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| Uropi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Joël Landais |
| Setting and usage | International auxiliary language |
| Purpose | |
| Sources | based onIndo-European languages |
| Official status | |
| Regulated by | Joël LandaisOfficial website |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | art-x-uropi |
Uropi is aconstructed language which was created by Joël Landais, a French English teacher. Uropi is a synthesis of European languages, explicitly based on the commonIndo-European roots and aims at being used as aninternational auxiliary language for Europe and thus contributing to building a European identity.
Uropi was begun in 1986; since then, it has undergone certain modifications; its vocabulary keeps growing (the French-Uropi dictionary has over 10,000 words).
Uropi became known in Europe in the early 1990s.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
After studying languages at theUniversity of Orléans, then at theSorbonne and at theÉcole Normale Supérieure in Paris, Joël Landais obtained theAgrégation diploma in English. He speaks French, English, Italian, Spanish, German and has a working knowledge of modern Greek and Russian. Today, he teaches English in aChartres college. Parallel to his training as a linguist, his travels throughout Europe, Senegal, the Maghreb, Egypt, Mexico, former USSR, Vietnam and the West Indies, together with a passion for languages, led him to create Uropi.
| Upper case | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Ʒ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower case | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z | ʒ |
| IPAphonemes | a | b | ʃ | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z | ʒ |
The Uropi alphabet has 26 letters, the 26 letters of theISO Basic Latin alphabet minus q, plus the letter ʒ, which comes from theInternational Phonetic Alphabet. Each letter corresponds to a sound and each sound to a letter.
All consonants are pronounced as in English except
Thevowelsa, e, i, o, u are pronounced as in Italian or Spanish:casasolovino,luna,pepe.Stress normally falls on themain root. For example, inapkebo = to behead, the stress falls onkeb = head. However some suffixes (such as-èl indicating an instrument) and the ending-ì for the past are always stressed; when two or more suffixes are combined, the stress always falls on thepenultimate suffix. The stress is marked with a written accent (àèìòù) on the stressed vowel when it falls on the last syllable. For example:kotèl (knife),perì (carried),fotò (photo),menù (menu).
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Uropiroots can be divided into three categories:
First and foremost Uropi claims to be a way to recreate a unity betweenIndo-European languages. With this aim, a great many Uropi roots correspond to common Indo-European roots which have been simplified, in their pronunciation and length (very often Uropi roots have one or two syllables). Thus, mother ismata (from Indo-European:mātēr*); sun issol (from Indo-European:sāwel*). This simplification corresponds to the natural evolution of Indo-European roots which have given birth to the words which are used today in modern I-E languages. Thusmata corresponds to Hindimata, sol to Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, Icelandic, and Scandinaviansol.
When there is no common Indo-European root or when there are several roots to express the same reality in various languages, Uropi may use "hybrid" words, crossing two different roots taken from different languages so as to create the most easily recognizable term for speakers of the greatest number of Indo-European languages. Thus, inliamo, to love, theli- comes fromGermanic andSlavic languages (cfGermanlieben andRussianliubit), and the-am, fromLatin languages (amo, amare, amar); or inmand, hand, the ma- comes fromLatin languages and the -and, fromGermanic languages (cfLatinmanus andGermanhand) This process is not so artificial as it seems at first sight: It has been observed in natural languages, for example, theFrenchhaut (high) comes from the crossing between old Fr.aut (from Latinaltus) andFrankishhōh. Likewise, the Englishisland comes from the crossing of Old Englishīeġland (from Proto-Germanic*awjōlandą) and Old Frenchisle (from Latininsula)[13]. It has also been deliberately used in languages like English to form new words: "portmanteau-words", for instance, the famous London "smog" comes from the crossing of '"smoke" and "fog". Let us also mention the words 'franglais (Fr =français +anglais),denglisch (Ger. =Deutsch +Englisch),spanglish (US = Spanish + English). These "hybrid" words only account for 3% of Uropi vocabulary.
Uropi also uses many words which are already "international", liketaksì, skol (school),bus, art, matc (match),polìz (police),simfonij (symphony), andtabàk (tobacco).
As many otherconlangs, Uropi uses manycompounds, either combining two roots, or usingprefixes andsuffixes.Among the former, there are the following examples:lucitòr, "lighthouse", fromluc, "light" andtor, "tower"; or, withsopo, "to sleep",sopisàk, "sleeping-bag", orsopivagòn, "sleeper" (train).
There are also numerous examples of compounds built with prefixes or suffixes: for example withdavo, "to give",disdavo, "to distribute", can be formed; withtel, "goal, purpose",atelo, "end up in, come to", can be formed; withbreko, "to break", andus, "out",usbreko, "to break out", can be formed; withapel, "apple",aplar, "apple tree", andaplaria, "apple orchard", can be formed.
In most cases, those compounds reveal the roots and thus the meaning of the compound. However, some of those compounds, even if they follow theetymology of equivalent words in living European languages, have a more obscure, rather metaphorical meaning. Thus,ruspeko, literally "to look back", means "to respect"; orincepo, literally "to seize, to grasp inside", means "to understand" (reminiscent of "to grasp (a concept)").
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Like some modernIndo-European languages, Uropi has a very limiteddeclension with only twocases:nominative andgenitive in thesingular and theplural.Uropisubstantives are divided into three groups: those ending in aconsonant, those ending in-a and those ending in anothervowel.
Among those ending in a consonant are allmasculinenouns,i.e., nouns denoting men or male animals:man: "man";kat: "(tom)cat".
Those nouns take an -e in the plural; the genitive singular is marked with an-i, and the genitive plural with-is:man, mane, mani, manis = "man, men, man's, men's".
Allfeminine nouns,i.e., nouns denoting women or female animals end in-a:ʒina: "woman";kata: "(she)cat". These nouns take an-s in the plural. The-a becomes-u in the genitive singular,-us in the genitive plural:gala, galas, galu, galus = "hen, hens, hen's, hens'".
All the other substantives are neuter: they can equally end with a consonant or with an-a: for example,tab: "table",ment: "mind", orteatra: "theatre",centra: "centre". They correspond to the neuter personal pronounje = "it".
The nouns ending with another vowel are essentially "international" words liketaksì, eurò, menù. They take an-s in the plural, but no specific mark in the genitive.
As in English, qualifyingadjectives are invariable. They are placed before the noun they qualify. Some are "pure" adjectives:bun: "good";glen: "green",kurti: "short", others are derived from nouns. In this case, their form is identical to that of the genitive singular:mani: "manly, man's";ʒinu: feminine, "woman's".
A few quantitativeindefinite adjectives which are alsopronouns take an-e in the plural:mol, mole = "much, many",poj, poje = "little, few",tal, tale = "every, all",ek, eke = "some, a few".
Personal pronouns have threecases:nominative,accusative (also used with allprepositions) anddative.Possessive adjectives are used for thegenitive. As in English, there are three pronouns in the third person singular (masculine:he; feminine:ce;neuter:je) as well as areflexive pronoun. For example:i = "I" (nominative),ma = "me" (accusative),mo = "to me" (dative),tu, ta, to = "you", etc.
List of personal pronouns:i, tu, he, ce, je, nu, vu, lu = "I, you(singular), he, she, it, we, you(plural & polite form), they". Reflexive pronoun:sia = "oneself".
Uropiverbs haveindicative,imperative andconditional moods, as well as a simple form, adurative (continuous) form and aperfect form.
1:un; 2:du; 3:tri; 4:kwer; 5:pin; 6:ses; 7:sep; 8:oc; 9:nev; 10:des; 100:sunte; 1000:tilie. 357:trisunte pindes-sep.Ordinal numbers are formed by adding-i or-j (after a vowel):duj: "second";trij: "third",kweri: "fourth",pini: "fifth"; the exception ispri: "first".
Fractions are formed by adding-t to numbers:u trit: "a third",u kwert: "a fourth, a quarter"; the exception ismij: "half".
| U Men Kidi | A Child's Thought |
|---|---|
| Be sep, wan i it a led, I find sul’ imaʒe in mi ment, Ki dragone valgan aròn kastele, Gardine wo un find maʒiki frute; Lovi damas in u tor inkarsen, O perlasen in u fost insaren; Wo galan kwalore rait su ber rijis We se de frontias da landi soinis. I find ja, sa klarim in mi ment Be sep, wan i it a led. Be sep, revos ma vekan De maʒiki land i cek in van; U sel se stan za wo stì de kastèl, De gardini bod wen u tapìz cel. Nun feja se vadan tra de plor, Bote, ne kwalore, se stan ner de dor, Id wo de blu rije sì flujan ki rikle Num u banar id vodikrùg je ste; I cek de maʒiki land in van Be sep, revos ma vekan. | At seven, when I go to bed, I find such pictures in my head: Castles with dragons prowling round, Gardens where magic fruits are found; Fair ladies prisoned in a tower, Or lost in an enchanted bower; While gallant horsemen ride by streams That border all this land of dreams I find, so clearly in my head At seven, when I go to bed. At seven, when I wake again, The magic land I seek in vain; A chair stands where the castle frowned, The carpet hides the garden ground, No fairies trip across the floor, Boots, and not horsemen, flank the door, And where the blue streams rippling ran Is now a bath and water-can; I seek the magic land in vain At seven, when I wake again. |
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