基本英語

基本英語（Basic English）是一種人工語言，它基於英語的一種簡化版本而產生，由查爾斯·凱·奧格登創造。在他於1930年所出版的《基本英語──規則和語法的一般約定》一書中有詳細的介紹。

奧格登說：「學習英語要7年，學習世界語要7個月，而學習基本英語只要7星期。」其認為，商業公司因此會將艱澀難懂但需要全球使用的文書寫成基本英語；而語言學校也會為了讓學生短期內學會簡單的英語，而教授基本英語。

奧格登不使用重複意義的單詞，而且需要所有國家都適用這些單詞。他利用大規模的測試和調整來得到這些詞彙。在語法方面，他也做了簡化，但是保留了英語通常的用法。

在第二次世界大戰後，這種簡化開始蘊含「推進世界和平」的理念。但是由於缺乏規劃，發展出了不同地方使用的簡化版本。今天還存在的基本英語有850個單詞作為初學英語者的單詞詞彙廣傳世界，特別是在亞洲最流行。

## 語法規則

奧格登基本英語的語法規則是為了讓人們只用850個單詞就可以解決一般交流：

- 在單詞詞尾加-s作為複數，那些加-es和-ies的保留。
- 四個詞綴：-er可以變成300多個名詞，-ing和-ed變成形容詞。
- 使用-ly變成副詞。
- 對於數量，使用more和most，保留-er和-est。
- 形容詞的反義詞是加前綴un-, im-
- 問句使用相反的詞序，加上do。
- 人稱和代名詞使用和一般英語相同。
- 可以使用兩個名詞組合成新詞，比如milkman和wordend；還可以是名詞加方位，例如sundown。
- 單位、數字、貨幣、月份、日子、年份、鐘點同一般英語形式。
- 使用專業和科技詞彙。一些特殊詞彙不屬於基本英語，詞性、複數等變化不遵守這個規範。

## 歷史

1944年，溫斯頓·邱吉爾在哈佛大學的一個演講裡，起初支持用基本英語作為世界語言，但是由於一個故事他放棄了，就是那句「blood, toil, tears and sweat」（鮮血、辛勞、眼淚和汗水）寫成基本英語就是「blood, hard work, eyewash and body water」（血液、努力、淚液和體液）。喬治·奧威爾的作品《一九八四》中可能有對基本英語的模仿。書後對「新話」的註解可以認為暗含著對構造語言的批評，而且那在這本書的著作期間（1948年）呼聲很高。

奧威爾的新話實際上更像是專為機器或網路設計的語言，不知曉網路的人士看不懂的。與之相比，奧格登的基本英語任何一個懂英語的人都能讀懂，但它只能用作第二語言。

## 單詞表

基本英語有850個核心詞彙。

### 動作 - 100 個單詞

come, get, give, go, keep, let, make, put, seem, take, be, do, have, say, see, send, may, will, about, across, after, against, among, at, before, between, by, down, from, in, off, on, over, through, to, under, up, with, as, for, of, till, than, a, the, all, any, every, no, other, some, such, that, this, I, he, you, who, and, because, but, or, if, though, while, how, when, where, why, again, ever, far, forward, here, near, now, out, still, then, there, together, well, almost, enough, even, little, much, not, only, quite, so, very, tomorrow, yesterday, north, south, east, west, please, yes.

### 事物 - 400 個常用單詞

account, act, addition, adjustment, advertisement, agreement, air, amount, amusement, animal, answer, apparatus, approval, argument, art, attack, attempt, attention, attraction, authority, back, balance, base, behaviour, belief, birth, bit, bite, blood, blow, body, brass, bread, breath, brother, building, burn, burst, business, butter, canvas, care, cause, chalk, chance, change, cloth, coal, colour, comfort, committee, company, comparison, competition, condition, connection, control, cook, copper, copy, cork, cotton, cough, country, cover, crack, credit, crime, crush, cry, current, curve, damage, danger, daughter, day, death, debt, decision, degree, design, desire, destruction, detail, development, digestion, direction, discovery, discussion, disease, disgust, distance, distribution, division, doubt, drink, driving, dust, earth, edge, education, effect, end, error, event, example, exchange, existence, expansion, experience, expert, fact, fall, family, father, fear, feeling, fiction, field, fight, fire, flame, flight, flower, fold, food, force, form, friend, front, fruit, glass, gold, government, grain, grass, grip, group, growth, guide, harbour, harmony, hate, hearing, heat, help, history, hole, hope, hour, humour, ice, idea, impulse, increase, industry, ink, insect, instrument, insurance, interest, invention, iron, jelly, join, journey, judge, jump, kick, kiss, knowledge, land, language, laugh, law, lead, learning, leather, letter, level, lift, light, limit, linen, liquid, list, look, loss, love, machine, man, manager, mark, market, mass, meal, measure, meat, meeting, memory, metal, middle, milk, mind, mine, minute, mist, money, month, morning, mother, motion, mountain, move, music, name, nation, need, news, night, noise, note, number, observation, offer, oil, operation, opinion, order, organization, ornament, owner, page, pain, paint, paper, part, paste, payment, peace, person, place, plant, play, pleasure, point, poison, polish, porter, position, powder, power, price, print, process, produce, profit, property, prose, protest, pull, punishment, purpose, push, quality, question, rain, range, rate, ray, reaction, reading, reason, record, regret, relation, religion, representative, request, respect, rest, reward, rhythm, rice, river, road, roll, room, rub, rule, run, salt, sand, scale, science, sea, seat, secretary, selection, self, sense, servant, sex, shade, shake, shame, shock, side, sign, silk, silver, sister, size, sky, sleep, slip, slope, smash, smell, smile, smoke, sneeze, snow, soap, society, son, song, sort, sound, soup, space, stage, start, statement, steam, steel, step, stitch, stone, stop, story, stretch, structure, substance, sugar, suggestion, summer, support, surprise, swim, system, talk, taste, tax, teaching, tendency, test, theory, thing, thought, thunder, time, tin, top, touch, trade, transport, trick, trouble, turn, twist, unit, use, value, verse, vessel, view, voice, walk, war, wash, waste, water, wave, wax, way, weather, week, weight, wind, wine, winter, woman, wood, wool, word, work, wound, writing, year.

### 事物 - 200個可用圖表示的單詞

angle, ant, apple, arch, arm, army, baby, bag, ball, band, basin, basket, bath, bed, bee, bell, berry, bird, blade, board, boat, bone, book, boot, bottle, box, boy, brain, brake, branch, brick, bridge, brush, bucket, bulb, button, cake, camera, card, cart, carriage, cat, chain, cheese, chest, chin, church, circle, clock, cloud, coat, collar, comb, cord, cow, cup, curtain, cushion, dog, door, drain, drawer, dress, drop, ear, egg, engine, eye, face, farm, feather, finger, fish, flag, floor, fly, foot, fork, fowl, frame, garden, girl, glove, goat, gun, hair, hammer, hand, hat, head, heart, hook, horn, horse, hospital, house, island, jewel, kettle, key, knee, knife, knot, leaf, leg, library, line, lip, lock, map, match, monkey, moon, mouth, muscle, nail, neck, needle, nerve, net, nose, nut, office, orange, oven, parcel, pen, pencil, picture, pig, pin, pipe, plane, plate, plough, pocket, pot, potato, prison, pump, rail, rat, receipt, ring, rod, roof, root, sail, school, scissors, screw, seed, sheep, shelf, ship, shirt, shoe, skin, skirt, snake, sock, spade, sponge, spoon, spring, square, stamp, star, station, stem, stick, stocking, stomach, store, street, sun, table, tail, thread, throat, thumb, ticket, toe, tongue, tooth, town, train, tray, tree, trousers, umbrella, wall, watch, wheel, whip, whistle, window, wing, wire, worm.

### 狀態 - 100個常用單詞

able, acid, angry, automatic, beautiful, black, boiling, bright, broken, brown, cheap, chemical, chief, clean, clear, common, complex, conscious, cut, deep, dependent, early, elastic, electric, equal, fat, fertile, first, fixed, flat, free, frequent, full, general, good, great, grey, hanging, happy, hard, healthy, high, hollow, important, kind, like, living, long, male, married, material, medical, military, natural, necessary, new, normal, open, parallel, past, physical, political, poor, possible, present, private, probable, quick, quiet, ready, red, regular, responsible, right, round, same, second, separate, serious, sharp, smooth, sticky, stiff, straight, strong, sudden, sweet, tall, thick, tight, tired, true, violent, waiting, warm, wet, wide, wise, yellow, young.

### 狀態 - 50 個有反義詞的單詞

awake, bad, bent, bitter, blue, certain, cold, complete, cruel, dark, dead, dear, delicate, different, dirty, dry, false, feeble, female, foolish, future, green, ill, last, late, left, loose, loud, low, mixed, narrow, old, opposite, public, rough, sad, safe, secret, short, shut, simple, slow, small, soft, solid, special, strange, thin, white, wrong.

## 外部連結

- World English Organization
- Basic-English Institute - Dedicated to the expansion of Ogden's Basic English.
- Wiktionary:Basic_English_template (uses Basic English word list as a basis for studying equivalent basic words in other languages)
- 美國之音特殊英語版本 - 為英語學習者而設的新聞電台

## 基本資料

- 早期形式：基本英語
- 管理機構：查爾斯·凱·奧格登
- 創造日期：1925
- 文字：拉丁字母 (英文字母)、Unified English Braille
- 管理機構：controlled natural language
- 分類：現代英語
- ietf：en-basiceng
- 原文名：Basic English