Interlingue
Occidental | |
---|---|
Interlingue | |
Created by | Edgar de Wahl (1922) |
Setting and usage | International auxiliary language |
Purpose | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | ie |
ISO 639-2 | ile |
ISO 639-3 | ile |
ile | |
This article possibly contains original research. (March 2013) |
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2013) |
The language Occidental, later Interlingue, is a planned language created by the Balto-German naval officer and teacher Edgar de Wahl and published in 1922.
Occidental is devised so that many of its derived word forms reflect the similar forms common to a number of Western European languages, primarily those in the Romance family. This was done through application of de Wahl's rule which is a set of rules for converting verb infinitives into derived nouns and adjectives. The result is a language easy to understand at first sight for individuals acquainted with several Western European languages. Coupled with a simplified grammar, this made Occidental exceptionally popular in Europe during the 15 years before World War II, and it is believed that it was at its height the fourth most popular planned language, after Volapük, Esperanto and perhaps Ido in order of appearance.
But some have believed that its intentional emphasis on European forms coupled with a Eurocentric philosophy espoused by several of its leading lights hindered its spread elsewhere.[1] Still, Occidental gained adherents in many nations including Asian nations. Before WWII it had grown to become the second largest international auxiliary language in numbers of adherents, after Esperanto. A majority of Ido adherents took up Occidental in place of Ido.[2]
Occidental survived World War II, undergoing a name change to Interlingue, but faded into insignificance following the appearance of a competing naturalistic project, Interlingua, in the early 1950s.
Alphabet and pronunciation
Occidental is written with 26 latin letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z. The letters of the alphabet is pronounced as a, be, ce, de, e, ef, ge, ha, i, jot, ka, el, em, en, o, pe, qu, er, es, te, u, ve, duplic ve, ix, ypsilon, and zet.[3]
Pronunciation
- a: like stack. IPA: /a/
- c: before e, i, y it is ts, otherwise k. IPA: /t͡s/ and /k/ respectively
- cc: before e, i, y it is kt͡s, otherwise geminated k. IPA: /kt͡s/ and /k/ respectively
- ch: like English sh; ch in church is also permitted but not preferred. IPA: /ʃ/ and /t͡ʃ/ respectively
- g: like English j before e, i, y, otherwise it's hard. IPA: /d͡ʒ/ and /ɡ/ respectively
- gg: before e, i, y it is /ɡd͡ʒ/, like g-j in fig juice or frog jump, otherwise a geminated g. IPA: /d͡ʒ/ and /ɡ/ respectively
- gu: before vowels gw, otherwise gu. IPA: /ɡw/ and /ɡu/ respectively
- j: just like English. IPA: /d͡ʒ/
- ni: before vowels like Spanish ñ, otherwise ni. IPA: /ɲ/ and /ni/ respectively
- ph: f
- qu: same as English. IPA: /kw/
- s: between vowels z, otherwise s. IPA: /z/ and /s/ respectively
- sh: English sh. IPA: /ʃ/
- sch: English sh. IPA: /ʃ/
- t: plus i and another vowel, it is like s (as in French), otherwise t. IPA: /sj/ and /t/ respectively
- th: same as English thin or thick, but not they or those. IPA: /θ/
- w: same as English. IPA: /w/
- y: same as English. IPA: /j/
- zz: tts. IPA: /ts/
Example texts
Li material civilisation, li scientie, e mem li arte unifica se plu e plu. Li cultivat europano senti se quasi in hem in omni landes queles have europan civilisation, it es, plu e plu, in li tot munde. Hodie presc omni states guerrea per li sam armes. Sin cessa li medies de intercommunication ameliora se, e in consecuentie de to li terra sembla diminuer se. Un Parisano es nu plu proxim a un angleso o a un germano quam il esset ante cent annus a un paisano frances.
Material civilization, science, and even art unify themselves more and more. The educated European feels himself almost at home in all lands that have European civilization, that is, more and more, in the entire world. Today almost all states war with the same armaments. Without pause the modes of intercommunication improve, and in consequence from that the world seems to decrease. A Parisian is now closer to an Englishman or a German than he was a hundred years before to a French peasant.
The Lord's Prayer in Occidental | Interlingua version | Latin version | English version (traditional) |
Patre nor, qui es in li cieles, |
Patre nostre, qui es in le celos, |
Pater noster, qui es in cælis, |
Our father, who art in heaven, |
See also
- Comparison of international auxiliary languages
- Indo-European languages
- Li Europan lingues
- Interlingua
- Ric Berger
References
- ^ Harlow, Don. The Esperanto Book, chapter 3: "How to Build a Language".
- ^ Cosmoglotta, October 1928, Num. 53(10), p. 142, 149-152, Ido-Congress in Zürich.
- ^ Grammatica de Interlingue in English, F. Haas 1956. Read 31 october 2013.
External links
- Resume de gramatica de Interlingue (Occidental) in Interlingue, (e demonstration de leibilita!)
Organisations
Grammar and Dictionary
Texts
- A Collection of Old Texts in Interlingue
- Cosmoglotta Biblioteca- Preservation of Occidental texts. (Free registration required.)
- A wiki with Occidental info. Auli-Occidental Wiki
- William Patterson's Occidental Pages – Including the classic text Ex li paper-corb by Farfarello, from Cosmoglotta # 118, November/December 1937.