| Folkspraak | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Created by | Collaborative work | |||
| Date created | 1995 | |||
| Setting and usage | International auxiliary language | |||
| Users | Probably a few dozen on the Internet (date missing) | |||
| Category (purpose) | ||||
| Category (sources) | Vocabulary, phonology and grammar from Germanic languages | |||
| Official status | ||||
| Regulated by | The Folkspraak Institute | |||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | – | |||
|
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Folkspraak (also Folksprák, Folksprahk, Folksprak, Folksprok, and hyphenated versions such as Folk-Spraak and Folks-prok,[1] coming from folk ('people') and spraak ('language'), meaning "the language of the people") is an incompletely developed[2] zonal constructed language based on Germanic languages and intended to be easy to learn for any native speaker of a Germanic language,[2] making it suitable to be a sort of lingua franca amongst the Germanic languages community.[3]
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The project's development takes place mostly online in a Yahoo group, though disagreements about every facet of its grammar and orthography means that there are several different versions or "dialects"[3] Even disagreement on which source languages to use occurs, so that only some developers draw from Frisian, Low German and Norwegian Nynorsk, next to the usual source languages. English, Dutch, German, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish are more common source languages.[3]
The idea is that a speaker of a Germanic language should be able to read and understand Folkspraak in a week and to write it in a month.[2]
The development of the language is similar in its process to Interlingua - to create a word or a grammatical form in Folkspraak samples are taken from all of the Germanic languages and the form common to most of the languages is selected.[2]
Folkspraak alphabet is identical to the Basic modern Latin alphabet. Double consonants and consonant groups signalize short vowels. The ⟨c⟩ represents /s/ in front front vowels (⟨e i y eu⟩) and /k/ in any other position. The digraphs ⟨th⟩ and ⟨ph⟩ represent the same pronunciation as ⟨t⟩ and ⟨p⟩, respectively. Diacritics are not used.
Folkspraak has no adjectival or verbal variation. Nouns made from adjectives as well as infinitives end in -e as in de andere ('the other') and have ('to have'). There is no distinction between adjectives and adverbs.
There is no grammatical gender or cases except with personal pronouns: si ('she'), hi ('he'), ik ('I'), mi ('me').
The plurals of nouns are made with -e or, if a noun ends with an unstressed syllable, with -s. Mann (man), manne (men), auto (car), autos (cars).
The basic word order is subject–verb–object (SVO). Questions are made by inversion to VSO.
The Lord's Prayer in several Folkspraak dialects:
| Folkspraak ("official") | Dialekt Folksprak | Dialekt Middelsprake |
|---|---|---|
|
Ons Fater, |
Usser fader, |
User Fader |
| Folksprak (Boksprak) | Fůlkspræk (Orsprak) |
| Onser Fader in de hemmen, | Ůnsĕr Fadĕr ĭn đă ħemmĕn, |
| Werde heliged din nam, | Werđĕ ħạlĭgĕd đin nam, |
| Kome din rick, | Kwe°mĕ đin rikj, |
| 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 brod. | Geƀ ůns ħidag ůnsĕr dãglĭk brḁđ. |
| Ond fergev ons onser schuld, | Ůnđ fĕrgeƀ ůns ůnsĕr skuld, |
| Hu ok wi fergev dem onser schuldern. | Hu ḁk wi fĕrgeƀ đĕm ůnsĕr skuldĕrĕn. |
| Ond led ons nit in ferseuking, | Ůnđ led ůns nĭt ĭn fĕrsȍking, |
| Aver erleus ons af de yvel. | Aƀĕr ŭtlọs ůns ăf đă ȕbĕl. |
| (Als din er de rick ond de macht | (Alns đin ez đă rikj ůnđ đă maħt |
| Ond de herlikhed in eeighed.) | Ůnđ đă ħạrlĭkħạd ĭn ạwĭgħạd.) |
| Amen. | Amĕn. |
From Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
All mensklik wesings âre boren frî on' gelîk in werđigheid on' rejte. Đê âre begifted mid ferstand on' gewitt on' skulde behandele êlkên in en gêst av brôđerhêd.
(All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.)
See also: Euronord