYAx GRANx
CIx YA ALE MEA DUS AR DOOx CIEx EL DU L
EXEC hymme 4x11/0>>0010111101011001001001

Chorus 1: Was yea ra hymme ar ciel.
Chorus 2: Was granme erra chs cecet mea en grandus ar ciel.
Chorus 3: hEmLYEmAr Aeje ag mAtYAyLYAyA doodu.
Chorus 4: cEzLYE sphaela arhou ale mea.

Chorus 1: I happily sing to create our planet.
Chorus 2: I shall become a shield and protect the planet.
Chorus 3: I happily sing my feeling to create the earth.
Chorus 4: I am glad to become the sound of hope for the world.