Welcome to the Interlinguano Website!
Interlinguano is a Web-brochure for the promotion of Interlingua of I.A.L.A., an international language designed to facilitate communication between people of different nations. Most people recognise the word "esperanto" to mean such an international language. Interlingua is therefore a modern esperanto. And we believe it is the "best" modern esperanto now available! The text on this page will show you why.
International communication made easy
Take a look at he following words:
abbreviation, abdication, abduction, abjuration, abolition, abomination, aborigines, absolute, absorption, abstention, abstraction, acacia.
You understand them perfectly, because they are English words. They are also French, and with some minor variations in spelling, Italian and Spanish too. Because they are English, French, Italian, and Spanish they may be called international. Actually they were chosen at random from the first pages of the dictionary of Interlingua, where they take their place with over 25,000 similar words. Interlingua is the name given by a body called I.A.L.A. to its compilation, published in 1951, of the major part of the common element in the languages of the Western civilization.
How it works
How was it created?
The International Auxiliary Language Association of New York was founded in 1924 by Mrs. D. H. Morris on the suggestion of F. D. Cotterell of the International Research Council, after discussion of auxiliary language problems by committees of this and other influential academic bodies, including the British, French, Italian, and American Associations for the Advancement of Science.
The early years of I.A.L.A. were occupied in publicizing the question of an auxiliary language among scientists and linguists generally. At the Second International Congress of Linguists (Geneva, 1931) a testimonial expressing support for I.A.L.A.'s program bore the signature of no fewer than twenty-seven linguists of distinction, including those of Bally, Cohen, Debrunner, Mellet, Schrijnen, Sommerfelt, Trubetsky and Vendryes.
Under I.A.L.A.'s auspices were issued a number of monographs on language questions, including Prog. Sapir's series: "Foundations of Language", Eaton's "Semantic Frequency List," E. L. Thorndike's "Language Learning" and Shenton's "Cosmopolitan Conversation".
The summit of these various tasks was the project of isolating and codifying the common elements in the western languages. Authorized in 1933, and supported by a grant from the Rockfeller Foundation, the work began in Liverpool in 1936, under the able direction of William Collinson, at the time professor of German and holder of the unique chair of Esperanto in the university of that city. War brought this research to an abrupt halt, but a new team was assembled in New York by Clark Stillman, under whose direction, and later that of Prof. Martinet, the work went on. More than to any other man, both the honor and the responsibility of the production of Interlingua must go to Dr. Alexander Gode, under whose direction the project was carried to completion in 1951.
The method involved the setting up of four control languages, against which the internationality of given words could be tested. Those chosen were English, French. Italian, and Spanish/Portuguese taken as one unit. Other major languages were excluded, since their use as "controls," while greatly complicating the procedure of extraction, would not have had noticeable effects on its results. For standardizing international words there were three general rules.
- For a word to be eligible for representation in Interlingua it should be represented by variants with at least one common meaning in at least three out of the four control units -English, French, Italian, Spanish/Portuguese.
- The standardized form in which an eligible international word is represented is a common-denominator form of all its variants and may be called their "prototype". The prototype is arrived at by a through study of the etymology of the word-family in which the international word is found.
- The meaning or meanings of a standardized international word are the meaning or meanings which the variants contributing to its eligibility have in common.
How does it work?
The grammar of Interlingua, in stark contrast to those of other "international languages", is also based on objective assessment of what is in fact international, rather than on what theorists thought ought to be so. As Gode and Blair put it: ". . . every grammatical feature which is encountered in all the sources languages shall be retained in the grammar of . . . [Interlingua]; or negatively, no grammatical feature shall be so retained if it is missing from as much of one of the source languages." An attractive and happy result of this method is that while the great internationality of European words has given Interlingua a vocabulary that needs no learning, the defective internationality of grammatical finals has provided it with a grammar of extreme simplicity.
Thus Interlingua nouns take a plural in -s (-es after a final consonant), but have neither grammatical gender nos case endings. The adjectives are invariable and may precede or follow the noun they qualify: e.g. le soldato, le brave soldato, le brave soldatos, le belle feminas admira le brave soldatos, un assertion incredibile. Adverbs are either original, e.g. semper ("always"), multo (much), or are derived from adjectives by the addition of -mente or (after a final -c) of -amente; e.g. confusemente, rapidemente, invartiabilemente, physicamente.
Verbs have an infinitive (used also as a substantive) terminating in -r preceded by: -a, -e, or -i. The removal of the final -r gives the form of the present tense and the imperative: e.g. consultar., nos consulta; resider, illes reside; repentir, le peccator se repenti. The endings -va, -ra, -rea provide the perfect and future tenses and the conditional. Nos consultava = "we consulted"; illas residera = "they (fem.) will reside"; le peccator repentirea se si... = "the sinner would repent if".
There are two participles only, present and past. The present ends in -nte preceded by the final vowel of the corresponding infinitive, except that -i- is changed to -ie-. The past ends in -te, preceded by the vowel of the corresponding infinitive, except that -e- is changed to -i-, e.g. consultar, consultante, consultate; vincer, vincente, vincite; punir, puniente, punite. The conjugation is completed by compounding the participles with the auxiliary verb esser ("to be"), and haber ("to have"); e.g. illo haberea essite create = "it would have been created".
The pronunciation of Interlingua is virtually that of ecclesiastical Latin, except that the soft c (before e, i, y) is pronounced either as s or ts, but not as tsh. The tonic accent falls normally on the vowel preceding the last consonant. There are no written accents or special letters.
It's a working tool!
Interlingua is not a project or an experiment. It is currently used in conventions, literature and magazines. You can read Interlingua if you had no more than one semester of high school French or Spanish or Latin and flunked it. You can read and understand a great deal of it, even if you have never had contact with any foreign language.
Here is a brief sample of Interlingua:
Le unitate del civilisation occidental corresponde in grande mesura a un unitate linguistic. Le linguas que nos distingue como francese, anglese, espaniol, germano, italiano, etc., ha in commun un fundo si extensive de ideas e de principios, de formas e constructiones, que on se senti fortiate reguardar los como variantes del mesme standard. Iste standard es Interlingua, le "lingua general" que differe del linguas coordinate in illo solo como un typo differe del individuos que illo representa".
Appendices
Is Esperanto really so easy?
The sign-post type of leader, who urges others forward while he stands still, has been spasmodically courting attention by endorsing Esperanto -for other people. He himself, of course, is "too busy" to learn it, but he thoroughly agrees with the principle of the thing, just as diplomats always agree "in principle" with any proposal, subject to disagreeing with all its details later. But the fact remains that, out of the millions of people who have attempted the study of Esperanto, only a few thousands -those better endowed with linguistic aptitude, or better trained in the study of languages -have managed to master it.
Contrary to the statements of propagandists, Esperanto is not easy. It is, on the contrary, an extremely difficult language, not only because of its antiquated grammar, but because every word, and sometimes every letter of a word, has to be learned individually, like a proper name. Conforming to no linguistic laws, it is unpredictable, unlike a large part of the vocabulary of any natural language evolved according to definite laws and consequently quite easy to learn.
If you were to begin this minute the study of French, Spanish, Italian, o even German, I could give you two o three simple rules whereby you would know immediately THOUSANDS of words in those languages. Without being aware of it, you who read these lines already know a good third of the French, Spanish or Italian vocabulary. for instance, the thousands of words ending in -ion (nation, volition, emotion, distribution) are the same in French as in English, subject to French pronunciation; and they are also the same in Spanish and Italian, with only minor variations of spelling and pronunciation, which are quite REGULAR and can be learned once for all.
Once you know the Italian word for "nation" is nazione, you know automatically volizione, emozione, distribuzione, and you can create for yourself all similar words: operazione, felicitazione, etc. Once you know that the Spanish word for "nation" is nacion, accented on the last syllable, you know without a moment's study volicion, emocion, distribucion, operacion, felicitacion, and thousands of others. But in Esperanto, owing to complete arbitrariness and lack of system, you have to go to the dictionary for every one of these and all such words. For example, the words nation, condition, donation, halation, formation, are, in Esperanto (note the capitalized letter) naCIo, kondiĈo, donaCo, halaDZO, formaCIo - sometimes C, sometimes CI, sometimes Ĉ, sometimes DZ, where in English, French and Latin have regularly TI.
Moreover, there are hundreds of cases in which a Latin word ending in -ion is common to most European languages, so that no study at all is required, while in Esperanto the word does not exist, and a puzzling paraphrase has to be painfully coined or memorized:
distribution - disdonado
pronunciation - elparolado
multiplication - plimultigo
obligation - devigo, obligacio
addition - aldono
publication - eldonado
Of course these puzzling forms can be justified on the theory of a self-contained language. Id "doni" means "give", "disdoni" means "distribute". But there are two objections to this principle, and both are vital. One is that it forces you to analyze your thought constantly, instead of using ready-made words. An even more accurate method of thought-analysis would be the use of figures, or an entirely fabricated language, made up of artificial syllables such as ba-bi-bo or da-di-do. Unless the purpose of Esperanto is the reform of thought methods (and it professedly is not), then the system imposes upon the user an unwarranted burden of analysis.
The second objection to the Esperanto system of self-contained word-building is that the elements of those words were chosen arbitrarily, to suit Zamenhof's fancy, and without regard for existing internationality. For example, in the face of the adjective "infernal", found in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and other languages, and of the Italian and English nouns "inferno", Spanish "infierno", Zamenhof arbitrarily made his word for "hell" "infero", which requires memorizing, whereas "inferno" would have been remembered by rule -the rule being that the form of the English or French or Spanish adjective of Latin origin ending in -al, minus the -al termination, is THE international root of the word (nation/al, pector/al, cerebr/al, voc/al, larynge/al, etc). That this could have been dono, is shown by other international languages, notably by Occidental, which is as easy to learn and to re-create for oneself as Esperanto is difficult.
Compare, for example, these two statements -a telegram sent by a gathering of friends to one of them, who could not attend.
Esperanto: - ĉiuj ĉeestantoj bedauras vian foreston.
International: - omne presentes regretta vostre absentia.
Although professing to create a language for all mankind, Zamenhof succeeded only creating a secret code for a small group of initiates of his cult. In consequence, Esperanto, proposed as an easy international language, is neither international nor easy.
Paul D. Hugon
Producto de Recercas
Interlingua es le producto de recercas conducite per le Association pro le Lingua Auxiliar International (ALAI), fundate per Dave e Alice Morris in 1924.
Le objecto del association esseva investigar le necessitate de un lingua auxiliar international. Post 1933, ALAI assemblava philologos de reputation international pro laborar al disveloppamento de un lingua auxiliar international. Post recercas preliminar, le labor al disveloppamento del lingua comenciava in 1936 sub le direction de William E. Collinson e E. Clark Stillman in le Universitate de Liverpool, le recerca essente financiate per un stipendio del Fundation Rockefeller. Quando le Secunde Guerra Mundial comenciava, le recercas esseva movite a Nove York in 1939 sub le direction de Stillman. In 1943 un studio preliminar per Stillman e Dr. Alexander Gode describeva un conception de un lingua auxiliar international totalmente natural basate super un standardisation del parolas international in le gruppo anglolatin del linguas europee.
Post 1943, quando Stillman quitava ALAI pro entrar in le servicio governamental, Dr. Gode assumeva temporarimente le directorato del recerca de ALAI durante que ille esseva anque le Redactor de Libros de Referentia in T. Y. Crowell Co. In 1946 ALAI ingagiava Dr. André Martinet de Sorbonne pro continuar le labor in Nove York, mais quando Martinet se affiliava con le facultate del Universitate de Columbia in 1948, Dr. Gode esseva ingagiate pro complir le disveloppamento del lingua auxiliar international. Le recercas esseva finalisate per le production in 1951 de un dictionario Interlingua-anglese e un grammatica de Interlingua.
Le lingua resultante es un standardisation del elementos international in le linguas anglese, francese, italian, espaniol/portugese, german e russe. Un parola que occurre con forma e signification similar in al minus tres de iste linguas es eligibile a entrar in le vocabulario international de Interlingua. Le forma del parola acceptate in le vocabulario es le prototypo, o historic o theoric, commun al variantes in le linguas de base, le variantes deviante se del prototypo secundo leges etymologic characteristic del evolution del linguas in que illos se trova. Le prototypo es anque determinate per le prototypo del thema trovate in serie derivational in iste linguas.
De plus le principio del prototypo diceva que radices e affixos debe esser regular (ben que on recognosce le existentia in latino del themas duple in serie derivational como in casos como trahe-/tract-, vide-/vis-, face-/fact-, dice-/dict-, etc. proque istes es conservate in tote le linguas de base). Le grammatica es basate super le idea que omne characteristica grammatic non trovate in tote le linguas-base es excludite. Assi Interlingua ha necun genere grammatic pro substantivos e adjectivos, necun inflection de persona pro le verbo, e regularitate del formas del tempores del verbo basate super tres series de verbos (-ar, -er, -ir) (con un minime exception pro le verbos "esser", "haber", "vader", que optionalmente pote esser "es", "ha", "va", in le tempore presente).
Adaptate de un texto per Stan Mulaik.
Practica Interlingua Where to practise Interlingua online.
Servicio de Libros UMI Buy your books in and about Interlingua here.
Union Mundial pro Interlingua The World Interlingua Union with an extensive site in Interlingua.
Bluegrass Interlingua Club Learn and practise Interlingua. Educational material in English and Spanish.
Joe's CyberPost "Your Fun Place to Trade in CyberSpace" - the generous host of this page.