Uropi  is an    international    language

 

What is a truly international language ?

 

Let us take a few simple examples:

 

1) The Uropi phrase:  “in de strad” is immediately understood

                                     - by an English speaker who says “in the street”

                                     - by a Dutchman who says “op de straat” (Du. in = in)

                                     - by an Italian who says “sulla strada” (It. in = in)

and even                       - by a German who says “auf der Straße” (Ge. in = in)

 

2) “jeto u butèl in mar”, by a Frenchman who says “jeter une bouteille à la mer”

(to throw a bottle in the sea)

 

3) “ito a dom”, by a Russian who says “itti domoï”  (to go home).

 

4) The sentences :  “Ven, Ramòn, ten mi pan!” or “Ven Ana, ten mi flor!” are a 100% Spanish :  “Ven Ramon, ten mi pan, Ven Ana, ten mi flor!”, only the pronunciation changes (a little: the Spanish V is pronounced ‘B’);

“in de kerk” (in the church) is a 100% Dutch : “in de kerk” .

        

  Most supporters and makers of International Auxiliary Languages (I.A.L) don’t seem to have been worried about their degree of “internationality”, that is they rarely wonder whether (and to what extent) they are really international.

 

            From Esperanto, with over 70% of its vocabulary of latin origin[1], to Neo[2] which puts up this percentage to over 75 % and to Interlingua which reaches 100%, the “internationality” issue  never seems to have been raised; the trend has always been towards more “naturalism”, and yet  an I.A.L should be international by definition.

 

            The question is delicate:

            It would be ridiculous to make an artificial mixture[3] of Chinese, Swahili, English and Urdu, sprinkled with a pinch of Tagalog and Aymara. It would be just as vain to use the recent research on “the mother tongue”[4] - which is, at any rate, questioned by other linguists  - to try and derive from it a sizeable international vocabulary.

 

             In view of this, it seemed to me that the only way, the only sensible way was to choose  Indo-European roots as a starting point. Indeed, Indo-European languages (I.E.L) are spoken on the five continents (several billions of speakers), and though they were, most of the time, the languages of invaders[5] (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese in Africa and in America), nobody would question their necessary use today.

 

            This being said, those Indo-European roots could only serve as a starting point, because, in their present shape which has been reconstructed by linguists, they are often too complex[6] and hardly recognizable for today’s speakers. Thus, we had to follow their history to the present day,  and see whether those roots gave birth to contemporary words or not, select those which are common to the largest number of living languages, eliminate those which sank into oblivion, such as ekwos*, the horse, for example, a root which was common to all the old I.E.L’s and which has practically disappeared in modern I.E.L’s (except in secondary terms like equestrian, from Latin equus < ekwos*, or  hippodrome, from Greek  hippos < ekwos*).

 

                  Uropi words were born from the comparison between an Indo-European mother-root  (when it exists) and its “offspring”, its European sons and grandsons .

            For example, the Indo-European root  kwôn* = dog, which gave birth to

 

Sankrit s’vâ, Armenian [shoon], Greek kuwn, kunoV [kuôn, kunos], Latin canis > Italian cane, Spanish can, Portuguese cão, Rumanian, cîine, French chien, German Hund, English hound, Dutch hond, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian hund, Breton ki, Welsh ci (plural cwn), Gaelic cú (pl. cunna = hound), Lithuanian ^suõ (genitive ^suns), Latvian suns = dog.

                 

gives the Uropi word kun which is undoubtedly the closest form to all of them.

 

Uropi words come into three categories:

 

                  - 1)  The “OLD FAMILIES”  

Those are the terms stemming from the Indo-European roots which have survived till today such as :

sol (sun), mata (mother), kun (dog), sedo (to sit), sto (to stand), le3o (to lie), mar (sea), moro (to die), etc…

 

                  - 2) Terms clearly belonging to ONE European language FAMILY (Romance, Germanic, Slavic, Greek, Celtic, etc…)

for example: veno[7], jeto, lavo = to come, to throw, to wash (R), breko, sendo, findo = to break, to send, to find (G), jedo, pivo, 3ivo = to eat, to drink, to live (Sl.), pol, bib, pod, krati = town, book, foot, strong (Gr.), etc…

 

                  and sometimes to a given language[8],

for example:  varto, for, nas, laso = to wait, before, nose, to leave (German), kerk, kopen, apel, nemo = church, bought, apple, to take (Dutch), vin, tu, nu, vu = wine, you (thou), we, you (plural) (French), flor, mi, dia, mar = flower, my, day, sea (Spanish), and, op, mus, tag = duck, up, mouse, roof (Danish), tu, gova, nav = you, cow, boat (Armenian), he, son, kat, mako = he, son, cat, to make (English), avo, strad, su, sedo, voc = to have, street, on, to sit, voice (Italian), vod, 3ina, tici, bito = water, woman, quiet, to beat, (Russian), etc…

                  - 3) HYBRID WORDS

  Roots belonging to different languages, could, when they met, blend with each other to give birth to “hybrid words ”. This phenomenon can be observed when two languages are led to cohabit during a fairly long period, as it was the case with Frankish (the language of Franks) and Gallo-Roman which was to become French, under the Merovingians and Carolingians, and Saxon with Franco-Norman in Medieval England. At that time the form aut – stemming from Latin altus = high – met the Frankish word hôh (CF German hoch, hohe = high) and gave birth to the French haut.

 

This is also a process used in certain languages like English to create new words:

the famous London “smog” results from the crossing of the words smoke and fog .

 

                  Uropi uses this process to create “hybrid words” which stem from several roots from various European language families:

 

This the case for the word  glod = blood, which comes from a Germanic root (Swe. Da. Nor. blod, Eng. blood, Dutch bloed, Ger. Blut), but whose b becomes g under the influence of both Celtic (Breton gwad = blood),  and Slavic: Russian krov’ (< I-E krowyom*, krûs* = blood > Lat. cruor, Lit. kraujas), or for the word giso = to bite, from Balto-Slavic: Latvian kost, Lithuanian kásti, Russian kousat’, Czech kousati = to bite + Persian  gâz (= a bite), influenced by German: beißen, biß = to bite, Serbo-Croatian gristi and Polish gryz’c’ = to bite, as well as by Uropi givo (< i-e giew*) = to chew.

 

                  This process gives Uropi words an allusive value: each term alludes to other roots, to other languages, which makes the Uropi word look familiar to most of them.

 

                  For example, the word hol = high (< Fr. haut + Ger. hoch) takes an l under the influence of It./Sp. alto and Breton uhel, Welsh uchel, and, at the same time, refers to hel = sky, heaven. The word keb = head (< Greek kephalê, Lat. caput, Sp. cabeza, Ger. Kopf) refers to kib (the top), which refers to Fr. cime & Ger. Gipfel, and also to kip (tip), which refers to Eng. tip and to It. capo (head, chief, tip) .

 

            On the GRAMMATICAL as well as LEXICAL LEVELS, Uropi is a very democratic language: the majority wins.

 

            For example: what term could be chosen for apple ?

                  1) The Indo-European root abol*/abel* = apple, can be found in 22 ancient and modern languages: Gaulish avallo, old Irish ubull, Gaelic úll, Welsh afal, Breton aval, Gothic apel, old Icelandic eple, Icelandic epli-, Old High German apful > Ger. Apfel, Dutch. appel, Eng. apple, Danish æble, Norwegian eple, Swedish äple, Lithuanian obuolys, Latvian âbols, old Slavonic ablüko > Russian iabloko, Czech: jablko, Polish: jabl-ko, Serbo-Croatian jabuka, hence Uropi apel.

                  2) Greek mhlon “mêlon”, Latin malum, modern Greek mhlo “mîlo”, Italian mela, Rumanian mär, Albanian móllë = 6 languages

                  3) Spanish manzana, Portuguese maçã = 2 languages

                  4) French pomme = 1 language > Esperanto pomo

 

            For drink ?

 

                  1) I-E pibô* > skr. pibati (he drinks), hin. pînâ, Tzigane pi (to drink), old Arm. ëmpem (I drink), Arm. embéli (a drink), Alb. pi (to drink),  Gr. pinw (pinô), Lat. bibo > It bevo, Sp. bebo, Rum. beau, old Irish. ibim (I drink), Port. beber, Catalan beure, Bret. evañ (to drink), Rus. pit’, Pol. pic’, Ser.Cro. piti, Cz. píti (= to drink; + in all Slavic languages pivo/wo = beer), that is 19 languages: hence Uropi  pivo = to drink.

 

                  2)  Ger. trinken, Du. drinken, Eng. drink, Da. Nor. drikke, Swe. dricka = 6 languages > Esperanto trinki 

                   

            The FUTURE: ve + infinitive (-o)

for example: ve voko, ve veno, ve sopo = will speak, come, sleep: this structure can be found in 14 languages:

                       

English (will talk, will come, will sleep), German (werde sprechen, wirdst kommen, wird schlafen), Dutch (zal spreken, zal komen, zullen slapen), Danish (vil have, vil give, vil skrive), Swedish (ska vara, ska läsa, ska ha), Rumanian (voi vorbi, vei face, va da), modern Greek (qa eimai, qa maqainw, qa milhsw, “tha eimai, tha mathainô, tha milîsô”), Russian (boudou tchitat’, boudech’ govorit’…), Czech (budu psát, bude brát, budeme pít), Serbo-Croatian (ja c’u imati, on c’e biti, mi c’emo videti), Armenian (bidi dam, bidi kam, bidi esém), Albanian (do të shkoj, do të hap, do të laj)

 

 

                  + immediate future in French (vais manger, vas chanter, va dormir) and Spanish (voy a hablar, vas a venir, va a comer)

                  The synthetic future as in French: -rai, -irai, -erai is only found in Romance languages  (Fr. It. Sp. Port.) = 4 languages

 

                  The GENITIVE: -i(s), -u(s) in Uropi,

for example: man, mani, manis = man, man’s, men’s; mata, matu, matus = mother, mother’s, mothers’, exists in all Germanic languages (Eng., Ger., Swe., Da. Nor.), except in Dutch, in all Slavic (Rus., Pol., Cz., Serbo-Croatian, etc…) and Baltic languages (Lithuanian & Latvian), in Armenian, Albanian, Greek and Rumanian, that is at least in 15 languages (not to mention Ukrainian, Bielorussian and Bulgarian). On the other hand, the accusative, which has been kept in Esperanto, only remains in 8 languages (Slavic and Baltic, in Greek and in German) and its forms have been considerably reduced in the latter two languages.

 

                  The ADJECTIVES ending in -i,

                  For example: lovi, miki, krati, novi = lovely, little, strong, new, can be found in

 

                  English -y (lovely, ready, empty), Slavic languages (masculine singular): Russian: yi, -ii : (“malen’kiï, chiornyï, korotkiï” = little, black, short), Serbo-Croatian -i:  (mali, novi, dugi = little, new, long), Czech –y’, -í: (dobry’’, plny’, první, jarní = good, full, first, spring-), Polish -i, -y: (drogi, lekki, leniwy, lichy = dear, light, lazy, bad), in Italian (masculine plural): -i (piccoli, grandi, belli = little, big, beautiful), and in Hungarian: víz, vízi  = Ur. vod, vodi = water, water-, tenger, tengeri = Ur. mar, mari = sea, sea-, to which you could add Ger. isch, Du. ijk, Scandinavian ik as well as Hebrew: halav, halavi = Ur. lik, liki = milk, milky, ma’arav, ma’aravi = Ur. west, westi = west, western, yisra’èli, angli = Ur. Israeli, Engli = Israeli English, etc…and Arabic faransâwi, arabi, tolyâni = French, Arabic, Italian, bonni, româdi, samâwi = brown, grey, light blue,

                  that is 7 or 12 languages.

                  The FEMININE ending in -a,

for example: mata, kwala, raja = mother, mare, queen, can be found in

 

Romance languages: (Latin: femina, puella, equa, vacca = woman, girl, mare, cow, Italian: donna, gatta = woman, she-cat, Spanish: tia, gallina = aunt, hen, Portuguese: filha, gata, rainha = girl, she-cat, queen), modern Greek. gunaika, Qeia, skula, gata, = woman, aunt, bitch, she-cat, Slavic languages (Russian: [zhena, koshka, kobyla, koroleva] = woman, she-cat, mare, queen , Serbo-Croatian: ^zena, ma^cka, kraljica = woman, she-cat, queen, Czech: z’ena, koc’ka, c’ubka, kralovna = woman, she-cat, bitch, queen, Polish: z’ona, koza, krowa, królowa = woman, goat, cow, queen, Bulgarian: “zhena” = woman, etc…), + Arabic: malika, khâla/ ’amma, kalba = queen, aunt, bitch, )

                 

= at least 11 languages.

 

                  This « majority » is sometimes reduced to “active minorities »

 

            For example the durative form:     so (to be) + present participle (-an)          

i se jedan, se sopan, sì skrivan = I am eating, sleeping, was writing, which can be found in

 

English (am eating, is sleeping, was writing), Italian (sto mangiando, sta dormendo, stava scrivendo,), Spanish (estoy comiendo, estas durmiendo, esta cantando) = I’m eating, you’re sleeping, he’s singing, French (suis en train de dormir, est en train de travailler) = I’m sleeping, is working, Dutch (ik ben aan het verhuizen, is aan het uitzoeken) = I’m moving (house), is choosing                  

                  = 5 languages

 

            or the passive:     vido (to get) + past participle  (-en)

je vid jeden, vid struen, vidì stopen = it is (gets) eaten, built, was stopped, which can be found in

German (werden) (ich werde gestraft, die Maus wird gefressen, die Bücher werden gelesen = I get punished, the mouse is eaten, the books are read), Dutch (worden) : (de muis wordt gegeten, het boek wordt gelezen, de huizen werden gebouwd = the mouse…, the book is read, the houses are built) Danish (blive) (døren blive åbnet, lyset blive slukket = the door is (gets) opened, the light is switched off, Swedish (bli) (hon blev kallad, hon ska bli opererad = he  was called, he will be operated on)

                 

= 4 languages

 

            Here logic prevails over the number: when you say the mouse is eaten by the cat, it passes from the state of a living animal to that of ingested food; it “gets” eaten, it is, unfortunately for it, a passage, and not a state. In the same way as we say « he got killed », the book gets read, the house gets built, the door gets opened, the light gets switched off, he gets called, he will become operated on.