Interlingua

There are two constructed languages which go by the name of Interlingua. One, Giuseppe Peano's Interlingua, is now more commonly known as Latino sine Flexione; the other, IALA's Interlingua, is the subject of this article.

Table of contents

1 Why Interlingua?
2 Vocabulary
3 Grammar
4 Community
5 Sample
6 See also
7 External links

Why Interlingua?

The expansive movements of science, technology, trade, arts, etc. have resulted in a large overlap of vocabulary among contemporary languages. Interlingua is a combination of this pre-existing international vocabulary with a streamlined Greco-Latin grammar, created in hopes that many people would be able to understand it easily.

Vocabulary

The international vocabulary has absorbed materials of the most varied origins, but its center of gravity lies in the sphere of the Greco-Latin tradition. It can be collected within the confines of a homogeneous group of source or control languages which not only represent the Greco-Latin tradition in our time but have likewise absorbed all significant international words radiated from other centers. This group was defined by IALA as the Anglo-Romance group of languages (English, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese) with German and Russian as potential contributors.

A word is eligible in Interlingua if it occurs with same meaning and etymology in three of the four main control units. Spanish and Portuguese are regarded together as one control unit. If support is found in two control units, German and Russian are checked to provide the last support. Grammatical words, required to operate the language, are taken from Latin if the regular procedure fails.

The form of the international words is based on the historical or hypothetical form from which the national forms evolved. The derivational series is also examined. Though French oeil, Italian occhio, Spanish ojo and Portuguese olho ("eye") are quite different, they all came from a historical form oculo, and international derivatives like ocular and oculista determine the form oculo to be used in Interlingua.

Grammar

The grammar of Interlingua discarded grammatical features absent in at least one of the control languages.

The grammar and vocabulary of Interlingua were complete by 1951. Alexander Gode was one of the prime movers in this effort. He published a survey of the grammar, a one-way dictionary (Interlingua to English), and an introductory book entitled Interlingua a Prime Vista ("Interlingua at First Sight").

Community

Interlingua has some enthusiastic supporters in the United States, the Netherlands, Russia, and particularly Scandinavia. There are some Interlingua web pages, and at least one monthly newsletter. Interlingua as now used tends to have less Classical Latin vocabulary than Gode's original version, replaced mostly by southern Romance vocabulary. For example emer ("to buy") has been replaced by comprar, sed ("but") with ma and nimis ("too") with troppo.

Sample

Interlingua sample: the widely-translated Lord's Prayer (also available as an MP3 file):

Nostre Patre, qui es in le celos,

que tu nomine sia sanctificate;

que tu regno veni;

que tu voluntate sia facite

super le terra como etiam in le celo.

Da nos hodie nostre pan quotidian,

e pardona a nos nostre debitas

como nos pardona a nostre debitores,

e non duce nos in tentation,

sed libera nos de malo.

External links

Union Mundial pro Interlingua: http://www.interlingua.com/
Interlingua-English Dictionary: http://www.interlingua.com/ied/
Interlingua Grammar: http://members.optus.net/~ado_hall/interlingua/gi/
Interlingua Wikipedia: http://ia.wikipedia.com/