基本英語（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字，而且需要所有國家都適用這些單字。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 個單字作為初學英語者的單字詞彙廣傳世界，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 個單字就可以解決一般交流：

1. 在單字詞尾加_-s_ 作為複數，那些加_-es_ 和_-ies_ 的保留；
2. 四個詞綴：_-er_ 可以變成 300 多個名詞，_-ing_ 和_-ed_ 變成形容詞；
3. 使用_-ly_ 變成副詞；
4. 對於數量，使用 _more_ 和 _most_，保留_-er_ 和_-est_；
5. 形容詞的反義詞是加前綴 _un-_, _im-_
6. 問句使用相反的詞序，加上 _do_；
7. 人稱和代名詞使用和一般英語相同；
8. 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_；
9. 單位、數字、貨幣、月份、日子、年份、鐘點和國際語同一般英語形式；
10. 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，儘管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。



單字表

基本英語有 850 個核心詞彙。

動作 - 100 個單字

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 個常用單字

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 個可用圖表示的單字

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 個常用單字

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 個有反義詞的單字

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.



參見


* 可讀性

* 簡單英語

* 慢速英語

* 受控詞表

* 海事用語



參考文獻



外部連結


* World English Organization（頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）

* Basic-English Institute（頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） - Dedicated to the expansion of Ogden's Basic English.

* 查爾斯・凱・奧格登. Basic English: 一般规则介绍. [2005-07-11]. （原始內容存檔於 2005-03-09）.

* 查爾斯・凱・奧格登。基本英语及文法革新。劍橋：The Orthological Institute. 1937 [2005-07-11]. （原始內容存檔於 2011-08-05）.

* 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