Folkspraak

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Folkspraak (other variants are common - see Name) is an international auxiliary language (IAL) project based on the Germanic languages, currently in development. It is intended to be quickly learnable by all Germanic speakers (a group including over 465 million native speakers, and an additional 300 to 900 million who speak English as a second language). It is not meant to be designed by any one individual, but is a collective work created by all interested parties, according to the Folkspraak charter guidelines.

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[edit] Discussion and dialects

Currently no final version of Folkspraak exists, with several developers having their own versions displaying their own preferences, though some form of homogenisation is generally the eventual aim. Thus there are currently disagreements about many rather basic areas of the language including orthography, grammar, and vocabulary. Interestingly, many of the dialects proposed tend to look most like an English-influenced version of Dutch or Low German, although many have notably North Germanic features.

The guiding idea for building the vocabulary is that a word from the same root, with the same or similar meaning, should be common or exist in three out of four core languages: (General) English, (High) German, Dutch and Swedish/Norwegian/Danish. The Scandinavian languages are often counted as one language here, and a word wouldn't need to be common in more than one of these languages. Since many common words are often found in only two core languages at most, this method has not been proven sufficient for creating a complete Germanic auxiliary language. Several different methods have been elaborated to get cross the problem, including:

  1. Accept that a word only found in two different core languages should hold valid. This method would often create many synonyms.
  2. Using more common synonyms or compounds, such as "werk-schy"/"arbeid-schy" for lazy (work-shy).
  3. Using smaller, less common Germanic languages, including Low German, Afrikaans, Yiddish, Frisian, Icelandic.
  4. Using the word most common in Proto-Germanic.
  5. Referring to words common in other auxiliary languages or large language families (such as Interlingua or Slovio).


[edit] Name

"Folkspraak" has traditionally been what the language has been referred to as, but as different 'versions' of the language have different phonemic and graphemic realisations of historical phonemes, and also different capitalization and punctuation rules, the realisation of the name changes accordingly in each 'version'. Thus some would write "Folkspraak", others "Folksprak", "folk-spraak", "Folksprâk", "Folkspræk" etc. The basic form of the word is the Proto-Germanic roots "fulka-" (source of English "folk" and German "Volk") and "sprækijo" (source of "speech" and "Sprache") meaning "people" and "language" respectively. The compound thus means "people language", with the implication "language of the people" - it is debatable whether it would be better rendered with a genitive "-s" suffix on the "fulka-" element, thus yielding something of the form "Folksspraak" with the clear meaning "people's language".

[edit] Middelsprake

There is also the related Inter-Germanic conlang Middelsprake, designed independently by Ingmar Roerdinkholder (now a member of the Folkspraak Yahoo! group). Middelsprake turned out to be rather close to Folkspraak. Some of the differences are that some of the 'versions' of Folkspraak include archaic orthography and phonology which are not present in the modern Germanic languages, and, compared to these versions, Middlesprake has a more regular and simple spelling and pronunciation, and to some extent grammar.

Middelsprake is based on the comparison between eight living Germanic languages: English, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Low Saxon, Frisian and Nynorsk Norwegian, and is an intermediate language between West Germanic and Scandinavian varieties. Test subjects have been able to understand almost completely at first sight, including people from Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden. Even English speakers can recognize a lot of their own wordstock in it.


Translation Phrase IPA     Remarks
Middelsprake Middelsprake /ˈmɪdəlspraːkə/
hello hei /hɛj/
welcome welkomme /ˈvɛlkɔmə/
good-bye antil weder /anˈtɪl ˈveːdər/
please gerne /ˈɡɛrnə/
thank you tanke Ju - tanke di /ˈtaŋkə juː/ /ˈtaŋkə diː/
sorry onskulde mi /ɔnˈskuldə miː/
that one dat /dat/
how much? ho mennig? /hoː ˈmɛnɪɡ/
yes ja /jaː/
no nei /nɛj/
good morning good morgen /ɡoːd ˈmɔrɡən/
good afternoon good aftermiddag /ɡoːd aftərˈmɪdaɡ/
good evening good aven /ɡoːd ˈaːvən/
good night good nacht /ɡoːd naxt/
what's your name? wat is Jur/diin name? /vat ɪs jur / diːn ˈnaːmə/
nice to meet you good dat ig mag lerne to kenne Ju/di /ɡoːd dat ɪɡ maɡ ˈlɛrnə toː ˈkɛnə juː/ / /diː/
how much does this cost? homennig koste dis? /hoː ˈmɛnɪɡ ˈkɔstə dɪs/
where do you live? war leve Ji/du? /var ˈleːvə jiː/ / /duː/
are there any vacancies for tonight? er dar ennoch fri kammers for dis nacht? /ɛr dar ˈɛnɔx friː ˈkamərs fɔr dɪs naxt/
where is the bathroom? war is de toilet/WC /var ɪs də tvaˈlɛt/ /var ɪs də veːˈseː/
do you speak English? spreke Ji/du Engelisch? /ˈspreːkə jiː / duː ˈɛŋəlɪʃ/
where are you from? warfran kom Ji/du? /varˈfran kɔm jiː / /duː/
how are you doing? ho ga det Ju/di? /hoː ɡaː dɛt juː / /diː/
bon appetit! ete smakelig! /ˈeːtə ˈsmaːkəlɪɡ/
can you tell me... kan Ji/du segge mi... /kan jiː/ / /duː ˈsɛɡə miː/
what time is it? wat is de tiid? /vat ɪs də tiːd/
it's one o'clock PM det is een klokuur in de aftermiddag /dɛt ɪs eːn ˈklɔkuːr ɪn də aftərˈmɪdaɡ/
I don't understand ig forsta nik /ɪɡ fɔrˈstaː nɪk/
generic toast skol! /skɔl/

[edit] Fůlkspræk / Folksprak

A 'version' of Folkspraak called Fůlkspræk (also called Meta-Folksprak and Boksprak) has been developed by Stephan Schneider (member of the Yahoo folkspraak group). Its phoneme inventory is based on reconstructed Proto-Germanic. Diacritic signs are used in order to represent etymological and grammatical phenomena. For instance, the ring above u in the name „Fůlkspræk“ shows a Proto Germanic u, which turned to o in at least one of the modern Germanic languages, such as English in this case (cf. folk).

Folksprak (N.B. single 'a') is based on Fůlkspræk, and therefore it is based in turn on Proto-Germanic. This means, it is not, unlike Middelsprake, a blend of modern Germanic languages, but an artificial (and hopefully thus logical, and indeed simple) member of the Germanic language family. Folksprak is nonetheless very similar in realisation to the "real" modern Germanic languages, because it features phoneme shifts following those seen in the development of modern Germanic (for instance, the Proto Germanic u in the word "Fůlkspræk" turns to o in Folksprak, as in modern Germanic). Folksprak uses the English alphabet in order to avoid any sort of diacritic marks.

This division into Fůlkspræk and Folksprak was supposed to help the Folkspraak-developers to focus both on Proto Germanic influences on Folkspraak and orthographic simplicity.

Currently Folksprak is being adapted in order to reach a consensus with the developers of Middelsprake and Folksprâk about how Folkspraak should look like. Click here for a documentation of the current version of Folksprak.

In theory, Fůlkspræk is able to represent any modern Germanic word (e. g. English mouse as mûs).

[edit] The Lord's Prayer

As an example of Folkspraak in comparison to other Germanic languages, consider five proposed versions of the Lord's Prayer next to the Dutch[1], standard German and English prayer:

Folkspraak Middelsprake Folkspraak Roland Sookias' Folksprak Roland Sookias' Folkspræk Dutch German English
Ons Fader in Himmel, User Fader we is in de hevel, Ons Fater, whem leven in der Himmel, Usser fader in de himmel, Unser fader in þe hëmbel, Onze Vader in de Hemel, Vater unser im Himmel, Our father in heaven,
lat din Nam aren helig, din name schal wese helliged mai din Name werden helig mag dain nam wese helig hailik wes þin nam(e) Uw naam worde geheiligd, geheiligt werde Dein Name, hallowed be Your name,
Lat din Rikdom kommen. din rik schal kom Mai din Konigdom kommen. dain koningdum/raik komme þin koningdom/rik komman Uw rijk kome, Dein Reich komme. Your kingdom come.
lat din Wil aren doede, din wille schal schee, Mai din will werden, dain will wes dan/schau þin will wes dan/skau Uw wil geschiede, Dein Wille geschehe, Your will be done,
aup de Erd als in de Himel. so up erd as in de hevel in der Erd und in der Himmel. so up-an erd als in himmel so up erþ als in hëmbel op aarde als in de Hemel. wie im Himmel, so auf Erden. on the Earth as in Heaven.
Giv os dis Dag ons daglik Brod, geve us dis dag user daglig broed Geven os distdag ons Brod, Giv uss dis dag usser (daglig) brod, geb uns þis dag unser daglik broud Geef ons heden ons dagelijks brood, Unser tägliches Brot gib uns heute, Give us this day our daily bread,
Ond forgiv os ons Skuldens, on forgeve us user skuld/synde Und forgiv ons sindens, end fergiv uss usser schuld, und forgeb uns unser skuld en vergeef ons onze schuld, und vergib uns unsere Schuld, and forgive us our sins,
als vi forgiv dem die skuld gegen os. as wi forgeve dat af anderes samme Weg als wi forgiv dem whem eren skuld to uns. als wi fergiv dem we schuld gegen uss/dat av anders. als wiz forgeb þat ab anþeras zoals wij ook aan anderen hun schuld vergeven. wie auch wir vergeben unseren Schuldigern. as we forgive those who sin against us.
Ond test os nit, on late us nik wese forsoeked Und test os nihte, End test uss nit/lad uss nit in fersyking, Und læd uns nit in forsøkung En leid ons niet in bekoring, Und führe uns nicht in Versuchung, And lead us not into temptation,
men spar os form Uvel. doch make us fri fran oevel men spare os fraum der Sind. end anstad spar uss fron yvel/doch mak uss frai fron yvel. und anstad/þoh mak uns fri från ybel. maar verlos ons van het kwade. sondern erlöse uns von dem Bösen. but deliver us from evil.
Folksprak Fůlkspræk
Onser Fader in de hemmen, Ůnsĕr Fadĕr ĭn đă ħemmĕn,
Werde heliged din nam, Werđĕ ħạlĭgĕd đin nam,
Kome din rik, Kwe°mĕ đin rik,
Gescheje din will, Găskeƕĕ đin wėll,
Hu in de hemmen, so up de erd. Hu ĭn đă ħemmĕn, so ŭp đă erđ.
Gev ons hidag onser daglik breud. Geƀ ůns ħidag ůnsĕr dãglĭk brḁđ.
Ond fergev ons onser schuld, Ůnđ fĕrgeƀ ůns ůnsĕr skuld,
Hu ok wi fergev dem onser schulderen. Hu ḁk wi fĕrgeƀ đĕm ůnsĕr skuldĕrĕn.
Ond led ons nit in ferseukung, Ůnđ led ůns nit ĭn fĕrsȍkung,
Aver erleus ons af de yvel. Aƀĕr ŭtlḁs ůns ăf đă ȕbĕl.
(Als din is de rik (Alns đin ės đă rik
Ond de macht ond de herlikhed in eighed.) Ůnđ đă maħt ůnđ đă ħạrlĭkħạd ĭn ạwĭgħạd.)
Amen. Amĕn.

[edit] See also

Wikibooks
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Various versions of the prayer are used throughout the Netherlands and Flanders; the one used here is the Dutch Catholic translation which perhaps shows the similarities the best.
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