Editing Ro language (section)

==Characteristics==
In Ro, words are constructed using a [[A priori (languages)|category system]]. For example, all words starting with "bofo-" signify colors; the word for ''red'' is "bofoc", and ''yellow'' is "bofof".  Foster did not simply try to design a better language in general, but to optimize his language for one design criterion: recognizability of unknown words. Foster wrote about Ro:

{{Quote|Ro did not begin with attempting to rival or supplant any other language whatever, either natural or artificial, nor was it suggested by any of them.
Unexpectedly came the thought: "How strange it is that there is nothing in the appearance of a written or printed word that gives the slightest hint of its meaning. Why should a word not be a picture? A new word, never seen before would then, like a painting seen for the first time, convey at least some of the meaning to the eye."<ref name="Dict">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OCLC02613756|via=[[Google Books]]|title=Dictionary of Ro: The World Language|page=3|author=Rev. Edward Powell Foster|publisher=ROIA|location=[[Waverly, West Virginia]]|year=1928}}</ref>}}

After working on the language for about two years, Foster published the first booklet about Ro in 1906.  The publication of Ro periodicals was supported by several American sponsors, especially from the [[Marietta, Ohio]] area, including [[Melvil Dewey]]<!-- Foster spells it Melvil -->,<ref name="Dict 6">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OCLC02613756|via=[[Google Books]]|title=Dictionary of Ro: The World Language|page=6|author=Rev. Edward Powell Foster|publisher=ROIA|location=[[Waverly, West Virginia]]|year=1928}}</ref> inventor of the [[Dewey Decimal Classification]] (another attempt to categorize human knowledge), Vice President [[Charles G. Dawes]],<ref name="Dict 6"/> [[George White (Ohio politician)|George White]],<ref name="Dict 6"/> who mentioned Ro in the [[Congressional Record]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.conlang.org/about/Conlang_Exhibit_Master_File_Text_rev.pdf|title=Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond: The World of Constructed Languages}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://conlang.org/resources/conlangers-calendar/?start=20180301&months=1|title=A Conlanger's Calendar {{!}} Language Creation Society (Month set to March)}}</ref> and [[Alice Vanderbilt Morris]] of [[International Auxiliary Language Association|IALA]].<ref name="Dict 6"/>  Several more books about Ro by Foster and his wife appeared over the years, as late as 1932. The entirety of George White's mention of Ro in the ''Congressional Record'' reads: "By Mr. WHITE (by request) : Resolution (H. Res. 432) providing for an investigation of a new language known as Ro ; to the Committee on Education."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2 March 1914 |title=March 2, 1914 Vol. 51, Part 4 — Bound Edition |url=https://www.congress.gov/bound-congressional-record/1914/03/02/house-section |journal=Congressional Record - House |volume=51 |issue=Part 4 |pages=4180 |via=Congress.gov}}</ref>

A common criticism of Ro is that it can be difficult to hear the difference between two words; usually one consonant makes the word different in meaning, but still similar enough that the intended meaning often cannot be guessed from context. This characteristic is common among [[philosophical languages]], which are characterized by vocabulary developed taxonomically, independently of natural languages. ''A posteriori'' languages, such as [[Esperanto]] and [[Interlingua]], are more popular than the ''a priori'' type, perhaps partly because their familiar vocabulary makes them easy to learn and recognize. Conversely, a priori languages are seen as being more neutral because there are so many languages and root words used in different languages may be completely different.

[[Solresol]] was an earlier classificatory language that by using a smaller symbol set achieved easier distinctness.  There have been a few more recent attempts to design a language along similar lines, such as Ygyde<ref>{{cite web|url=http://csqbtzv.cluster029.hosting.ovh.net|title=Ygyde Language| 
date=May 15, 2024}}</ref> and the Japanese-made [[Babm]], but most subsequent constructed language makers have avoided this taxonomic or hierarchic design for the reasons mentioned above.