Novial


Novial is a constructed international auxiliary language for universal communication between speakers of different native languages. It was devised by Otto Jespersen, a Danish linguist who had been involved in the Ido movement, and later in the development of Interlingua.
Its vocabulary is based largely on the Germanic and Romance languages and its grammar is influenced by English.
Novial was introduced in Jespersen's book An International Language in 1928. It was updated in his dictionary Novial Lexike in 1930, and further modifications were proposed in the 1930s, but the language became dormant with Jespersen's death in 1943. In the 1990s, with the revival of interest in constructed languages brought on by the Internet, some people rediscovered Novial.

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Stress

The basic rule is: stress the vowel before the last consonant. However, consonantal flexional endings do not count for this so perhaps it is better to say that the vowel before the final consonant of the stem takes the stress.

Orthography

The digraphs ch and sh represent or, depending on the speaker. For example, chokolate would be pronounced either or.

Grammar

Personal pronouns, subject and object

In Novial, nominative and oblique pronouns are identical.
The standard word order is subject-verb-object, as in English. Therefore, the object need not be marked to distinguish it from the subject:
E.g.:
The accusative is therefore most often identical to the nominative. However, in case of an ambiguity problem, an optional accusative ending, -m, is available but is rarely used. The preposition em is equivalent to this ending.
The personal possessive adjectives are formed from the pronouns by adding -n or after a consonant -en. This is in fact the genitive of the pronoun so men means both "my" and "mine" :
E.g.:
Possession may also be expressed with the preposition de: de me, de vu, and so on.
PersonEnglish English Novial
1st SingularMyMineMen
2nd SingularYourYoursVun
3rd Singular HisHisLon
3rd Singular HerHersLan
3rd Singular N/A N/A Len
3rd Singular ItsItsLun
ImpersonalOne's/Their/YourOne's/Theirs/YoursOnen
1st PluralOurOursNusen
2nd PluralYourYoursVusen
3rd Plural TheirTheirsLosen
3rd Plural TheirTheirsLasen
3rd Plural TheirTheirsLesen
3rd Plural TheirTheirsLusen

Verbs

Verb forms never change with person or number. Most verb tenses, moods and voices are expressed with auxiliary verbs preceding the root form of the main verb. The auxiliaries follow the same word order as the English equivalent. The pronouns are indicated with parentheses and are given for example purposes.
GrammarEnglishNovial
Infinitiveto protectprotekte
Present protect protekte
Present Perfect have protected ha protekte
Simple Past protected did protekte or protekted
Past Perfect had protected had protekte
Future shall protect or will protect sal protekte or ve protekte
Future Perfect shall have protected or will have protected sal ha protekte or ve ha protekte
Future In The Past was going to protect saled protekte
Conditional would protect vud protekte
Conditional Perfect would have protected vud ha protekte
First ImperativeLet protect!Let protekte!
Second Imperativeprotect!protekte!

Novial clearly distinguishes the passive of becoming and the passive of being. In English the forms are often the same, using the auxiliary verb to be followed by the past participle. However, the passive of becoming is also often expressed with the verb to get which is used in the examples below.
The passive voice of becoming is formed with the auxiliary bli followed by the root verb form.
GrammarEnglishNovial
Infinitiveto get protectedbli protekte
Present get protected bli protekte
Present Perfect have got protected ha bli protekte
Simple Past got protected blid protekte
Past Perfect had got protected had bli protekte
Future shall get protected or will get protected sal bli protekte or ve bli protekte
Future Perfect shall have got protected or will have got protected sal ha bli protekte or ve ha bli protekte
Future In The Past was going to get protected saled bli protekte
Conditional would get protected vud bli protekte
Conditional Perfect would have got protected vud ha bli protekte
First ImperativeLet get protected!Let bli protekte!
Second Imperativeget protected!bli protekte!

The passive voice of being is formed with the auxiliary es followed by the past passive participle.
GrammarEnglishNovial
Infinitiveto be protectedes protektet
Present am protected es protektet
Present Perfect have been protected ha es protektet
Simple Past was protected did es protektet or esed protektet
Past Perfect had been protected had es protektet
Future shall be protected or will be protected sal es protektet or ve es protektet
Future Perfect shall have been protected or will have been protected sal ha es protektet or ve ha es protektet
Future In The Past was going to be protected saled es protektet
Conditional would be protected vud es protektet
Conditional Perfect would have been protected vud ha es protektet
First ImperativeLet be protected!Let es protektet!
Second Imperativebe protected!es protektet!

Articles

The definite article is li which is invariant. It is used as in English.
There is no indefinite article, although un can be used.

Nouns

The plural noun is formed by adding –s to the singular.
The accusative case is generally identical to the nominative but can optionally be marked with the ending -m with the plural being -sem or with the preposition em.
The genitive is formed with the ending -n with the plural being -sen or with the preposition de.
Other cases are formed with prepositions.

Adjectives

All adjectives end in -i, but this may be dropped if it is easy enough to pronounce and no confusion will be caused. Adjectives precede the noun qualified. Adjectives do not agree with the noun but may be given noun endings if there is no noun present to receive them.
Comparative adjectives are formed by placing various particles in front of the adjective receiving the comparison. Likewise, the superlative particles precede the adjective. The adjective does not receive an inflection to its ending.

Adverbs

An adjective is converted to a corresponding adverb by adding -m after the -i ending of the adjective.
Comparative and superlative adverbs are formed in the same manner as comparative and superlative adjectives: by placing a specific particle before the adverb receiving the comparison.

Vocabulary

Affixes

See the and at the Novial Wikibook.

Novial compared to Esperanto and Ido

Jespersen was a professional linguist, unlike Esperanto's creator. He disliked the arbitrary and artificial character that he found in Esperanto and Ido. Additionally, he objected to those languages' inflectional systems, which he found needlessly complex. He sought to make Novial at once euphonious and regular while also preserving useful structures from natural languages.
In Novial:
A major difference between Novial and Esperanto/Ido concerns noun endings. Jespersen rejected a single vowel to terminate all nouns, finding it unnatural and potentially confusing. Instead, Novial nouns may end in -o, -a, -e, or -u or -um. These endings may be taken to indicate natural sex according to the custom in Romance languages. Also there is no grammatical gender or requirement for adjectives to agree with nouns.

Language sample for comparison

Here is the Lord's Prayer in Novial and several related languages:
Novial version:Esperanto version:Ido version:Latin version:

Nusen Patre, kel es in siele,

mey vun nome bli sanktifika,

mey vun regno veni;

mey on fa vun volio

kom in siele anke sur tere.

Dona a nus disdi li omnidiali pane,

e pardona a nus nusen ofensos,

kom anke nus pardona a nusen ofensantes,

e non dukte nus en tentatione,

ma liberisa nus fro malu.

Amen.
Patro nia, kiu estas en la ĉielo,

Via nomo estu sanktigita.

Venu Via regno,

plenumiĝu Via volo,

kiel en la ĉielo, tiel ankaŭ sur la tero.

Nian panon ĉiutagan donu al ni hodiaŭ.

Kaj pardonu al ni niajn ŝuldojn,

kiel ankaŭ ni pardonas al niaj ŝuldantoj.

Kaj ne konduku nin en tenton,

sed liberigu nin de la malbono.

Amen.
Patro nia, qua esas en la cielo,

tua nomo santigesez;

tua regno advenez;

tua volo facesez

quale en la cielo tale anke sur la tero.

Donez a ni cadie l'omnadia pano,

e pardonez a ni nia ofensi,

quale anke ni pardonas a nia ofensanti,

e ne duktez ni aden la tento,

ma liberigez ni del malajo.

Amen.
Pater noster, qui es in caelis:

sanctificetur Nomen Tuum;

adveniat Regnum Tuum;

fiat voluntas Tua,

sicut in caelo, et in terra.

Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;

et dimitte nobis debita nostra,

Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;

et ne nos inducas in tentationem;

sed libera nos a Malo.

Amen.

Criticism

As Jespersen relates in his autobiography, in 1934 he proposed an orthographic reform to Novial, which displeased a part of the users. Jespersen abandoned the essential principle of one sound, one letter :
Some of Jespersen's colleagues among philologists jokingly referred to Novial as Jesperanto, combining his surname with Esperanto, the prototypical auxiliary language.