Seaspeak is a

controlled natural language Controlled natural languages (CNLs) are subsets of natural languages that are obtained by restricting the grammar and vocabulary in order to reduce or eliminate ambiguity and complexity. Traditionally, controlled languages fall into two major types ...

(CNL) based on

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, designed to facilitate communication between ships whose captains' native tongues differ. It has now been formalised as

Standard Marine Communication Phrases The Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) is a set of key phrases in the English language (which is the internationally recognised language of the sea), supported by the international community for use at sea and developed by the Internation ...

(SMCP). While generally based on the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

, seaspeak has a very small vocabulary, and will incorporate foreign words where English does not have a suitable word. There are other similar special-purpose CNLs, including

aviation English Aviation English is the '' de facto'' international language of civil aviation. With the expansion of air travel in the 20th century, there were safety concerns about the ability of pilots and air traffic controllers to communicate. In 1951, the ...

for aircraft, and the English–French hybrid PoliceSpeak for safety administration of the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover ...

History

Seaspeak originated at the International Maritime Lecturers Association (IMLA) Workshop on Maritime English in 1985 in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest cit ...

(WOME 3), in a project led by Captain Fred Weeks, and was updated in the following years. After the MS ''Scandinavian Star'' disaster in 1990, in which communication errors played a part, an effort was made by the

International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO, French: ''Organisation maritime internationale'') is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference ...

to update Seaspeak and the Standard Maritime Communication Vocabulary (SMCV). This resulted in the development of the

(SMCP), which were adopted by the IMO as resolution A.198(22) in November 2001 at their 22nd Assembly.

Example phrase "Say again"

A good example of the benefit of seaspeak is the use of a single short and carefully crafted phrase to replace a multitude of phrases. Thus the phrase "say again" could replace any of the following: * Could not hear what you said, please repeat! * I did not understand, say that again. * Too much noise, repeat what you said! * I am having difficulty hearing what you are saying! Please repeat what you were trying to say. * There is too much noise on the line – I cannot understand you. * What did you say? A simplified vocabulary also helps overcome static, since the phrase "say again" is always two words and three syllables, no matter how much it is blurred by that static.

References

* * * {{cite book , title=IMO

Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) The Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) is a set of key phrases in the English language (which is the internationally recognised language of the sea), supported by the international community for use at sea and developed by the Internation ...

, publisher=International Maritime Organisation , isbn=92-801-5137-1

External links

Prolingua
the company where Edward Johnson worked on SeaSpeak, AirSpeak, etc. English for specific purposes Naval signals

History

Example phrase "Say again"

References

See also

External links