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| Neo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Arturo Alfandari |
| Date | 1961 |
| Setting and usage | International auxiliary language |
| Purpose | |
| Sources | Most of the vocabulary fromRomance and some fromGermanic languages; phonology fromRomance andSlavic languages |
| Official status | |
| Regulated by | Akademio de Neo (now defunct) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | neu |
neu | |
| Glottolog | neoa1234 |
Neo is aninternational auxiliary language created byArturo Alfandari, aBelgian diplomat of Italian descent. It combines features ofEsperanto,Ido,Novial, andVolapük. The root base of Neo is closely related toFrench, with some influence fromEnglish.
The basic version of Neo was published in 1937 byArturo Alfandari. It attracted attention in 1961 when Alfandari published his booksCours Pratique de Neo andThe Rapid Method of Neo. The works included both brief and complete grammars, learning course of 44 lectures, translations of literary works, scientific and technical texts, idioms, detailed bidirectional French and English dictionaries. The total volume of the publications was 1,304 pages, with dictionaries numbering some 75,000 words.
The language combines the features ofEsperanto orIdo, with the same goal: a simple, neutral and easy-to-learn second language for everybody.
Neo attracted the interest of the circle around theInternational Language Review, a periodical for IAL proponents whose publishers co-founded the international Friends of Neo (Amikos de Neo) with Alfandari; the organization also published its bulletin, theNeo-bulten. For a few years it looked like Neo could give some serious competition toEsperanto andInterlingua.
As Alfandari's health worsened, to avoid disappearance of his language, he founded a second, more serious organization: the Academy of Neo (Akademio de Neo), with the task of regulating, nurturing and spreading the language; but the organization was not very successful. Progress was cut short by Alfandari's death in 1969 and the language was mostly forgotten.[1]
Grammatically, the language is mostly influenced by Ido andEsperanto; though some characteristics such as aplural-s and natural-appearingpronouns come from naturalistic IALs likeInterlingua andInterlingue.
The way of forming the vocabulary and the preference for short, monosyllabic words show a substantialVolapük influence but, unlike the latter's roots which are often changed and mutilated beyond recognition, the Neo roots are easily recognizable asRomance.
It is also notable for its terseness, which exceeds that of English or anyInternational auxiliary language (IAL) of thea priori type, which makes it very compact and brief in expression, and for the facility of its grammar whose overview occupies only two pages.
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | (ŋ) | |||||||||
| Stop | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | ||||||
| Fricative | f | v | s | z | ʃ | h | ||||||
| Affricate | ts | tʃ | dʒ | |||||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||||
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |
| Number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | - | - |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper case | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | SH | TS |
| Lower case | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z | sh | ts |
| IPAphoneme | a | b | t͡ʃ | d | e | f | g | h | i | d͡ʒ | k | l | m | n | o | p | kw | r | s | t | u | v | w | ks | j | z | ʃ | t͡s |
Neo uses the 26 letters of the standard Roman alphabet: 5 vowels and 21 consonants. When spelling a word, the consonants have an -e ending:
a, be, ce, de, e, fe, ge, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, qe, re, se, te, u, ve, we, xe, ye, ze.
| Neo | English approximation |
|---|---|
| c (ch) | chair, such |
| g | garden, log |
| j | jewel, badge |
| q (kw) | quart, liquid |
| s | some, mash |
| sh | shall, mash |
| ts | tsetse, lots |
| w | wing, southwest |
| x (ks) | oxen, taxes |
| y | yarn,yogurt |
Thec has the same pronunciation as the digraphch; both are pronounced as in English words likechalk orchimney, and in borrowed Italian words likeciao orbocconcini, never with the 'k' sound incare or the 's' sound incertain. Theg always has the “hard” pronunciation ofget orgood, never the “soft” pronunciation ofgem orgiant. Thes is always unvoiced, never pronounced with the 'z' sound inrose or the 'zh' sound inleisure.
Other letters, including the vowels, are pronounced as inEsperanto. Words with the lettersq (not pronounced 'kjoo' but as in English 'qu') andx (pronounced 'ks' without an initial vowel) may optionally be spelled withkw andks, respectively. Each letter is always spoken in the same way, except that finalh is silent in a few borrowed words like pashah, muftih, kadih, papah, mamah.
All words are written with initial small letters (minuscules), except for proper nouns and the first word of a sentence.
Words ending in a vowel have a stress accent on the second-last syllable. Words ending in a consonant have a stress accent on the last syllable.
| Neo | English meaning |
|---|---|
| libro | book |
| patro | father |
| kemio | chemistry |
| folyo | leaf |
| garden | garden |
| amik | friend |
The plural-s or-os does not affect the stress accent.
| Neo | English meaning |
|---|---|
| libros | books |
| gardenos | gardens |
| amikos | friends |
In the combinationsuo,au andeu, the vowels are to be pronounced separately, not asdiphthongs. Nevertheless, the stress accent does not fall on theu in these vowel combinations.
| Neo | English meaning |
|---|---|
| linguo | language |
| auto | automobile |
| neutra | neuter (grammatical gender) |
The articles are invariable:
Adjectives end ina and are invariable:
Adverbs end ine and are invariable:
Singular nouns end ino, which can be dropped, as long as the pronunciations remain very easy.[2] Plural nouns end inos.
| English | Subject | Object | Possessive |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | mi | me | ma |
| you | tu | te | ta |
| he | il | le | la |
| she | el | le/ley | la |
| it | it | le/it | la |
| (reflexive) | so | se | sa |
| we | nos | ne | na |
| you | vu | ve | va |
| they (m.)[citation needed] | zi | ze | za |
| they (f.) | zel | ze/zey | za |
There is also the pronounziel for mixed-sex group.[3]
Verbs:
Na Patro ki sar in cel,
siu ta nom santat.
Venu ta regno.
Siu fat ta vol,
asben in cel, as on ter.
Na shakida pan ne diu oje.
E ne pardonu na debos,
as nos pardonar na deberos.
E no ne induku in tentado,
mo ne fridu da mal.
Sentences
Numbers
Wanderer's Nightsong (German:Wanderers Nachtlied) byJohann Wolfgang von Goethe
On tot cimos sar |
Up there all summits |
Über allen Gipfeln |
|
The Task by Douglas Blacklock
Vortos sirvar asben informo |
Words are used both to inform |
|
Lo diplomata linguos
Latin sir, us l'endo del issepa seklo, l'oficala linguo de diplomatio. Latine so redaktir lo tratalos e l'akordos e so skambir lo komunikos inte governos. Lo last gran tratal ridaktat latine sir lo de Westfalio, in 1648; depdan kauzel preeminenta plas trenat pe Franso, Latin pokpoke cedar plas a fransal; e fransal restar us l'enso d'et seklo - us 1918 - lo diplomata linguo, lo linguo de tot internasyona medos.
Ab 1918, lo diplomata linguos jar du: fransal e anglal. In et du linguos, sir meant lo negosados pol Versailles-Tratal e pol osa paxtratalos de 1919 e sir ridaktat et tratalos, amba linguos fande fid; dok no sen inkonvenos, lo du textos pande somyes determeni def interpretazos.
Do 1945, espanal, rusal e cinal sir an admitat as oficala linguos. Nos nun nel epok de tradukeros e interpretos.
(Gino Buti)
Ka sor l'avena diplomata linguo?
Sar nel internasyona riunos, konferensos e kongresos, dey num pluar idide, ke lo neso d'un monda adlinguo se far senti pluste.
Nilo samtempe plu groteska e plu afligifa qam lo spekto ofrat pel kongresistos munat kon udokaskos, ki tentar, sen sem riusi, kapi lo diskorsos pronuncat in def lingoes. Diskorsos tradukat aste pe interpretos, dey lo melestas sar force, konforme l'itala dikton: tradukeros, trazeros.
Es so exijur dal parpreneros lo kono d'un komuna adlinguo, ke zi pur apreni kon infana izeso, so fur ilke un enorma ekonomio de temp, dengo... e de malkomprenos.
(Arturo Alfandari)
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