Interlingua

Interlingua is an international auxiliary language developed by the International
Auxiliary Language Association with financing from the Rockfeller Foundation,
The Carnegie Corporation, the Research Corporation and principally the family of
the heiress Alice Vanderbilt Morris and her husband and children, who were deeply
interested in the problem of international communication.

The idea of Interlingua is that its vocabulary is not an invention but an objective
extraction and standardization of the international vocabulary in the major European
languages. English, French, Italian, and Spanish/Portugese were initially chosen as
sources for international words because these languages are major centers of radiation
and absorption of words to and from other languages and are extensively involved in
economic, scientific and cultural exchange between nations in the world. German and
Russian were later added as alternative sources.

Words were deemed international if they occurred in similar forms and with the same
meanings in at least three of these languages. The form by which a word was standardized
in the international vocabulary was the nearest etymological prototype. This was the
theoretical or historical ancestor common to all its variants as well as the stems of
its derivatives in the contributing languages, from which the variants deviate as
monolingual transformations characteristic of their respective languages. The resultant
form also could not be conditioned by a trait restricted to one contributing variant.

The work of compiling the international vocabulary was begun under the direction of the
English Esperantist and German philologist, William E. Collinson, at the University of
Liverpool between 1936 and 1939. E. Clark Stillman assumed direction of the project
when it was moved to New York in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II. There Stillman
assembled a team of linguists who had no prior involvement with any constructed language
to perform the work. Together they worked out an objective methodology for compiling and
standardizing the vocabulary. Dr. Alexander Gode of the linguistic staff succeeded
Stillman in 1942 as acting director during the war. In 1946 the French linguist
André Martinet was brought in to direct completion of the dictionary, but he
left to join the faculty of Columbia University in 1948. Dr. Gode was brought back as
Director of Research and in 1951 completed the Interlingua-English Dictionary (IED),
which contains over 27,000 words. The dictionary was accompanied by publication of
the Interlingua Grammar by Alexander Gode and Hugh E. Blair.

The grammar of Interlingua is a minimum grammar for use of the international vocabulary
of the dictionary as a language. The idea of the grammar was that no grammatical feature
of its contributing languages would be suppressed if it were found in all of the grammars
of the contributing languages and was reflected in the forms of the international vocabulary.
Conversely, no grammatical feature was retained if it were missing from at least one of the
contributing languages. Hence Interlingua has no grammatical gender, no agreement between
nouns and adjectives in gender and number, no personal inflections of verbs. Verb tenses
are similar to those in English. Grammatical particles are essentially Romance. Affixes
are prototypic forms of affixes in the contributing languages, and are often, by reason
of the history of these languages, of Latin or Greek form. Word derivations with roots
and affixes follow closely the natural forms in the contributing languages.

The result is a language that is easy for speakers of European languages to learn and
even understand, sometimes at first-sight. Interlingua can also serve as a bridge to the
Romance languages, or from these and other languages to English. Considerable transfer of
training occurs from Interlingua to the contributing languages. Swedish children who were
taught Interlingua were able, after a year, to translate Spanish, Italian and Portuguese
newspaper texts at sight with excellent comprehension, without dictionaries, although
they never had a course in these languages. Dr. Gode often described Interlingua as
“Standard Average European”.

Since 1951 continuing work of various individuals has expanded the standardized
international vocabulary to over 60,000 words, and the number continues to grow.
Dictionaries are now available in all the contributing languages and in other languages
as well. Several books, essays, and poetical works are now available in Interlingua.
Interlingua represents the common lexical heritage of the European languages and is
immediately comprehensible to millions, and is easily learned. Many now use it on the
internet to exchange messages with speakers of Romance languages.

The Interlingua alphabet

The orthography of Interlingua is based on the 26 letters of the Roman alphabet with no
diacritical or accent marks. There are several digraphs, mostly in words of French, English,
Spanish and Greek origin. Their occurrence helps in reading to maintain recognition and
distinguish words of different meanings but with the same sounds, owing to their different
etymological origins. The pronunciation of letters is ‘fluid’ within type limits.

A recording of the Interlingua alphabet by Jan Jurčík

Notes

c before e and i is [ts], otherwise [k].
s is optionally [z] between vowels, otherwise it is [s].
g is always [g] as in ‘good’, but is [dZ], as in ‘George’, in
-age, -agi-, and -egi-: message, viagiar, legier
t is generally [t] but ti is [tsi] in -antia, -entia, -tia, -tie, -tio
and -tion except after -s- as in sacristia or when stressed as in garantia.
q is always followed by u; qu- is pronounced [kw] or [k] and always
precedes a vowel.

Unassimilated words of foreign origin in the contributing languages retain
the spelling and pronunciation and plurals of the original languages in the
international vocabulary: affaire, bureau, software, interview, cheque,
standards, tests, shizzo, rancho, kümmel.

Double consonants need not be distinguished from single consonants in pronunciation.
-ss- is always voiceless as [s].
The sounds of g and k assimilate a preceding n as in English.

Digraphs

ch is [k] in words of Greek origin like Christo, chloro, chirurgia
ch is [S] in a few words of French, Spanish and English influence like choc,
chenille, chef, chimpanze, chocolate, cheque, and China.
ch is [tS] in Chile.
c pronounced [k] is changed to ch [k] in derivatives that follow with an
e or i, to preserve the [k]: banca > banchero, blanc > blanchir.
h is mute in rh and th (in words of Greek origin): rhapsodia, athleta,
throno, rhythmo.
ph in words of Greek origin is [f].
sh is [S] but rare.

Sample text in Interlingua

Tote le esseres human nasce libere e equal in dignitate e in derectos. Illes es dotate de
ration e de conscientia e debe ager le unes verso le alteres in un spirito de fraternitate.

Translation

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.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)