Editing Univocalic

{{Short description|Antilipogrammatic Writing Style}}
{{See also|Constrained writing}}
{{Refimprove|date=September 2014}}
A '''univocalic''' is a type of [[antilipo]]grammatic [[constrained writing]] that uses only consonants and a single [[vowel]], in English "A", "E", "I", "O", or "U", and no others.

==Examples==
*One of the best-known univocalic poems was written by C.C. Bombaugh in 1890 using "O". Bombaugh's work is still in print. An example couplet:
::No cool monsoons blow soft on Oxford dons,
::Orthodox, jog-trot, book-worm Solomons
*The Austrian poet [[Ernst Jandl]] composed his univocalic poem "[[ottos mops]]" ("Otto's Pug") from German words with only the vowel "O".
*A contemporary example of English-language univocalic poems is Canadian poet [[Christian Bök]]'s text ''[[Eunoia (book)|Eunoia]]'', published by [[Coach House Press]] in 2001. Each chapter is restricted to a single vowel, missing four of the five vowels. For example the fourth chapter contains only "O". A typical sentence from this chapter is "Profs from Oxford show frosh who do post-docs how to gloss works of Wordsworth."<ref name="McArthurTom">McArthur, Tom (1992). ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'', p.612. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-214183-X}}</ref>
*An example of a univocalic [[novella]] is [[Georges Perec]]'s ''Les Revenentes'' ([[sic]]), in which the vowel "E" is used exclusively. The sentence ''Je cherche en même temps l'éternel et l'éphémère'' (which means "I seek the eternal and the ephemeral at the same time") from this book has appeared as the epigraph for the last chapter of ''[[Life a User's Manual|Life: A User's Manual]]''. ''Les Revenentes'' has also been translated into English, titled "The Exeter Text: Jewels, Secrets, Sex" (included in the collection ''Three'' by [[Ian Monk]]), also using the vowel "E" exclusively.<ref>[http://www.bookforum.com/archive/dec_05/gibbons.html "The Letter Vanishes"] by James Gibbons, ''Bookforum'', December/January 2006</ref>
* [[Georges Perec]] has also written a univocalic in A (''What a man !'') and one in O (''Morton's ob'').
* [[Höpöhöpö Böks]] by [[Icelandic literature|Icelandic]]  poet [[Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl]] is a univocal lipogram using only the vowel Ö. It is composed as a tribute to Christian Bök's Eunoia.<ref>Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl, [http://www.asymptotejournal.com/article.php?cat=Visual&id=2&curr_index=29&curPage=archive ''Höpöhöpö Böks''] (retrieved on 2015/1/13)</ref>
* ''[[:hu:Eszperente|Eszperente]]'' is a univocalic form of [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] in which no vowels can be used other than "E". This task is eased somewhat as "E" is a common vowel in Hungarian.  In fact the letter ''e'' can denote two similar but distinct vowels.  There are poems and even some books written in Eszperente, mostly for children.{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}}
* [[Argentina|Argentinean]] folk singer [[Leon Gieco]] released a novelty song in 1997 called ''"Ojo con los Orozco"'' ("Be Aware of the Orozco Brothers"); only the vowel O is featured in the song's lyrics; no other vowels are used.<ref>Gieco's lyrics for the song are quoted in http://www.rock.com.ar/letras/2/2563.shtml</ref> Its describes the personalities and proclivities of eight fictional corrupt politicians, all brothers within the same family. The [[rap]] song is in Spanish, with a heavy dose of [[Lunfardo]], some English words, and a few pop culture references (among others, [[Don Johnson]], [[Bon Scott]], [[John Lennon]] and [[Yoko Ono]] are mentioned).  The song's video makes heavy use of [[surrealism|surrealistic]] images.
* Cornish poet Trelawney wrote the univocalic piece, Wych Nymph, in Y.<ref> Trelawney, [https://amethystmagazine.org/2021/10/31/wych-nymph-a-poem-by-trelawney/ "Wych Nymph"] (retrieved on 04/11/2021) </ref>
* [https://opensea.io/assets/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/89494103895251904561607535201954492082970758553328558472263063502698380787713 ''Ioueay Oiseaux - Hoʻoponopono''] is a 300-line univocalic poem in O (using "Y" exclusively when it's phonetically a consonant) written by an anonymous writer Satisfire. An extract from the work, being a univocalic reinterpretation of the [[Ten Commandments]]:
::«10 most common protocols of God: 1. God controls world solo; 2. Do not concoct own dolls, nor do bow to wrong gods of gold; 3. God’s honor’s worth lot, do not mock God; 4. Yom of God’s yom of God, son; 5. Honor own mom, mom’s consort too; 6. Do not knock off folks; 7. Do not bonk wrong nooks; 8. Do not prowl on folks’ lot; 9. Do not concoct bollocks; 10. Hold off for good from good folks’ lot or consorts.»
* [https://dolphin.town/about dolphin.town] is a social media service using [[Mastodon (software)]] on which users can only post status updates using only the letter "E". [[Darius Kazemi]], the maintainer of the site, created a [[Internet_bot|bot]] which "Posts all the E's in [[Moby Dick]]".<ref>{{cite web |author1=Darius Kazemi |author1-link=Darius Kazemi |title=Made a bot on Dolphin Town |url=https://twitter.com/tinysubversions/status/854838852615258112 |website=Twitter |access-date=28 April 2022 |date=2017-04-19 |quote=Made a bot on Dolphin Town, my Mastodon instance where only the letter E is allowed. Posts all the E's in Moby Dick.}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Constrained writing]]
[[Category:Lipograms]]


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