Communicationssprache
Encyclopedia
International auxiliary language
An international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
s.
Overview
It was created by Joseph SchipferJoseph Schipfer
Joseph Schipfer was a German nobleman, landowner and vine producer, today mostly known for his creation of the language Communicationssprache....
and first published in 1839 in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
.
This project is of historical interest for two reasons - first, it being based on French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
reflects the common view of the time that French is "a world language to some extent". It is also interesting to note that mere forty years later, in 1879, Volapük
Volapük
Volapük is a constructed language, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Roman Catholic priest in Baden, Germany. Schleyer felt that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. Volapük conventions took place in 1884 , 1887 and 1889 . The first two conventions used...
took English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
for basis.
Second, Schipfer's project reflects a new conscience of greater possibilities of the international communication which appeared by the invention of the railway and steam ship. He even recommended that his project be used on these "new means of voyage".
Grammar
Communicationssprache is based on (or a simplification of) FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, making heavy use of its respelled vocabulary, which Schipfer considered to be nearly universal among the educated classes of the world of his time.
Some of its characteristics are:
- No articles.
- Invariable adjectives.
- Comparatives in -ior and -iost.
- Adverbs formed by adding -ly to adjectives.
- Possessive pronouns in -a.
- Infinitives in -er.
- Nouns were declined.
- Capitalization of nouns, as in German.
Examples
Pater NosterPater Noster
Pater Noster is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity.Pater Noster or Paternoster may also refer to:* Paternoster, a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building* Paternoster, Western Cape, South Africa* Pierres...
:
- No Pera, wia ete Cielu
- ta Noma sanctiferii;
- ta Royoma Ais arrivii;
- ta volonta färerii
- com Cielu änsi Terru.
- Donne Ais noa Päno quotidien;
- pardonne Ais noa offansos,
- com pardonnas Aos offanding;
- non permette que succombias tantationi;
- mä delivre Aos malu.
Numbers from one to ten:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| una | dua | tria | quatra | quina | sesta | setta | otta | nona | dia |
External links
- Norbert Michel, "Joseph Schipfer - Träumer oder Humanist", in: Beiträge zur Wallufer Ortsgeschichte, Heft 1, 1993.
- Histoire de la langue universelle - A book by Louis CouturatLouis CouturatLouis Couturat was a French logician, mathematician, philosopher, and linguist.-Life:Born in Ris-Orangis, Essonne, France, he was educated in philosophy and mathematics at the École Normale Supérieure...
and Leopold LeauLéopold LeauLéopold Leau was a French mathematician, primarily known for his many well-documented ties to international auxiliary languages....
which contains a description of Communicationssprache