Interlingue
| Interlingue | |
|---|---|
| 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 | |
| Glottolog | inte1260[1] |
The language Interlingue, known as Occidental until 1949, is a planned international auxiliary language created by the Balto-German naval officer and teacher Edgar de Wahl, and published in 1922. The vocabulary is based on already existing words from various languages and a system of derivation using recognized prefixes and suffixes. The language is thereby naturalistic, at the same time as it is constructed to be regular.[2] Occidental was quite popular in the years up to, during, and shortly after the Second World War, but declined thereafter.
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,[3][4][5] along with a certain amount of Germanic vocabulary. Words were often formed through application of de Wahl's rule, a set of rules for regular conversion of verb infinitives into derived nouns and adjectives including double-stem verbs of Latin origin (e.g. vider to see and its derivative vision). The result is a language easy to understand at first sight for individuals acquainted with several Western European languages. This readability and simplified grammar along with the regular appearance of the magazine Cosmoglotta made Occidental popular in Europe during the 15 years before World War II.[6]
In The Esperanto Book, Don Harlow says that Occidental had an intentional emphasis on European forms, and that some of its leading followers espoused a Eurocentric philosophy,[7] which may have hindered its spread. Still, Occidental gained adherents in many nations including Asian nations. According to the Occidental magazine Cosmoglotta in 1928, a majority of Ido adherents took up Occidental in place of Ido.[8]
Occidental survived World War II, undergoing a name change to Interlingue, but faded into insignificance following the appearance in the early 1950s of a competing naturalistic project, Interlingua,[9] which attracted among others the notable Occidentalist Ric Berger.[10] The emergence of Interlingua occurred around the same time that Edgar de Wahl, who had opted to remain in Tallinn, was sent to a sanitarium by Soviet authorities and was not permitted to correspond with Occidentalists in Western Europe. His death was confirmed in 1948.[11] The proposal to change the name from Occidental to Interlingue was twofold: to attempt to demonstrate to the Soviet Union the neutrality of the language, and in hopes of a union with Interlingua.
Contents
History and activity[edit]
The activities of Occidental and its users can be seen through the magazine Cosmoglotta, which began publication in 1922 in Tallinn (at the time still often called Reval), Estonia under the name Kosmoglott. The language itself announced that year was a product of years of personal experimentation by de Wahl under the name Auli (auxiliary language), which he used during the period from 1906 to 1921 and later on gained the nickname proto-Occidental.[12] During the development of the language de Wahl explained his approach in a letter to an acquaintance the Baron d'Orczy written in Auli: "My direction in the creation of a universal language seems quite regressive to you...I understand that quite well, because I am starting it right from the other end. I do not begin with the alphabet and the grammar and then have to adopt the vocabulary to it, but just the other way around: I take all international material of words, suffixes, endings, grammatical forms etc., and then I work to organize that material, put it in order, compile, interpolate, extrapolate and sift through it."[13] During the development of Occidental through Auli, de Wahl corresponded frequently with the Italian mathematician and creator of Latino sine flexione Giuseppe Peano and gained an appreciation for the international vocabulary in that language, writing that "I believe the "Vocabulario commune" book by Professor Peano to already be a more valuable and scientific work than the entire scholastic litterature of Ido on imaginary things evoked by the "fundamento" of Zamenhof."[13]
Occidental was announced in 1922 at a stage of near but not total completion.[14] De Wahl did not originally intend to announce the language for another few years but did so that year through the publication of Kosmoglott and the name Occidental for the language after hearing that the League of Nations had begun an inquiry into the question of an international auxiliary language.[15] It began gathering followers nonetheless despite a complete lack of grammars and dictionaries[16] due to its readability. The first dictionary was published in 1925, the radicarium directiv[17] which was a collection of Occidental root words and their equivalents in 8 languages.
For a number of years Kosmoglott was a forum for various other constructed auxiliary languages, while still mainly written in Occidental. In 1924 the magazine was briefly also affiliated with the Academia pro Interlingua,[18] which promoted Peano's Latino sine flexione. In 1927 the name was changed to Cosmoglotta as it began to promote Occidental in lieu of other languages,[19] and in January of the same year[20] the magazine's editorial and administrative office was moved to Vienna, Austria. Much of the early success for Occidental in this period came from the office's new central location, along with the efforts of Engelbert Pigal (also from Austria) whose article Li Ovre de Edgar de Wahl (the Work of Edgar de Wahl) which led to interest in Occidental from users of the Ianguage Ido.[20] The years from 1935 to 1939 were the most active for Cosmoglotta, during which two editions were produced: the original Cosmoglotta, along with a second version called Cosmoglotta B which focused on more linguistic issues. At the same time, the years leading up to the Second World War led to difficulties for Occidental along with other planned languages which were made illegal in Germany[21] along with Austria[22] and Czechoslovakia, forced to disband,[23] and had their didactic materials destroyed.[24] The interdiction of auxiliary languages in Germany was particularly damaging as this was where most Occidentalists lived at the time,[25] and the inability to accept payment for subscriptions was a financial blow as well, a difficulty that continued after the war when Germany was divided into zones of influence and payments were still not permitted. No communication took place between Edgar de Wahl in Tallinn and the Occidental Union in Switzerland from 1939 to October 1947,[26] first due to the war itself and thereafter from intercepted mail between Switzerland and the Soviet Union, which bewildered de Wahl who had sent multiple letters and even a large collection of translated poetry into Occidental which was never delivered. In 1940 no issues of either Cosmoglotta were produced, but in 1941 Cosmoglotta B began publication once again and continued until 1948.[27] The choice of Cosmoglotta B was due to only Occidentalists in the neutral countries Switzerland and Sweden having the ability to devote time to the language, and these carried on activities in a semi-official form using Cosmoglotta B.
De Wahl had created Occidental with a number of unchangeable features, but believed that certain others where more than one permissible form existed could not be resolved by decree alone and left the ultimate decision regarding them to the community by including both permissible forms in the first Occidental dictionaries.[28] One early example concerned the verb scrir (to write) and its possible other form scripter. De Wahl expressed a preference for scrir, finding scripter to be somewhat heavy, but commented that scripter was certainly permissible, and also surmised that Occidental might take on a similar evolution to natural languages[29] where both forms come into common use, the longer and more Latin-like form having a heavier and more formal character (e.g. English story vs. history).
The decision over etymologic vs. recognizable spellings in words such as attractive (adtractiv, attractiv or atractiv) and oppression (obpression vs. oppression vs. opression) is one[30] example where community usage quickly led to a rejection of the first option and eventually settled on the third. Much of Occidental's vocabulary was solved in this way (e.g. both ac and anc were proposed for the word "also" but ac was hardly if ever used), but not all. With questions still remaining about the official form of some words, during World War II a great deal of time was spent working on the standardization of the language and creation of courses, and in August 1943 the decision was made, given the length of the war, to create an interim academy to guide this process.[31] The standardization process was not planned beforehand, but the Swiss Occidentalists, finding themselves isolated from the rest of the continent, made the decision to concentrate on dictionaries and courses to have prepared by the time the war reached its end. As a result, many found themselves confronted with the decision between two forms that had remained in popular usage, but which could be confusing to a new learner of the language.[32] During this time, Cosmoglotta maintained that standardization was being carried out based on actual usage, stating that "...the standardization of the language has natural limits. "Standardizing" the language does not mean arbitrarily officializing one of the possible solutions and rejecting the others as indesirable and irritating. One only standardizes solutions that have already been sanctioned through practice."[33]
During the war, Occidentalists noticed that the language was frequently allowed to be sent by telegram within and outside of Switzerland (especially to and from Sweden)[34] even without official recognition, surmising that censors were able to read it[35] and may have thought them to be written in Spanish or Romansch,[36] the latter language an official language in Switzerland but lacking a standardized orthography. This allowed a certain amount of communication to take place between the Occidentalists in Switzerland and Sweden. The other centres of Occidental activity in Europe did not fare as well, with the stocks of study materials in Vienna and Tallinn having been destroyed in bombings[37] and numerous Occidentalists sent to concentration camps[38][39] in Germany and Czechoslovakia. Contacts were reestablished shortly after the war by those who had survived it, particularly from those in France, Czechoslovakia, and Great Britain. A few months before the end of World War II in Europe (January 1945) Cosmoglotta had subscribers in 58 cities in Switzerland.[40] Cosmoglotta A began publication again in 1946 after originally planning to do so from 1945.
Alphabet and pronunciation[edit]
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 are 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.[41]
Pronunciation[edit]
The vowels a, e, i, o, and u have a continental pronunciation and are all sounded. The y (initial and medial) are pronounced as in "yes", ey (final) as in "they", and eu as éh-oo.[42]
The consonants are pronounced as in English, with the following exceptions:[42]
- c when before e and i = [ts]: cive, helice
- g when before e and i = [ʒ], French j, or English s in pleasure: plage, giraffe; but elsewhere c and g are hard as in can, go
- ss = [s] as in pass
- s between vowels = [z]: rose, positiv
- z = [dz]
- zz = [ts]
- ch = [ʃ], English sh: chambre
- j = [ʒ], French j, or English s in pleasure
Other doubled consonants are pronounced as a single consonant, unless when separated they would be pronounced differently. Ex. grammatica is pronounced as if written gramatica, but occidental and suggestion are pronounced as if written as oc followed by cidental, and sug followed by gestion.
Stress[edit]
Words are generally stressed on the vowel before the final consonant: intercalar, parol, forme. Pluralizing a noun does not change the stress: paroles, formes. The endings -bil, -ic, -im, -ul and -um do not change the stress (even when more than one is present in a single word), nor does the adverbial ending -men: rapidmen, duplic, bonissim, singul, possibil, maximum, statisticas. Two vowels together are diphthongized and do not count as two syllables for the purpose of stress: familie, potentie, unless the word is a single consonant or consonant cluster followed by two vowels: die, deo. Compound words are stressed based on the last word in the compound: hodie, substrae. In cases where the accent is irregular, it is indicated by an accent: café, ínpossibil, numeró, númere, felicitá.
Grammar[edit]
Like English, Interlingue has a definite article and an indefinite article. The definite article (the) is li, and the indefinite (a, an) is un. Plural of a noun is made by adding -s after a vowel, or -es after most consonants.[42] To avoid pronunciation and stress changes, words ending in -c, -g, and -m only add an -s: un libre, du libres, un angul, tri angules, li tric, li trics, li plug, li plugs, li album, pluri albums, li tram, du trams.
Personal pronouns[edit]
Interlingue has two forms for the personal pronouns: one for the subject form (nominative), and one for the object form (accusative or dative). In short, the personal pronouns in the subject form are:
| Singular | Plural | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| first | second | third | first | second | third | |||
| English | I | you | he | she | it | we | you | they |
| Occidental | yo | tu | il | ella | it | noi | vu | ili (illos, ellas) |
The variants illa and ella both exist for third person singular feminine.[43] The pronoun expressing politeness is vu,[41] which behaves like second person plural. The indefinite personal pronoun "one" is on in Occidental.[42] If necessary, one can specify the gender of third person plural by using illos (masculine) or ellas (feminine).[41]
In the object form the pronouns are: me, te, le, la, it, nos, vos, and les (with los and las as specific masculine and feminine forms, respectively). In the oblique case, the pronouns are me, te, il (or le), noi (or nos), voi (or vos), and ili (or les), varying by user and situation outside of the forms me and te.[44] The possessive pronouns are mi, tui, su (his/her/its), nor, vor and lor.[41] They may be pluralized: li mi (mine, singular), li mis (mine, plural), li nor (ours, singular), li nores (ours, plural).
Grammatical endings are used to a certain extent, though to a lesser degree than languages such as Esperanto and Ido where parts of speech are marked with obligatory endings. Only a few parts of speech (such as verb infinitives) in Interlingue have entirely obligatory endings, while many others either have endings the usage of which is optional and sometimes recommended. Some grammatical endings are:
- ar, er, ir: verb infinitive. far (to do), posser (be able), scrir (to write)
- e: the general substantival (noun) ending used obligatorily to differentiate nouns from other parts or speech, for reasons of pronunciation, or optionally for euphony. Examples of obligatory -e endings: capitale (capital, noun) vs. capital (capital, adjective), contenete (content) vs, contenet (contained), sud (south, adjective) vs. sude (south as an independent noun, as in the north and the south). A final -e is recommended in words ending with -s to avoid confusion with the plural (farse, curse, sense), -ir, -er- and -ar endings to avoid confusion with the verb infinitive (dangere, desire, papere), and other such areas where its addition aids in differentiation or pronunciation.[45] Optional -e endings: can or cane (dog), Pentecost or Pentecoste (Pentecost). The -e and other endings are often omitted for poetic or euphonic reasons.[46]
- i: the general adjectival ending, similar to -e in usage. Examples of obligatory -i endings: pigri (lazy), acri (sharp) for ease of pronunciation, verdi (green, adjective) to distinguish from verde (green, noun). Examples of optional -i endings: etern vs. eterni (eternal), imens vs. imensi (immense).
- a: nouns that end in e formed from an -ar verb are often written with the -a ending if one wishes to emphasize the verbal (active) aspect. A me veni un pensa (a thought occurred to me) vs. Penses e paroles (thoughts and words). The a ending also makes nouns feminine: anglese (English person), angleso (Englishman), anglesa (English woman). This does not apply to nouns that on their own indicate the gender (patre, matre).
- o: indicates the masculine gender in the same way a indicates the feminine.
Verbs[edit]
Verbs in Interlingue have three endings: -ar, -er, and -ir, and are invariable. Conjugation is carried out with a combination of endings and auxiliary verbs. The verb esser (to be) is written es in the present due to its high frequency.
| Interlingue | English | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | amar
decider scrir |
to love
to decide to write |
|
| Simple present | yo ama
yo decide yo scri |
I love
I decide I write |
|
| Past | yo amat
yo decidet yo scrit |
I loved
I decided I wrote |
stress thus falls on the last syllable: yo amat |
| Perfect | yo ha amat
yo ha decidet yo ha scrit |
I have loved
I have decided I have written |
ha on its own is not a verb (to have = haver) |
| Pluperfect | yo hat amat
yo hat decidet yo hat scrit |
I had loved
I had decided I had written |
|
| Future | yo va amar
yo va decider yo va scrir |
I will love
I will decide I will write |
va on its own is not a verb (to go = ear or vader) |
| Future in the past | yo vat amar
yo vat decider yo vat scrir |
I was going to love
I was going to decide I was going to write |
|
| Perfect future | yo va har amat
yo va har decidet yo va har scrit |
I will have loved
I will have decided I will have written |
|
| Imperative | ama!
decide! scri! |
love!
decide! write! |
Imperative of esser is esse. |
| Conditional | yo vell amar
yo vell decider yo vell scrir |
I would love
I would decide I would write |
|
| Precative | ples amar!
ples decider! ples scrir! |
please love!
please decide! please write! |
|
| Hortative | lass nos amar!
lass nos decider! lass nos scrir! |
let's love!
let's decide! let's write! |
|
| Optative | yo mey amar
yo mey decider yo mey scrir |
I may love
I may decide I may write |
Only the same as English may in the optative mood (as in "may his days be long", not "I may or may not go") |
| Present participle | amant
decident scrient |
loving
deciding writing |
Formed with -nt (-ir verbs become -ient) |
| Gerund | amante
decidente scriente |
(while) loving
deciding writing |
Formed with -nte (-ir verbs become -iente) |
The present participle is used to qualify nouns: un cat ama, un amant cat (a cat loves, a loving cat) and is often seen in adjectives such as fatigant (tiring, from fatigar, to tire). The gerund is used to indicate another action or state of being going on at the same time: scriente un missage, yo videt que... (writing a message, I saw that...).
Many further combinations of endings and auxiliary verbs are possible. Some examples:
Yo vell har amat = I would have loved
Yo vell har esset amat = I would have been loved
Hante retornat al dom... = Having returned to the house... (ha + gerund)
Other notes on verbs:
The subjunctive does not exist in Interlingue: yo vole que tu ama (I want you to love). Mey is often used to express it when necessary, however: Yo vole que tu mey amar (I want you to love, lit. I want that you may love).
Hay is a standalone verb that means there is or there are. Hay du homes in li dom (there are two people in the house). As a standalone verb there is no official infinitive but users of the language often conjugate it as if there were (hayat, etc.) Other ways of expressing there is or there are: esser (esset nequó altri a far = there was nothing else to do), exister (it existe du metodes = there are two ways), trovar se (in li cité trova se tri cavalles = there are three horses in the city), etc.
The passive is formed using the verb esser: yo es amat (I am loved). Se makes the verb refer to itself (reflexive form) which often functions as a shorter way to form the passive: li frontieras esset cludet = li frontieras cludet se (the borders were closed).
The progressive tense (-nt) is not used with the same frequency as in English (what are you doing? = quo tu fa?, not quo tu es fant?). It emphasizes the continuity of the verb and is often used in storytelling (noi esset marchant vers li rivere quande... = we were walking towards the river when...)
The verb star (to stand) may be used to emphasize the completion of a verb: li dom sta constructet (the house stands constructed, i.e. it is completely built)
The verb ear (to go) may be used to emphasize the continuity of a verb: li dom ea constructet (the house is being built).
Adverbs are formed with the ending -men (rapid = quick, rapidmen = quickly). The ending may be omitted when the meaning is clear: tu deve far it rapid(men) = you must do it quick(ly).
Derivation[edit]
The application of de Wahl's rule to verbs and the usage of numerous suffixes and prefixes was created to resolve irregularities that had plagued creators of language projects before Occidental, who were forced to make the choice between regularity and innatural forms, or irregularity and natural forms. The prevailing view was that natural forms needed to be sacrificed for the sake of regularity[47], while those that opted for naturality were forced to admit numerous irregularities when doing so (Idiom Neutral for example was forced to create a list of 81 verbs with special radicals[48] used when forming derivatives). The rules created by Edgar de Wahl to resolve this are:
- If, after the removal of -r or -er of the infinitive, the root ends in a vowel, the final -t is added. Crear (to create), crea/t-, crea/t/or, crea/t/ion, crea/t/iv, crea/t/ura.
- If the root ends in consonants d or r, they are changed into s: decid/er (to decide), deci/s-, deci/s/ion deci/s/iv. Adherer (to adhere), adhe/s-, adhe/s/ion
- In all other cases, with six exceptions, the removal of the ending gives the exact root: duct/er, duct-, duct/ion.
Once these rules were applied, Occidental was left with six exceptions. They are:
- ced/er, cess- (concession)
- sed/er, sess- (session)
- mov/er, mot- (motion)
- ten/er, tent- (tempation)
- vert/er, vers- (version)
- veni/r, vent- (advent)
Suffixes are added either to the verbal root or the present theme of the verb (the infinitive minus -r). An example of the latter is the suffix -ment: move/r, move/ment (not movetment), experi/r, experi/ment (not experitment), and -ntie (English -nce): tolera/r (tolerate), tolera/ntie, existe/r (exist), existe/ntie.
Using internationally-recognized prefixes and suffixes did not however imply wholesale importing of international words. Just before the beginning of the Second World War de Wahl called criticisms of Occidental as a chaotic unfounded, stating that English and French users in particular had a tendency to see Occidental as a mix of the two: "(Occidental's chaotic appearance) is not the fault of Occidental itself, but rather that of its users and especially the French and English, or those that think that the international language should be a mixture of those two languages...that is a fundamental error, especially if these forms present exceptions and irregularities in Occidental's system."[49] Alphonse Matejka wrote in Cosmoglotta that de Wahl "always claimed a minimum of autonomy for his language and bitterly fought against all propositions that intended to augment the naturality of the language only by blindly imitating the Romance languages, or as de Wahl said crudely in one of his letters to me, "by aping French or English"".[50]
Occidental's erring on the side of regularity led to vocabulary that was still recognizable but different from the international norm, such as ínpossibil in place of impossibil (ín + poss + ibil), scientic (scientific, from scient-ie + -ic), and descrition (description, from descri-r + -tion). This is one of the greatest differences between it and Interlingua, which has a vocabulary taken from so-called 'prototypes' (the most recent common ancestor to its source languages) while Interlingue/Occidental focused on active, on the fly derivation. After the standardization of Occidental in 1947 and the name change to Interlingue in 1950 there was a push towards greater and greater naturalistic forms[51] such as replacing the optional -i adjectival ending with -e, particularly by Ric Berger. Whether these proposed changes would have taken place is not known, as Berger left his position as editor of Cosmoglotta soon after[52] and eventually joined Interlingua.
Affixes[edit]
The major prefixes and suffixes used in word derivation in Interlingue are added to either the present theme (infinitive minus -r), verbal root (infinitive minus two preceding vowels), or perfect theme (present theme + t or +s for verbs finishing with -d or -r) of verbs, as well as other types of speech. The below is a sample of some of the affixes used.
| affix | meaning | affixed to | before affix | after affix | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -abil/-ibil | able | verbal root | posser (to be able) | possibil (possible) | -abil for -ar verbs, -ibil for -er and -ir verbs |
| -ada/-ida | -ade | verbal root | promenar (to stroll) | promenada (a walk, a promenade) | -ada for -ar verbs, -ida for -er and -ir verbs |
| -ach- | pejorative | verbal root | criticar (criticize) | criticachar (complain, whine) | |
| -ar | general verb | noun, adjective | sicc (dry) | siccar (to dry) | General verb final in most cases for all modern verbs |
| -ard | pejorative noun suffix | verbal root | furter (steal) | furtard (thief) | |
| bel- | kinship by marriage | noun | fratre (brother) | belfratre (brother-in-law) | |
| des- | cessation | various | infectar (infect)
avantage (advantage) |
desinfectar (disinfect)
desavantage (disadvantage) |
|
| dis- | separation, dispertion | various | membre (member)
semar (sow, seminate) |
dismembrar (dismember)
dissemar (disseminate) |
|
| -er- | doer of verb | verbal root | lavar (wash) | lavere / lavera / lavero (washer) | -a or -o to specify female or male gender |
| -ette | diminutive | noun | dom (house) | domette (cottage) | |
| ex- | ex- | noun | presidente (president) | ex-presidente (ex-president) | |
| ho- | this | noun | semane (week) | ho-semane (this week) | |
| -illio | caressive | noun | fratre (brother) | fratrillio (bro) | affixed to male nouns |
| ín- | in-, un-, etc. | adjective | credibil (believable) | íncredibil (unbelievable) | |
| -innia | caressive | noun | matre (mother) | matrinnia (mom/mommy) | affixed to female nouns |
| -ion | -ion | perfect theme | crear (create) | creation (creation) | |
| -iv | -ive | perfect theme | exploder (explode) | explosiv (explosive) | perfect theme: explod-er --> explod --> explos |
| -ment | -ment | present theme | experir (to experience) | experiment (experiment) | |
| mi- | half | noun | fratre (brother) | mifratre (half-brother) | |
| mis- | false (mis-) | various | comprender (understand) | miscomprender (misunderstand) | |
| non- | non- | noun | fumator (smoker) | nonfumator (non-smoker) | |
| -ntie | -nce | present theme | tolerar (tolerate)
experir (to experience) |
tolerantie (tolerance)
experientie (experience) |
-ir verbs add an e: ir --> ientie |
| -or | -er, -or | perfect theme | distribuer (distribute) | distributor (distributor) | |
| -ori | -ory | perfect theme | currer (run) | cursori (cursory) | perfect theme: curr-er --> curr --> curs |
| per- | through, all the way | verb | forar (pierce) | perforar (perforate) | |
| pre- | before | various | historie (history) | prehistorie (prehistory) | |
| pro- | to the front | verb | ducter (lead) | producter (produce) | |
| re- | re- | verb | venir (come) | revenir (return) | |
| step- | step- | noun | matre (mother) | stepmatre (stepmother) | |
| -ura | -ure | perfect theme | scrir (write) | scritura (scripture) |
Ease of learning[edit]
As an international auxiliary language, ease of learning through regular derivation and recognizable vocabulary was a key principle in Occidental's creation. The magazine Cosmoglotta often featured letters from new users and former users of other international languages (primarily Esperanto and Ido) attesting to the language's simplicity[53]: letters from new users to demonstrate their quick command of the language, and attestations from experienced auxiliary language users to share their experiences. Because many users of Occidental had encountered the language after gaining experience in others, objective data on learnability of the language is difficult to find. One experiment to ascertain learning time was carried out however in the years 1956 to 1957 in a Swiss Catholic high school (gymnasium) in Disentis on the time required to learn the language. The experiment showed that the students participating in the study, who had previous experience with French, Latin, and Greek, mastered both written and spoken Interlingue after 30 hours of study.[54]
Example texts[edit]
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 consequentie 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.
Translation: "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."
| Interlingue/Occidental | Interlingua | Latin (traditional) | English (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, |
| Occidental | English |
|---|---|
| Si noi vell viver ancor in li felici témpor quel precedet li guerre universal, tande anc li present articul vell reflecter li serenitá per quel noi acustomat salutar li comensa de un nov annu. Ma hodie, li pie desir quel noi ordinarimen expresse per un cordial 'Felici nov annu' ha transformat se in sanguant ironie. Noi plu ne posse pronunciar ti paroles sin sentir lor terribil banalitá e absolut vacuitá de sens. Li future es obscurissim e it promisse nos plu mult sufrenties quam radies de espera. Li pace va sequer li guerre quam li die seque li nocte e quam li calma succede al tempeste. Un nov munde va nascer ex li caos e in ti nov munde anc noi interlinguistes va ti-ci vez luder un rol decisiv. | If we were to still live in the happy time that preceded the world war, then this article would also reflect the serenity by which we used to greet the beginning of a new year. But today, the pious desire that we ordinarily express via a cordial 'Happy new year' has transformed itself into bloody irony. We can no longer pronounce these words without feeling their terrible banality and absolute lack of meaning. The future is beyond dark and it promises us more suffering than rays of hope. Peace will follow war in the same way the day follows the night and the calm comes after the storm. A new world will be born out of the chaos and in this new world we interlinguists will also this time play a decisive role. |
See also[edit]
- List of interlingue-ists and Occidentalists (Interlingue)
- List of journals and bulletins in Occidental (Interlingue)
- Li Europan lingues
- Ric Berger
References[edit]
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Interlingue (Occidental)". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ^ Curs de Occidental in Occidental, read 18 November 2013.
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 90: Translation: "Occidental being a neo-Latin language, the influence of the languages French, Italian and Spanish will probably still be greater than that of the Anglo-Saxons."
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1944, p. 104: Translation: "and what else is Occidental than a simplified Italian, or, to state it more generally, the simplified commonality of all Romance languages?"
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1944, p. 116: Translation: "Latin is dead, even though it is still used for a few limited purposes. But the mother language Latin still lives in her daughters, the Romance languages - and Occidental is one of them."
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1935, p. 2
- ^ Harlow, Don. The Esperanto Book, Chapter 3: "How to Build a Language" Archived 2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Cosmoglotta, October 1928, Num. 53(10), p. 142, 149-152, Ido-Congress in Zürich.
- ^ Language, p. 73, at Google Books
- ^ Interlingua Institute: A History, p. 21, at Google Books
- ^ Cosmoglotta A, October 1948
- ^ "Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 8". anno.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
- ^ a b "Occidental A, 1946, p. 24".
- ^ "Cosmoglotta B, 1947, p. 15". anno.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
- ^ "Cosmoglotta A, 1946, p. 27".
- ^ "Kosmoglott, 1925, p.7". anno.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
- ^ Wahl, E. de (1925). Radicarium directiv del lingue international (Occidental) in 8 lingues (in Undetermined). Tallinn.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ^ http://cosmoglotta.blogspot.com/2010/12/jan-feb-1924.html
- ^ http://cosmoglotta.blogspot.com/2010/12/nr-38-january-february-1927.html
- ^ a b "Cosmoglotta A, 1947, p. 17".
- ^ "Cosmoglotta A, 1948, pg. 5".
(Translation) Regrettably, public propagation of Occidental was not possible in Germany from 1935 (the year when artificial languages were banned in Germany) until the end of the war...
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 12. Translation öf the last pre-war Occidental postcard from Austria sent to Switzerland in December 1938: "My sadness from not being able to continue my interlinguistic work continues and has made me almost melancholic. Please do not send me mail in Occidental."
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1944, p. 109. Translation: "The reality is that Occidental, like the other international languages, is prohibited in Germany, that the Occidental societies have been disbanded there (also in Czechoslovakia and Austria) even before the war, and that only regime change in those countries will make Occidental propagation a possibility again.
- ^ "Cosmoglotta B, 1948, p. 33. Translation: "I myself lost in 1936 my entire rich Occidental-Interlingue possessions through home raids by the infamous Gestapo...How thankful you must be to your governments which have avoided such catastrophes that our land (Germany) has suffered, one after another, for 35 years now."".
- ^ "Cosmoglotta A, 1946, p. 32".
- ^ "ÖNB-ANNO - Cosmoglotta (Serie B)". anno.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
- ^ Cosmoglotta B complete archive at the Austrian National Library
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 3: Translation: "For some hundreds of international words there are two forms between which it is not easy to know which one is better. E. de Wahl wisely wrote both in the first dictionaries, with the intention to let practice make the decision."
- ^ Societé Kosmoglott (May 1925). Kosmoglott - Cosmoglotta n027-028 (maj 1925).
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1944, p. 66
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1943, p. 85: English translation: "Because the president and secretary of the Academy are located in countries in a state of war, the leading Occidentalists of the neutral countries, Switzerland and Sweden, believe it necessary to set up an INTERIM ACADEMY which will function until the other will be able to resume its work. The decisions of this interim academy will be conditional, i.e.: must be validated by the regular Academy after the war, and due to that it will deliver to it all documents justifying its decisions, with detailed reasons."
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 49
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1944, p. 67: "...li standardisation del lingue have su natural límites. "Standardisar li lingue ne significa arbitrarimen oficialisar un del solutiones possibil e rejecter li altris quam índesirabil e genant. On standardisa solmen solutiones queles ja ha esset sanctionat per li practica."
- ^ "Cosmoglotta B, 1946, p.8. English translation: "At the assembly of the Swiss Association for Occidental in Bienne it was noted with satisfaction that despite the war the cooperation at least with the Swedish worldlanguage friends was always able to be maintained, in that the letters and telegrams written in Occidental passed by the censors without problem."". anno.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1943, p. 6
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 15
- ^ "Cosmoglotta B, 1946, p.9". anno.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
- ^ "Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 119. English translation: "When I arrived in Prague after my escape from the concentration of Leitmeritz, I had literally nothing except a ragged prison uniform, the so-called "pyjama" of the prison camps...Soon after I arrived in Prague I published an ad to search friends of the international language..."". anno.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
- ^ "Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 83. English translation: "The letters from France are starting to arrive in Switzerland. Especially appreciated are those from Mr. Lerond, a teacher in Bréville tra Donville (Manche) and from Mr. René Chabaud, who happily returned safe and sound from a prison camp in Germany."". anno.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 24
- ^ a b c d Grammatica de Interlingue in English, F. Haas 1956. Read 31 October 2013.
- ^ a b c d The Basis of International language. Read 1 November 2013.
- ^ H. Jacob on Occidental (1947). Read 3 November 2013.
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1947, p. 45
- ^ Occidental B, 1947, p. 24
- ^ Poem in Cosmoglotta 289 (summer 2000) with unwritten endings in parenthesis: Quo es li vive? On mori lent, li fin silent...Un promenad(a) in verdi parc(o). Nu flores resta sur li sarc(o)...Quo es li vive? Un rubi ros(e), mysterios(i), quel lentmen perdi su color(e). Quo resta? Solmen li dolor(e)...Quo es li vive? Tristess(e)? Chagrin(e)? Li mort(e) - - e fin(e)? Partú triumfa li amor(e), quam ombre fugi li dolor(e)! Quo es li vive? Tam bell, tam brev(i)... Un dulci rev(e) - Un gay canzon quam sol(e) aurin. Yo va amar it til li fin(e)!!
- ^ Couturat, Louis; Leau, Léopold (1903). Histoire de la langue universelle. Robarts - University of Toronto. Paris Hachette.
Translation: "In short, one finds oneself forced into this paradox: the international words are not regular, and the regular words are not international; the prevailing opinion was that it was necessary to sacrifice regularity to internationality in the formation of words."
- ^ "Cosmoglotta B, 1948, p. 45".
- ^ Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 38
- ^ "ÖNB-ANNO - Cosmoglotta (Serie B)". anno.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
- ^ Cosmoglotta April 1950, p. 5
- ^ Cosmoglotta October 1950, p. 1
- ^ "Cosmoglotta A, 1937, p. 23".
- ^ Barandovská-Frank, Vĕra. "Latinidaj planlingvoj (AIS-kurso, 1 studunuo)" (PDF). Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.
En svisa katolika gimnazio en Disentis (Grizono) okazis en la jaroj 1956-1957 eksperimento pri lerntempo-longeco bezonata por Interlingue. La lernantoj, kiuj havis antaŭkonojn de la lingvoj franca, latina kaj greka, regis Interlingue skribe kaj parole post 30 instruhoroj.
External links[edit]
| Interlingue edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Grammar and Dictionary[edit]
- Grammar of Interlingue in English by Dr. F Haas
- An English-Interlingue Dictionary by Kemp and Pope, also available as a text file.
- Interlingue - English online dictionary with translation memories
- Resume de gramatica de Interlingue (Occidental) in Interlingue
- interlingue.narod.ru, information and word lists (vocabularium) in English and Russian.
- Radicarium directiv del Lingue International (Occidental) in 8 lingues (1925) by Edgar von Wahl. Note: uses old spelling.
Texts[edit]
- Cosmoglotta A at the Austrian National Library
- Cosmoglotta B at the Austrian National Library
- Helvetia (bulletin for the Swiss Association for Occidental): 1928, 1929, 1930 - 1933 (Austrian National Library)