Folkspraak
Encyclopedia
Folkspraak is an incompletely developed zonal constructed language
based on Germanic languages
and intended to be easy to learn for any native speaker of a Germanic language, making it suitable to be a sort of lingua franca
amongst the Germanic languages community.
, Low German and Norwegian Nynorsk. English
, Dutch
, German
, Danish
, Norwegian Bokmål, Afrikaans
, and Swedish
are more common source languages.
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.
. 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.
There is no grammatical gender or cases except with personal pronouns: hun ('she'), han ('he'), ik ('I'), mi ('me').
The plurals of nouns are made with -en or, if a noun ends with an unstressed syllable, with -s. Mann (man), mannen (men), auto (car), autos (cars).
in several Folkspraak dialects:
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
Zonal constructed languages
Zonal constructed languages are constructed languages made to facilitate communication between speakers of a certain linguistic group or of two closely related languages....
based on Germanic languages
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
and intended to be easy to learn for any native speaker of a Germanic language, making it suitable to be a sort of lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
amongst the Germanic languages community.
Development history
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" Even disagreement on which source languages to use occurs, so that only some developers draw from FrisianFrisian language
The Frisian languages are a closely related group of Germanic languages, spoken by about 500,000 members of Frisian ethnic groups, who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. The Frisian languages are the second closest related living European languages to...
, Low German and Norwegian Nynorsk. 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...
, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, Norwegian Bokmål, Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
, and Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
are more common source languages.
Overview
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.The development of the language is similar in its process to Interlingua
Interlingua
Interlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
- 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.
Alphabet and pronunciation
Folkspraak alphabet is identical to the Basic modern Latin alphabetBasic modern Latin alphabet
The International Organization for Standardization basic Latin alphabet consists of the following 26 letters:By the 1960s it became apparent to the computer and telecommunications industries in the First World that a non-proprietary method of encoding characters was needed...
. 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.
Morphology
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: hun ('she'), han ('he'), ik ('I'), mi ('me').
The plurals of nouns are made with -en or, if a noun ends with an unstressed syllable, with -s. Mann (man), mannen (men), auto (car), autos (cars).
Syntax
The basic word order is subject–verb–object (SVO). Questions are made by inversion to VSO.Samples
The Lord's PrayerLord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
in several Folkspraak dialects:
| Folkspraak ("official") | Dialekt Folksprak | Dialekt Middelsprake |
|---|---|---|
Ons Fater, whem leven in der Himmel, Mai din Name werden helig, Mai din Konigdom kommen, Mai din will werden, in der Erd und in der Himmel. Geven os distdag ons Brod, Und forgiv ons sindens, samme Weg als wi forgiv dem whem eren skuld to uns. Und test os nihte, men spare os fraum der Sind. |
Usser fader, in de himmel, wes dain nam helig dain koningdum schall komme dain will schall wese dan, so upann erd als in himmel Giv us disdag usser brod, end fergiv us usser schuld, als wi fergiv dem weh schuld gegn us End lad us nit in fersyking doch mak us fri fron yvel. |
User Fader, we is in de hevel, diin name schal wese helliged, diin riik schal kom, diin wille schal schee, so up erd as in de hevel. geve us dis dag user daglig brööd on forgeve us user skuld as wi forgeve det af anderes. • On late us nik wesed forsöked doch make us fri fron övel |
| 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
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
.
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
Euronord
Euronord is an international auxiliary language created by a linguist and Manx language scholar Adrian J. Pilgrim in 1965. It is chiefly based on English, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish and is intended to be a zonal constructed language for Northern Europe.-Samples:The numbers from 1...
External links
- Folkspraak page at LangmakerLangmakerLangmaker.com was a website run by Jeffrey Henning that acted as a database of conlangs, neographies, and other resources related to conlanging and conworlding...
- Folkspraak Omniglot page
- Folkspraak: Germanic Auxiliary Language - the Yahoo Group where Folkspraak is being developed
- Folkspraak on WikibooksWikibooksWikibooks is a Wiki hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation for the creation of free content textbooks and annotated texts that anyone can edit....