Novial
Encyclopedia
Novial [nov- + IAL, International Auxiliary Language] is a constructed
international auxiliary language
(IAL) intended to facilitate international communication and friendship, without displacing anyone's native language. It was devised by Professor Otto Jespersen
, a Danish
linguist
who was previously involved in the Ido
movement, and subsequently in the development of Interlingua
.
Its vocabulary is based largely on the Germanic
and Romance languages
and its grammar is influenced by English
.
Novial was first introduced in Jespersen's book An International Language in 1928. It was updated in his dictionary, Novial Lexike, published two years later and further modifications were proposed in the 1930s, but the language became dormant with Jespersen's death in 1943. In the 1990s, with the revival of interest in constructed languages brought on by the Internet
, some people rediscovered Novial.
, Esperanto
, Idiom Neutral
, Ido
, Latino sine Flexione
and Occidental
(Interlingue). The author makes it clear that he draws on a wealth of earlier work on the problem of a constructed IAL, not only the aforementioned IALs.
Part Two of An International Language describes Novial in detail. Alternative possible solutions for problems in the phonology, orthography, grammar and word-stock are considered. The choices made are explained by comparison with ethnic languages and previously constructed IALs.
Note that in Novial the Nominative and Accusative pronouns are the same.
The standard word order
is subject-verb-object, as in English. Therefore, the object need not be marked to distinguish it from the subject:
E.g.:
The accusative (direct object) is therefore most often identical to the nominative (subject). However, in case of an ambiguity problem, an optional accusative ending, -m (-em after a consonant), is available but is rarely used. The preposition em is equivalent to this ending.
The personal possessive adjectives are formed from the pronouns by adding -n or after a consonant -en. This is in fact the genitive (possessive) of the pronoun so men means both "my" and "mine" ("of me"):
E.g.:
Possession may also be expressed with the pronoun de: de me, de vu, and so on.
Novial clearly distinguishes the passive of becoming and the passive of being. In English the forms are often the same, using the auxiliary verb to be followed by the past participle. However, the passive of becoming is also often expressed with the verb to get which is used in the examples below.
The passive voice of becoming is formed with the auxiliary bli followed by the root verb form.
The passive voice of being is formed with the auxiliary es followed by the past passive participle (stem + -t).
There is no indefinite article, although un (one) can be used.
The accusative case
is generally identical to the nominative
but can optionally be marked with the ending -m (-em after a consonant) with the plural being -sem (-esem after a consonant) or with the preposition em.
The genitive is formed with the ending -n (-en after a consonant) with the plural being -sen (-esen after a consonant) or with the preposition de.
Other cases are formed with prepositions.
-like systems of inflection
, which he found needlessly complex. He sought to make Novial at once euphonious and regular while also preserving useful structures from natural languages.
In Novial:
A major difference between Novial and Esperanto/Ido concerns noun
endings. Jespersen rejected a single vowel to terminate all nouns (-o in Esperanto/Ido), finding it unnatural and potentially confusing. Instead, Novial nouns may end in -o, -a, -e, or -u or -um. These endings may be taken to indicate natural sex according to the custom in Romance languages. Also there is no grammatical gender or requirement for adjective
s to agree with nouns.
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
international auxiliary language
International auxiliary language
An international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
(IAL) intended to facilitate international communication and friendship, without displacing anyone's native language. It was devised by Professor Otto Jespersen
Otto Jespersen
Jens Otto Harry Jespersen or Otto Jespersen was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language.He was born in Randers in northern Jutland and attended Copenhagen University, earning degrees in English, French, and Latin...
, a Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
who was previously involved in the Ido
Ido
Ido is a constructed language created with the goal of becoming a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds as a language easier to learn than ethnic languages...
movement, and subsequently in the development of Interlingua
Interlingua
Interlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
.
Its vocabulary is based largely on the Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
and Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
and its grammar is influenced by English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Novial was first introduced in Jespersen's book An International Language in 1928. It was updated in his dictionary, Novial Lexike, published two years later and further modifications were proposed in the 1930s, but the language became dormant with Jespersen's death in 1943. In the 1990s, with the revival of interest in constructed languages brought on by the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, some people rediscovered Novial.
An international language
Novial was first described in Jespersen’s book An International Language (1928). Part One of the book discusses the need for an IAL, the disadvantages of ethnic languages for that purpose, and common objections to constructed IALs. He also provides a critical overview of the history of constructed IALs with sections devoted to VolapükVolapük
Volapük is a constructed language, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Roman Catholic priest in Baden, Germany. Schleyer felt that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. Volapük conventions took place in 1884 , 1887 and 1889 . The first two conventions used...
, Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
, Idiom Neutral
Idiom Neutral
Idiom Neutral is an international auxiliary language, published in 1902 by the International Academy of the Universal Language under the leadership of Waldemar Rosenberger, a St...
, Ido
Ido
Ido is a constructed language created with the goal of becoming a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds as a language easier to learn than ethnic languages...
, Latino sine Flexione
Latino sine Flexione
Latino sine flexione , or Peano’s Interlingua , is an international auxiliary language invented by the Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano in 1903. It is a simplified version of Latin, and retains its vocabulary...
and Occidental
Occidental language
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....
(Interlingue). The author makes it clear that he draws on a wealth of earlier work on the problem of a constructed IAL, not only the aforementioned IALs.
Part Two of An International Language describes Novial in detail. Alternative possible solutions for problems in the phonology, orthography, grammar and word-stock are considered. The choices made are explained by comparison with ethnic languages and previously constructed IALs.
Personal pronouns, subject and object
| Person | English (Nominative) | English (Accusative) | Novial |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Singular | I | Me | Me |
| 2nd Singular | You | You | Vu |
| 3rd Singular (Male) | He | Him | Lo |
| 3rd Singular (Female) | She | Her | La |
| 3rd (Common) | N/A (He/She/They) | N/A (Him/Her/Them) | Le |
| 3rd Singular (Neuter) | It | It | Lu |
| Impersonal | One/They/You | One/Them/You | On |
| 1st Plural | We | Us | Nus |
| 2nd Plural | You | You | Vus |
| 3rd Plural (Male) | They | Them | Los |
| 3rd Plural (Female) | They | Them | Las |
| 3rd Plural (Common) | They | Them | Les |
| 3rd Plural (Neuter) | They | Them | Lus |
Note that in Novial the Nominative and Accusative pronouns are the same.
The standard word order
Word order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
is subject-verb-object, as in English. Therefore, the object need not be marked to distinguish it from the subject:
E.g.:
- me observa vu – "I observe you"
- vu observa me – "you observe me"
The accusative (direct object) is therefore most often identical to the nominative (subject). However, in case of an ambiguity problem, an optional accusative ending, -m (-em after a consonant), is available but is rarely used. The preposition em is equivalent to this ending.
The personal possessive adjectives are formed from the pronouns by adding -n or after a consonant -en. This is in fact the genitive (possessive) of the pronoun so men means both "my" and "mine" ("of me"):
E.g.:
- "My dog" = Men Hunde
- "The dog is mine" = Li Hunde es men
Possession may also be expressed with the pronoun de: de me, de vu, and so on.
| Person | English (Nominative) | English (Possessive) | Novial |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Singular | My | Mine | Men |
| 2nd Singular | Your | Yours | Vun |
| 3rd Singular (Male) | His | His | Lon |
| 3rd Singular (Female) | Her | Hers | Lan |
| 3rd Singular (Common) | N/A (His/Her/Their) | N/A (His/Hers/Theirs) | Len |
| 3rd Singular (Neuter) | Its | Its | Lun |
| Impersonal | One's/Their/Your | One's/Theirs/Yours | Onen |
| 1st Plural | Our | Ours | Nusen |
| 2nd Plural | Your | Yours | Vusen |
| 3rd Plural (Male) | Their | Theirs | Losen |
| 3rd Plural (Female) | Their | Theirs | Lasen |
| 3rd Plural (Common) | Their | Theirs | Lesen |
| 3rd Plural (Neuter) | Their | Theirs | Lusen |
Verbs
Verb forms never change with person or number. Most verb tenses, moods and voices are expressed with auxiliary verbs preceding the root form of the main verb. The auxiliaries follow the same word order as the English equivalent. The pronouns are indicated with parentheses and are given for example purposes.| Grammar | English | Novial |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | to protect | protekte |
| Present | (I) protect | (me) protekte |
| Present Perfect | (I) have protected | (me) ha protekte |
| Simple Past | (I) protected | (me) did protekte or (me) protekted |
| Past Perfect | (I) had protected | (me) had protekte |
| Future | (I) shall protect or (I) will protect | (me) sal protekte or (me) ve protekte |
| Future Perfect | (I) shall have protected or (I) will have protected | (me) sal ha protekte or (me) ve ha protekte |
| Future In The Past | (I) was going to protect | (me) saled protekte |
| Conditional | (I) would protect | (me) vud protekte |
| Conditional Perfect | (I) would have protected | (me) vud ha protekte |
| First Imperative | Let (me) protect! | Let (me) protekte! |
| Second Imperative | protect! | protekte! |
- Present active participle: protektent – "protecting"
- Past passive participle: protektet – "protected"
Novial clearly distinguishes the passive of becoming and the passive of being. In English the forms are often the same, using the auxiliary verb to be followed by the past participle. However, the passive of becoming is also often expressed with the verb to get which is used in the examples below.
The passive voice of becoming is formed with the auxiliary bli followed by the root verb form.
| Grammar | English | Novial |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | to get protected | bli protekte |
| Present | (I) get protected | (me) bli protekte |
| Present Perfect | (I) have got protected | (me) ha bli protekte |
| Simple Past | (I) got protected | (me) blid protekte |
| Past Perfect | (I) had got protected | (me) had bli protekte |
| Future | (I) shall get protected or (I) will get protected | (me) sal bli protekte or (me) ve bli protekte |
| Future Perfect | (I) shall have got protected or (I) will have got protected | (me) sal ha bli protekte or (me) ve ha bli protekte |
| Future In The Past | (I) was going to get protected | (me) saled bli protekte |
| Conditional | (I) would get protected | (me) vud bli protekte |
| Conditional Perfect | (I) would have got protected | (me) vud ha bli protekte |
| First Imperative | Let (me) get protected! | Let (me) bli protekte! |
| Second Imperative | get protected! | bli protekte! |
The passive voice of being is formed with the auxiliary es followed by the past passive participle (stem + -t).
| Grammar | English | Novial |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | to be protected | es protektet |
| Present | (I) am protected | (me) es protektet |
| Present Perfect | (I) have been protected | (me) ha es protektet |
| Simple Past | (I) was protected | (me) did es protektet or (me) esed protektet |
| Past Perfect | (I) had been protected | (me) had es protektet |
| Future | (I) shall be protected or (I) will be protected | (me) sal es protektet or (me) ve es protektet |
| Future Perfect | (I) shall have been protected or (I) will have been protected | (me) sal ha es protektet or (me) ve ha es protektet |
| Future In The Past | (I) was going to be protected | (me) saled es protektet |
| Conditional | (I) would be protected | (me) vud es protektet |
| Conditional Perfect | (I) would have been protected | (me) vud ha es protektet |
| First Imperative | Let (me) be protected! | Let (me) es protektet! |
| Second Imperative | be protected! | es protektet! |
Articles
The definite article is li which is invariant. It is used as in English.There is no indefinite article, although un (one) can be used.
Nouns
The plural noun is formed by adding –s to the singular (-es after a consonant).The accusative case
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
is generally identical to the nominative
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
but can optionally be marked with the ending -m (-em after a consonant) with the plural being -sem (-esem after a consonant) or with the preposition em.
The genitive is formed with the ending -n (-en after a consonant) with the plural being -sen (-esen after a consonant) or with the preposition de.
Other cases are formed with prepositions.
Adjectives
All adjectives end in -i, but this may be dropped if it is easy enough to pronounce and no confusion will be caused. Adjectives precede the noun qualified. Adjectives do not agree with the noun but may be given noun endings if there is no noun present to receive them.Adverbs
An adjective is converted to a corresponding adverb by adding -m after the -i ending of the adjective.Affixes
See the Table of Prefixes and Table of Suffixes at the Novial Wikibook.Novial compared to Esperanto and Ido
Jespersen was a professional linguist, unlike Esperanto's creator. He disliked the arbitrary and artificial character that he found in Esperanto and Ido. Additionally, he objected to those languages' LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
-like systems of inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
, which he found needlessly complex. He sought to make Novial at once euphonious and regular while also preserving useful structures from natural languages.
In Novial:
- Syntax is largely a matter of word order, as in EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and modern Scandinavian languages. There is no obligatory accusativeAccusative caseThe accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
marker as in Esperanto, but the accusative may optionally be marked with either an accusative ending or an accusative preposition. - A genitive or possessive casePossessive caseThe possessive case of a language is a grammatical case used to indicate a relationship of possession. It is not the same as the genitive case, which can express a wider range of relationships, though the two have similar meanings in many languages.See Possession for a survey of the different...
is available as an alternative to the preposition de. This is based on Jespersen's observation that many modern languages have lost complex noun inflections, yet retain a possessive form. - Auxiliary particles express most verbVerbA verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
tensesGrammatical tenseA tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
. An inflectional ending is available as a shorthand for the simple past tensePast tenseThe past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
.
A major difference between Novial and Esperanto/Ido concerns noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
endings. Jespersen rejected a single vowel to terminate all nouns (-o in Esperanto/Ido), finding it unnatural and potentially confusing. Instead, Novial nouns may end in -o, -a, -e, or -u or -um. These endings may be taken to indicate natural sex according to the custom in Romance languages. Also there is no grammatical gender or requirement for adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s to agree with nouns.
Language sample for comparison
Here is the Lord's Prayer in Novial and several related languages:| Novial version: | Esperanto Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887... version: |
Ido Ido Ido is a constructed language created with the goal of becoming a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds as a language easier to learn than ethnic languages... version: |
Latin Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and... version: |
| Nusen Patre, kel es in siele, mey vun nome bli sanktifika, mey vun regno veni; mey on fa vun volio kom in siele anke sur tere. Dona a nus disidi li omnidiali pane, e pardona a nus nusen ofensos, kom anke nus pardona a nusen ofensantes, e non dukte nus en tentatione, ma liberisa nus fro malu. Amen. |
Patro nia, kiu estas en la ĉielo, Via nomo estu sanktigita. Venu Via regno, plenumiĝu Via volo, kiel en la ĉielo, tiel ankaŭ sur la tero. Nian panon ĉiutagan donu al ni hodiaŭ. Kaj pardonu al ni niajn ŝuldojn, kiel ankaŭ ni pardonas al niaj ŝuldantoj. Kaj ne konduku nin en tenton, sed liberigu nin de la malbono. Amen. |
Patro nia, qua esas en la cielo, tua nomo santigesez; tua regno advenez; tua volo facesez quale en la cielo tale anke sur la tero. Donez a ni cadie l'omnidiala pano, e pardonez a ni nia ofensi, quale anke ni pardonas a nia ofensanti, e ne duktez ni aden la tento, ma liberigez ni del malajo. Amen. |
Pater noster, qui es in caelis: sanctificetur Nomen Tuum; adveniat Regnum Tuum; fiat voluntas Tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra. Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie; et dimitte nobis debita nostra, Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; et ne nos inducas in tentationem; sed libera nos a Malo. Amen. |
Criticism
As Jespersen relates in his autobiography, in 1934 he proposed an orthographic reform to Novial, which displeased a part of the users. Jespersen abandoned the essential principle of one sound, one letter :External links
- An International Language: Prof. Otto Jespersen's 1928 book which introduced Novial.
- Novial Lexike: Novial to English, French and German dictionary.
- Novial Wiki Book: A Novial course for beginners.
- Novial Discussion Group: Novial discussion group at Yahoo!
- A summary of 1928 Novial
- A summary of the 1930 version
- Novial '98
- A classified word list with Novial equivalents
- Spelling reform proposal by J. Chandler