Universalglot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Universalglot is an a posteriori international auxiliary language published by the French linguist Jean Pirro in 1868 in Tentative d'une langue universelle, Enseignement, grammaire, vocabulaire. Predating Volapük by a decade and Esperanto by nearly 20 years, Universalglot has been called the first "complete auxiliary-language system based on the common elements in national languages".[1] In his book describing his own language project Novial, Otto Jespersen praised the language, writing, "one to which I constantly recur with the greatest admiration, because it embodies principles which were not recognized till much later".[2]

Pirro gave it more than 7,000 basic words and a lot of prefixes for the usage of a very extensible vocabulary.

Contents

[edit] Alphabet

This language uses 26 letters:

  • a "Σ/σ" is used instead of "sh".
  • a "Ü/ü" is used for German "Ü/ü" (or French "U/u")

Pronunciation of letters:

  • "c" is "ts", "i" is never like "ahi", "j" is like "y", "q" is en:"kw", fr:"kou", de:"ku", "v" is never like "f", "x" is "ks"
  • "a, e, i, o, u" have the frequent Central European pronunciation.

[edit] Substantives and adjectives

Substantives and adjectives never change except for the feminine form for substantives. The feminine is in "in". Ex1 (singular): El old man, el old manin. Ex.2 (plural): Li old man, Li old manin.
All words can be used as substantives with the help of an article.

[edit] Articles

Only articles and pronouns indicate the singular or plural like this:

Singular: el (de el, ex el / ad el / el), un

Plural: li (de li, ex li / ad li / li)

[edit] Verbs

The verbs have easy conjugation:

esen: to be
i ese, tu ese, il ese, nos ese, vos ese, ili ese
i esed, tu esed, il esed, nos esed, vos esed, ili esed
i esrai, tu esrai, il esrai, nos esrai, vos esrai, ili esrai
i esrais, tu esrais, il esrais, nos esrais, vos esrais, ili esrais
es!
esant
esed

haben: to have
i habe, tu habe, il habe, nos habe, vos habe, ili habe
i habed, tu habed, il habed, nos habed, vos habed, ili habed
i habrai, tu habrai, il habrai, nos habrai, vos habrai, ili habrai
i habrais, tu habrais, il habrais, nos habrais, vos habrais, ili habrais
hab!
habant
habed

loben: to praise
i lobe, tu lobe, il lobe, nos lobe, vos lobe, ili lobe
i lobed, tu lobed, il lobed, nos lobed, vos lobed, ili lobed
i lobrai, tu lobrai, il lobrai, nos lobrai, vos lobrai, ili lobrai
i lobrais, tu lobrais, il lobrais, nos lobrais, vos lobrais, ili lobrais
i habrai lobed, etc.
i habrais lobed, etc.
lob!
lobant
lobed

esen lobed
i ese lobed
i esed lobed
i esrai lobed
i esrais lobed
i esrai esed lobed
i esrais esed lobed
es lobed!

se loben
i lobe me
i lobed me
i lobrai me
i lobrais me

[edit] Adverbs

da, di, fern, pertot, post, retro, sub, up, vo, pre, alterlit, hastlit, insamel, oft, rarlit, re, so, certlit, ies, non, potlit, villit, alor, altervolt, ankor, bald, ditdai, heri, jam, kras, mai, nun, postdit, primlit, semper, admindest, vix, ben, kom, mal, mind, molt, prox, quant, sat, self, talit, tant, totlit, trop, unlit.

[edit] Prepositions

ad, adkaus, de, ex, in, inter, kon, kontra, kontravil, ob, per, post, pre, pro, prox, retro, sin, sub, til, tra, um, up, uper.

[edit] Prefixes

an-, de-, di-, dis-, ab-, mis-, mal, ob-, re- and the prepositions.

[edit] Special word lists

i, de me, ex me, ad me, me, men bibel, el men, meni bibel, li meni
tu, de te, ex te, ad te, te, ten bibel, el ten, teni bibel, li teni
il, de eil, ex eil, ad eil, eil, sen bibel, el sen, seni bibel, li seni
nos, de enos, ex enos, ad enos, enos, nor bibel, el nor, nori bibel, li nori
vos, de evos, ex evos, ad evos, evos, vor bibel, el vor, vori bibel, li vori
ili, de eili, ex eili, ad eili, eili, lor bibel, el lor, lori bibel, li lori

ke? de ke? ex ke? ad ke? ke?

alter, alteri; jed; nul, nuli; on; self, selfi; tal, tali; tot, toti; un, uni

un, du, tri, quat, quint, sex, sept, okt, nov, dec

11=undec, 12=dudec, 13=tridec etc.
20=duta, 30=trita, etc.
21=dutaun, 22=dutadu, 23=dutatri etc.

cent, mil, milion, miliar

el prim, el duli, el trili etc. el ultim
primlit, dulit, trilit etc.
1/2=un midli, 3/4=tri quatli
setin:
Lundai, Mardai, Erdai, Jovdai, Vendai, Samdai, Diodai = un septin
dudecin:
Jaenner, Hornung, Maerz, April, Mai, Junius, Julius, August, September, October, November, December = un dudecin

[edit] Examples of texts in Universalglot

[edit] Leter de grat (thank letter)

Men senior,
I grate vos pro el servnes ke vos habe donated ad me. Kred, men senior, ke in un simli fal vos pote konten up me.
Adcept el adsekurantnes de men kordli amiknes.

[edit] Konversatsion

Ben dai, Meni senior, i ese inkanted reinkontra evos; i habe videt evos in London, e ditdai nos finde enos in Skotland. dikt me ex ke land vos ese.
Un ex enos ese ruser e du ese italier e el quatli ese deutsch; ma nos pote toti parlen insamel, den nos parle el universal glot.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bray, Mary Connell. "Introduction" in Alexander Gode et al. Interlingua-English: a dictionary of the international language. Storm Publishers, New York, 1951.
  2. ^ Jespersen, Otto, PhD., Litt.D., LL.D. An International Language 1928