Novial

Novial is a constructed international auxiliary language (IAL) for universal communication between speakers of different native languages. It was created by Otto Jespersen, a Danish linguist. He who had been involved in the Ido movement, and later in the development of Interlingua.

Its vocabulary is based on the Germanic and Romance languages. Its grammar is influenced by English.

 History 
Jespersen introduced  Novial in his book An International Language in 1928. He updated it in his dictionary Novial Lexike in 1930. He proposed several modifications in the 1930s. However, the language became dormant with Jespersen's death in 1943. In the 1990s, with the revival of interest in constructed languages brought on by the Internet, some people rediscovered Novial.

 Grammar 
Novial has a simple and regular grammar. The main word order is SVO. There is no grammatical gender (but the sex or gender of referrents can be marked). Verbs don't change according to person or number, and don't have exceptions.

Articles
The definite article is li which doesn't change. It is used as in English.

There is no indefinite article, although un (one) can be used.

Nouns
Nouns mainly end in e, a, o, u or um in singular. The plural noun is formed by adding –s to the singular (-es after a consonant).

There is also a form for indefinite number, expressed by removing the ending of the noun in singular (leone – lion, leon es kruel – a/the lion is cruel, or lions are cruel).Jespersen, O: An International Language (p. 89)

If a noun refers to a living being, then the form ending in -e is neutral in regards to sex, the one ending in -a female, and the one ending in -o male. If the noun is based on an adjective, nouns referring to living beings can be made with the previously mentioned rule, and furthermore nouns referring to concrete objects with -u, and abstractions with -um. The third person pronouns follows the same rule, together with the definite article.

The genitive is formed with the ending -n (-en after a consonant) with the plural being -sen (-esen after a consonant) or with the preposition de.

Other cases are formed with prepositions.

Adjectives
All adjectives end in -i, but this may be dropped if it is easy enough to pronounce and no confusion will be caused. Adjectives precede the noun. Adjectives do not agree with the noun but may be given noun endings if there is no noun present to receive them.

Comparative adjectives are formed by placing various particles (plu, tam, and min) in front of the adjective receiving the comparison. Likewise, the superlative particles (maxim and minim) precede the adjective. The adjective does not receive an inflection to its ending.

Personal pronouns, subject and object
 Singular Plural I me we nus you vu you vus common, she, he le, la, lo they les, las, los it lu, lum lus

Verbs
Verb forms never change with person or number. Most verb tenses, moods and voices are expressed with auxiliary verbs preceding the root form of the main verb. The auxiliaries follow the same word order as the English equivalent. The following phrases give examples of the verb forms:

 Grammar English Novial Infinitive to protect protekte Present I protect me protekte Present Perfect I have protected me ha protekte Simple Past I protected me did protekte or me protekted Past Perfect I had protected me had protekte Future I shall protect or I will protect me sal protekte or me ve protekte Future Perfect I shall have protected or I will have protected me sal ha protekte or me ve ha protekte Future In The Past I was going to protect me saled protekte Conditional I would protect me vud protekte Conditional Perfect I would have protected me vud ha protekte First Imperative Let me protect! Let me protekte! Second Imperative protect! protekte!

 Present active participle: protektent – "protecting"
 Past passive participle: protektet – "protected"

Novial clearly distinguishes the passive of becoming and the passive of being. In English the forms are often the same, using the auxiliary verb to be followed by the past participle. However, the passive of becoming is also often expressed with the verb to get which is used in the examples below.

The passive voice of becoming is formed with the auxiliary bli followed by the root verb form. It can then be conjugated into the previously mentioned forms, for example:

 Grammar English Novial Infinitive to get protected bli protekte Present I get protected me bli protekte Present Perfect I have got protected me ha bli protekte Simple Past I got protected me blid protekte Past Perfect I had got protected me had bli protekte Future I shall get protected or I will get protected me sal bli protekte or me ve bli protekte
|- Conditional I would get protected me vud bli protekte

The passive voice of being is formed with the auxiliary es followed by the past passive participle (stem + -t). For example:

 Grammar English Novial Infinitive to be protected es protektet Present I am protected me es protektet Present Perfect I have been protected me ha es protektet Simple Past I was protected me did es protektet or me esed protektet Past Perfect I had been protected me had es protektet Future I shall be protected or I will be protected me sal es protektet or me ve es protektet
|- Conditional I would be protected me vud es protektet

Adverbs
An adjective is converted to a corresponding adverb by adding -m after the -i ending of the adjective.

Comparative and superlative adverbs are formed in the same manner as comparative and superlative adjectives: by placing a specific particle before the adverb receiving the comparison.

 Novialides 
Novialide is a term used for languages derivatives of Novial and any constructed language project based on or inspired by Novial.

Some Novialides are:
 Novial by the Novial Revisione Komite (a.k.k. "Grupe Novial", "Novial98")
 Novial by James Chandler
 Novial Pro by Marcos Franco
 Eurial by B. Phillip Jonsson
 Novial by Jay Bowks
 Proyo
 Reformad Novial by Vicente Costalago

References

 Other websites 
  A summary of 1928 Novial
 A summary of the 1930 version
 Novial’98
 Novial Lexike: International Dictionary  by Otto Jespersen, 1930
 Discussiones inter E. de Wahl e O. Jespersen

Category:Constructed languages