diff --git a/core/bootstrap/syntax.factor b/core/bootstrap/syntax.factor
index 76b1bcb11f..623c6f0e74 100644
--- a/core/bootstrap/syntax.factor
+++ b/core/bootstrap/syntax.factor
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ IN: bootstrap.syntax
         "[[" "[=[" "[==["
         "factor[[" "factor[=[" "factor[==["
         "factor\""
+        "resource\"" "vocab\"" "home\""
+        "resource`" "vocab`" "home`"
         "PRIVATE<"
         "B{"
         "BV{"
diff --git a/core/io/pathnames/pathnames.factor b/core/io/pathnames/pathnames.factor
index 0d84f181a2..51c7c8cf9a 100644
--- a/core/io/pathnames/pathnames.factor
+++ b/core/io/pathnames/pathnames.factor
@@ -1,9 +1,32 @@
 ! Copyright (C) 2004, 2009 Slava Pestov, Doug Coleman.
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
-USING: accessors combinators io.backend kernel math math.order
-namespaces sequences splitting strings system ;
+USING: accessors arrays combinators io.backend kernel math
+math.order namespaces sequences sequences.private splitting
+strings system ;
 IN: io.pathnames
 
+TUPLE: pathname string ;
+C: <pathname> pathname ;
+
+M: pathname nth string>> nth ;
+M: pathname nth-unsafe string>> nth-unsafe ;
+M: pathname length string>> length ;
+M: pathname like drop dup pathname? [ <pathname> ] unless ;
+M: pathname string-lines normalize-path 1array ;
+
+TUPLE: resource-path < pathname ;
+C: <resource-path> resource-path ;
+
+TUPLE: vocab-path < pathname ;
+C: <vocab-path> vocab-path ;
+
+TUPLE: home-path < pathname ;
+C: <home-path> home-path ;
+
+M: resource-path like drop dup pathname? [ <resource-path> ] unless ;
+M: vocab-path like drop dup pathname? [ <vocab-path> ] unless ;
+M: home-path like drop dup pathname? [ <home-path> ] unless ;
+
 SYMBOL: current-directory
 
 : path-separator? ( ch -- ? ) os windows? "/\\" "/" ? member? ;
@@ -163,10 +186,6 @@ M: string absolute-path
 M: object normalize-path ( path -- path' )
     absolute-path ;
 
-TUPLE: pathname string ;
-
-C: <pathname> pathname ;
-
 M: pathname absolute-path string>> absolute-path ;
 
 M: pathname <=> [ string>> ] compare ;
diff --git a/core/syntax/syntax.factor b/core/syntax/syntax.factor
index 83dfaff127..0462245510 100644
--- a/core/syntax/syntax.factor
+++ b/core/syntax/syntax.factor
@@ -124,6 +124,30 @@ IN: bootstrap.syntax
         "]==]" parse-multiline-string suffix!
     ] define-core-syntax
 
+    "resource\"" [
+        "\"" parse-multiline-string-new <resource-path> suffix!
+    ] define-core-syntax
+
+    "resource`" [
+        lexer get parse-spaceless-payload <resource-path> suffix!
+    ] define-core-syntax
+
+    "vocab\"" [
+        "\"" parse-multiline-string-new <vocab-path> suffix!
+    ] define-core-syntax
+
+    "vocab`" [
+        lexer get parse-spaceless-payload <vocab-path> suffix!
+    ] define-core-syntax
+
+    "home\"" [
+        "\"" parse-multiline-string-new <home-path> suffix!
+    ] define-core-syntax
+
+    "home`" [
+        lexer get parse-spaceless-payload <home-path> suffix!
+    ] define-core-syntax
+
     "PRIMITIVE:" [
         current-vocab name>>
         scan-word scan-effect ";" expect ensure-primitive