Palindromic languages

In a kingdom in a far away galaxy the king is inventing languages. He sees other languages where symbols are read left to right like English, Russian and such and then sees languages like Hebrew read right to left.
He will have none of this. He calls for his smartest people to invent a palindromic language which has the same meaning in both directions but allows normal conversation, like 'hello, how are you' I'm fine, just have a fever; yourself?'

Is a palindromic language possible? We can make examples with English but maybe you can make up your own symbols too, just have to be the same meaning and the same sequence of letters as read from left to right or vice versa.

Originally posted by sonhouse
In a kingdom in a far away galaxy the king is inventing languages. He sees other languages where symbols are read left to right like English, Russian and such and then sees languages like Hebrew read right to left.
He will have none of this. He calls for his smartest people to invent a palindromic language which has the same meaning in both directions but the same meaning and the same sequence of letters as read from left to right or vice versa.

Yes, it is possiblelbissop si ti ,seY
Just write the same message from left to right and from right to leftfel ot thgir morf thgir ot tfel morf egassem emas eht etirw tsuJ
Half is readable, the rest looks rubbishsibbur skool tser eht ,elbadaer si flaH
This language is truly palindromicimodrnilap ylurt si egaugnal sihT

Was it a rat I saw?
Step on no pets!
A man, a plan, a canal : Panama!

go hang a salami! im a lasagna hog!
(i no it makes no sense)
was it a car or a cat i saw?
Ed i saw Harpo marx ram oprah w aside
Do gesse see god
Wont lovers revolt now
Race fast safe car!

try weird als "Bob" for palindromes in song

Originally posted by Mephisto2
Was it a rat I saw?
Step on no pets!
A man, a plan, a canal : Panama!

That last one is my favorite, actually. But can you have a language that is not just backwards like the ones previous poster mentioned? That would just double the length of the passages. How about a language that is the same rough length in terms of # of letters or symbols used to generate a thought but still be palandromic.

Nice thought though.

Do you mean a language in which you would only need to buy half a book? (You can read the other half backwards.)

No, that isn't possible. How are you going to construct a language in which the following three sentences are palindromic:

I eat an apple every day. ( I, to eat, apple, every day)
I eat a banana every day. (I, to eat, banana, every day)
Tomorrow, I will eat an apple. (I, to eat, apple, tomorrow)

Let's make the first sentence palindromic. Now either take away the apple and replace it with a banana, or take away every day to replace it with tomorrow.
Impossible. Even these three sentences will be hard, if you succeed at all. And there are many more combinations.

Originally posted by Thomaster
Do you mean a language in which you would only need to buy half a book? (You can read the other half backwards.)

No, that isn't possible. How are you going to construct a language in which the following three sentences are palindromic:

I eat an apple every day. ( I, to eat, apple, every day)
I eat a banana every day. (I, to eat, banana, every day)
ese three sentences will be hard, if you succeed at all. And there are many more combinations.

Actually, you're on to something. You will have to break up sentences in specific ways, similarly how grammar outlines predicate/verb etc. The structure of a sentence would be one way going forwards and the other way going backwards.

I, to eat, banana, everyday- the sentence would be broken up through visual distinctions (commas in this case) to separate the different parts. Might run into problems depending on what sentences are actually used but I think a little creativity could do it.

As far as lettering, I think symbols would be a bit more proper for a more palindromic feel to it

On the other hand we could add millions of synonyms.

Originally posted by ua41
Actually, you're on to something. You will have to break up sentences in specific ways, similarly how grammar outlines predicate/verb etc. The structure of a sentence would be one way going forwards and the other way going backwards.

I, to eat, banana, everyday- the sentence would be broken up through visual distinctions (commas in this case) to separate t ...[text shortened]... far as lettering, I think symbols would be a bit more proper for a more palindromic feel to it

One symbol for every word?
For example: I = bob, to eat = heh, a = lol, banana = pep, apple = did

I eat a banana: bob heh lol pep lol heh bob
I eat an apple: bob heh lol did lol heh bob

To allow for single word phrases, each symbol would have to be a palindrome itself.

I don't think this is what the poster means with 'truly palindromic language'
As said though, you'd need one tring of symbols for every single sentence you can make.

Originally posted by Thomaster

1. I eat an apple every day. ( I, to eat, apple, every day)
2. I eat a banana every day. (I, to eat, banana, every day)
3. Tomorrow, I will eat an apple. (I, to eat, apple, tomorrow)

1. I eat eilali etaei.
2. I eat eksallask etaei.
3. I lalietae eat eilali.

Originally posted by Thomaster
1. I eat eilali etaei.
2. I eat eksallask etaei.
3. I lalietae eat eilali.

If it's possible to write a book in such a language, you will need a different language for every book. 😛

http://www.spinelessbooks.com/2002/palindrome/index.html