europeano
Latino sine Flexione, an introduction by Jim K. Seger
From: JKSeger@AOL.COM
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 03:16:02 -0500
Subject: CONLANG: Latino sine Flexione, an introduction
Here is a brief introduction to Latino sine Flexione. Primary sources are:
1. G. Peano, "Key to and Primer of Interlingua," E. P. Dutton & Co.,
1931
2. any good Latin dictionary, e.g., Cassell's.
3. A. Gode, "Interlingua-English Dictionary,"
IALA, Frederick Ungar Publ. Co.,
1951
(The original name of Peano's language was Latino sine Flexione; it is used here instead of Interlingua to avoid confusion with IALA's language of the same name).
For communication among most educated peoples of the world today, Latin has the best possible vocabulary. Such people already know or can make reasonable guesses from general knowledge as to the meaning of many Latin words. So says Giuseppe Peano, the famous Italian mathematician. However, Latin's inflexions and syntax are overly complex and a stumbling block to speakers of modern analytic languages. Thus, he says, let us strip Latin of its "ponderous burden of inflexions" to obtain the ideal constructed language. Vocabulary: Latino Sine Flexione (LSF) adopts all Latin words, Greek words naturalized through Latin, and all commonly used international words, e.g., hotel, hospital, communismo, radar, telephono, microscopio, etc. New words are formed from LsF in the same way they are formed from Latin and Greek roots. Also, words may be adopted from any language if they are in international use, e.g., safari, tequila, kaput, fakir, hors d'oeuvres, etc.
Pronunciation: LsF is like Italian except that: C is the K in English skill; CH is the k in English kill; G is as in English gill; H is as in English hill; J is as in German jung; V is like the W in English wine (or alternately in German Wein); Y is like the U as in French tu; AE is like the AI in English aisle; OE is like the OI in English boil. Word order is typically SVO and is similar to English and the modern romance languages.
Adjectives may immediately precede or follow the noun modified.
Adverbs similarly stand next to the verb modified.
Definite and indefinite articles (the, a, an) are not used. Cases: There are no case inflections. The genitive of possession is noted using "de". Thus, "manu de puella" means "the girl's hand". The dative is indicated by "ad" when necessary for clarity. We express "give our book to her" as "da nostro libro ad illa" or "da (ad) illa nostro libro". The accusative is noted by word order, placing the direct object after the verb. Thus, we say "The woman sees the girl" as "femina vide puella". However, for emphasis or contrast, the direct object may come first if the meaning is clear. Thus, we may say "it is the girl, not the boy, whom the mother sees" as "es puella, non puero, qui matre vide".
Nouns: Singular nouns are formed from the Latin ablative singular. The singular may be used in place of the plural, e.g., tres puella. Use of a plural form is optional and is formed from the Latin accusative plural. Singular: Plural: Latin LsF Latin LsF puella puella puellae puellas populus populo populi populos liber libro libri libros donum dono dona dona rex rege reges reges manus manu manus manus dies die dies dies
Adjectives & Adverbs: Adjectives are formed from the Latin neuter ablative singular, and adverbs are formed from these adjectives by changing the final vowel to e. Thus: LATIN LsF Adj. LsF Adv. magnus, a, um magno magne liber, a, um libero libere pulcher, ra, rum pulchro pulchre fortis, is, e forti forte acer, ris, re acri acre potens potenti potente Optionally, adverbs may keep the same form as adjectives or may be expressed by a periphrase, e.g., "in modo diligente", "cum mente diligente", etc. The comparative is formed by placing "plus" before the adjective or adverb. Thus, "plus pulchro" means "more beautiful". "Plus pulchre" means "more beautifully". The superlative is formed similarly by the word "maximo". Thus, "maximo forti" means "strongest". "Maximo forte" means "most strongly". An alternate superlative is formed by inserting "issim" before the final vowel of the adjective or adverb. Thus, "fortissime" means "most strongly" but has the connotation of merely being very strong but not necessarily the strongest of all.
Verbs: Dropping the "re" ending from the Latin infinitive forms the LsF imperative, prohibitive and present tense. Imperative: labora! Prohibitive: non labora! The present tense is identical to the imperative and makes use of personal pronouns to replace Latin's verbal endings for indicating person and number. Present Tense: me labora nos labora te labora vos labora illo, illa labora illos, illas labora The present tense is to be used whenever possible to express other verbal tenses. For example, "I will work tomorrow" becomes simply "Cras me labora." "I worked yesterday" becomes "Heri me labora." Whenever use of the present tense is inadequate, LsF provides periphrastic verbal constructions that are similar in form to English. The periphrastic past tense uses the auxiliary verb habere and the verbal past participle:
Past Tense: me habe laborato nos habe laborato te habe laborato vos habe laborato illo, illa habe laborato illos, illas habe laborato
A future tense may be formed using the auxiliary "i" or "va" or "vol". For example, "me vol labora" means "I will work".
Present active participle: formed from the Latin in the ablative case. For example, "laborante" means "working".
Progressive verbal aspect: formed using the verb "es" and the present active participle. Present: "illa es scribente" means "she is writing" Past: "illa era scribente" means "she was writing"
Future: "illa vol es scribente" means "she will be writing" Passive Voice: formed using the verb "es" and the past participle. For example, "vos es servato" means "you are served"; "vos era servato" means "you were served", etc.
Other verbal aspects such as the imperfect and continuative require circumlocutions, e.g.: "illo soleba dicere" means "he used to say" "illos persiste id agere" means "they keep on doing it" The conditional and subjunctive follow the indicative forms, e.g.: "si hoc pulvere es strychnino, canes jam es mortuo" means "if this powder were strichnine, the dogs would already be dead".
Finally, Peano accepts these irregular verb forms: dic, duc, es, fac, fer, ir, vol.
Sample LsF Paragraph: LSF es lingua artificiale que omne persona pote scribe et dice facilemente. Suo vocabulario non es formato ad arbitrio, sed contine vocabulos hodie in usu in vario linguas. Pro iste ratione illo habe maximo praecisione de expressione et es vivente organismo. Illo es analytico et libero ab mortuo pondere de grammatica. Illo es facto pro facilitate de communicatione internationale in scientia, technologia, commercio et administratione.
Jim Seger
In futuro nos habe disponibile plus amplio informatione de Giuseppe Peano.
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"INTERLINGUA
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