Neo (constructed language)

This article is about the constructed language. For other uses, see Neo (disambiguation).

Neo
Created by	Arturo Alfandari
Date created	1961
Setting and usage	International auxiliary language
Users	Unknown  (date missing)
Category (purpose)	constructed language International auxiliary language Neo
Category (sources)	Most of the vocabulary from Romance and some from Germanic languages; phonology from Romance and Slavic languages
Official status
Official language in	None
Regulated by	Akademio de Neo (now defunct)
Language codes
ISO 639-2	art
ISO 639-3	neu – [1]

Neo is an international auxiliary language created by a Belgian diplomat of Italian descent Arturo Alfandari.

History

The first draft was published in 1937 by Arturo Alfandari but attracted wider attention in 1961 when Alfandari published his books Cours Practique de Neo and The Rapid Method of Neo. The works included both brief and complete grammar, learning course of 44 lectures, translations of literary works (poetry and prose), original Neo literature, scientific and technical texts, idioms, detailed bi directional French and English dictionaries. The total volume of the publications was 1304 pages, with dictionaries numbering some 75 000 words. Such a degree of details was unprecedented among constructed languages of the time.

The language stands in the tradition of international auxiliary languages such as Esperanto or Ido, with the same goal - a simple, neutral and easy to learn second language for everybody.

Neo attracted the interest of the circle around the International Language Review, a periodical for IAL proponents whose publishers co-founded the international association of neists - Friends of Neo (Amikos de Neo) with Alfandari; the organization also published its bulletin, the ˝Neo-bulten˝. For a few years it looked like Neo could be a serious competition to Esperanto and Interlingua.

However, Alfandari's health worsened and to avoid disappearance of his language, he founded second, more serious organization - the Academy of Neo (Akademio de Neo) with the task of regulating, nurturing and spreading the language; but the organization turned out to not to be very successful and the progress was cut short by Alfandari's death in 1969 and the language was mostly forgotten.^[1]

Overview

Grammatically, the language is mostly influenced by Ido and Esperanto; but also, in some characteristics such as a plural -s and natural-appearing pronouns, by the naturalistic IALs like Interlingua and Occidental.

The cover of The Rapid Method of Neo

The way of forming of the vocabulary and the preference for short, monosyllabic words show a substantial Volapük influence, but unlike its roots which are often changed and mutilated beyond recognition, the Neo roots are easily recognizable as being clearly romance.

It is also notable for its terseness, which exceeds that of English or any International auxiliary language (IAL) of the a priori type, which makes it very compact and brief in expression, and for the facility of its grammar whose overview occupies only two pages.

Grammar

Article :

 lo (the) : lo frato, lo soro, lo arbro --> l'arbro
 un (a/an) :    un arbro
 Invariable

Adjective

 Ends in a : bon --> bona, 
 Examples :        un bona soro, un bona frato, lo bona fratos (pas de s à lo, ni à bona)
 Invariable

Adverb

 Ends in e : bon --> bone
 Invariable

Noun

 Ends in  o : arbro, frato
 The final o can be dropped : frato --> frat, soro --> sor
 Plural in os : arbros

Pronouns (subject, object, possessive)

 I  :          mi  me     ma
 you :         tu  te     ta
 he :          il  le     la
 she :         el  le     la
 it :          it  le/it  la
 reflexive :   so  se     sa
 we :          nos ne     na
 you :         vu  ve     va
 they (male) : zi  ze     za
 they (fem.) : zel ze/zey za 
 
 Mi vidar te (I see you)
 Tu vidar me (You see me)

Verb

 Present :               ar   --> mi vidar (I see)
 Past :                  ir   --> mi vidir (I saw/have seen)
 Future :                or   --> mi vidor (I will see)
 Conditional :           ur   --> mi vidur (I would see)
 Imperative/infinitive : i    --> vidi!    (See!)
 Past participle :       at   --> vidat    (adjective : vidata)  (Seen)
 Present participle :    ande --> vidante  (adjective : vidanta) (Seeing)
 Future participle :     inde --> vidinde  (adjective : vidinda) (Will be seen)

Samples

The Lord's Prayer:

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:

Look before you leap. = Miru pri salti.

Goodnight, Miss Wilson. = Bonnox, Damel Wilson.

What do you call this in Neo? = Kom namar vu eto nee?

Where are you going? = Qo tu?

It's none of my business. = Eto no ma eco.

Numbers:

1 un, 2 du, 3 tre, 4 qar, 5 qin, 6 sit, 7 sep, 8 ot, 9 non, 10 is

11 isun, 12 isdu

20 duis, 21 duisun, ... 30 treis, 40 qaris

100 ek, 1000 mil

5184 qinmil ek otisqar

3522 tremil qinek duis du

Wanderer's Nightsong (German: Wanderers Nachtlied) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

Noxkant del wander On tot cimos sar Ripozo, In tot et lokos Tu sentar Apene un soplo; Nel bosko l'ezetos tacar. Duldu, sun tu An ripozor.

Wanderer's Nightsong Up there all summits are still. In all the tree-tops you will feel but the dew. The birds in the forest stopped talking. Soon, done with walking, you shall rest, too.

Wanderers Nachtlied Über allen Gipfeln Ist Ruh, In allen Wipfeln Spürest du Kaum einen Hauch; Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde. Warte nur, balde Ruhest du auch.

The Task by Douglas Blacklock:

Lo Tasko Vortos sirvar asben informo As tromplo e traplo. Deo volvar lo kor del omos Dal veg de sklavos Al veg de Frido. Lo brev simpla vortos de Neo Utin ne inspiru L'uto justa De Parlo e Skribo.

The Task Words are used both to inform And to deceive and ensnare. God turns mens hearts From the path of slavery To that of Freedom. The unadorned short words of Neo May become an inspiration To the rightful use Of Speech and Writing.

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 preemintenta 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 menat lo negosados pol Versailles-Tratal e pol osa paxtratalos de 1919 e sir ridaktat et tratalos, amba lingos fande fid; dok no sen inkonvenos, lo du textos pande somyes determeni def interpretazos.

Do 1945, espanal, rusal e cinal sir an admitat as aficala 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 lingos. 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)

References

Alfandari, Arturo. Rapid Method of Neo. PM 8670.A43. 1966 (402 p.).

1. ^ Harlow, Don (2000). "How To Build A Language: Neo". The Esperanto Book. http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/EBook/chap03.html#neo. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 

Bibliography

• Alfandari, Arturo. Cours pratique de Neo (Brussel: Éditions Brepols, 1961)
• Alfandari, Arturo. Rapid Method of Neo (Brussel: Editions Brepols, 1966)

External links

• Neo - a language conceived by Arturo Alfandari
• Friends of Neo - a Yahoo Group dedicated to Neo
• The universal language Neo on Google Wave
• A blog in and on Neo
• A two-page overview
• The first 30 pages of The Rapid Method of Neo

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Russian Wikipedia.