Neo (constructed language)

Neo is an international auxiliary language created by Arturo Alfandari, a Belgian diplomat of Italian descent. It combines features of Esperanto, Ido, Novial, and Volapük. The root base of Neo is closely related to French, with some influence from English.

History

The basic version of Neo was published in 1937 by Arturo Alfandari. It attracted attention in 1961 when Alfandari published his books ''Cours Pratique de Neo'' and ''The Rapid Method of Neo''. The works included both brief and complete grammars, learning course of 44 lectures, translations of literary works, scientific and technical texts, idioms, detailed bidirectional French and English dictionaries. The total volume of the publications was 1,304 pages, with dictionaries numbering some 75,000 words.

The language combines the features of 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 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 give some serious competition to Esperanto and Interlingua.

As Alfandari's health worsened, to avoid disappearance of his language, he founded a second, more serious organization: the Academy of Neo (''Akademio de Neo''), with the task of regulating, nurturing and spreading the language; but the organization was not very successful. Progress was cut short by Alfandari's death in 1969 and the language was mostly forgotten.

Overview

Grammatically, the language is mostly influenced by Ido and Esperanto; though some characteristics such as a plural ''-s'' and natural-appearing pronouns come from naturalistic IALs like Interlingua and Interlingue.

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

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Orthography

Alphabet

Neo uses the 26 letters of the standard Roman alphabet: 5 vowels and 21 consonants. When spelling a word, the letters have an -e ending:

a, be, ce, de, e, fe, ge, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, qe, re, se, te, u, ve, we, xe, ye, ze.

Pronunciation

The ''c'' has the same pronunciation as the digraph ''ch''; both are pronounced as in English words like ''chalk'' or ''chimney'', and in borrowed Italian words like ''ciao'' or ''bocconcini'', never with the 'k' sound in ''care'' or the 's' sound in ''certain.'' The ''g'' always has the “hard” pronunciation of ''get'' or ''good'', never the “soft” pronunciation of ''gem'' or ''giant''. The ''s'' is always unvoiced, never pronounced with the 'z' sound in ''rose'' or the 'zh' sound in ''leisure.''

Other letters, including the vowels, are pronounced as in Esperanto. Words with the letters ''q'' (not pronounced 'kjoo' but as in English 'qu') and ''x'' (pronounced 'ks' without an initial vowel) may optionally be spelled with ''kw'' and ''ks'', respectively. Each letter is always spoken in the same way, except that final ''h'' is silent in a few borrowed words like pasha''h'', mufti''h'', kadi''h'', papa''h'', mama''h''.

Spelling

All words are written with initial small letters (minuscules), except for proper nouns and the first word of a sentence.

Stress

Words ending in a vowel have a stress accent on the second-last syllable. Words ending in a consonant have a stress accent on the last syllable.

The plural -s or -os does not affect the stress accent.

In the combinations uo, au and eu, the vowels are to be pronounced separately, not as diphthongs. Nevertheless, the stress accent does not fall on the u in these vowel combinations.

Grammar

The articles are invariable:
* lo (the): lo frato, lo soro, lo arbro → l'arbro
* un (a/an): un arbro

Adjectives end in ''a'' and are invariable:
* un bona soro, un bona frato, lo bona fratos (no ''s'' added to ''lo'', nor to ''bona'')

Adverbs end in ''e'' and are invariable:
* bon → bone

Singular nouns end in ''o'', which can be dropped, as long as the pronunciations remain very easy. Plural nouns end in ''os''.
;* arbro, frat(o), sor(o), arbros

There is also the pronoun ziel for mixed-sex group.Rapid Method of Neo, p. 16

* ''Mi vidar te'' = I see you
* ''Tu vidar me'' = You see me

Verbs:
* 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: iu or u (the latter for polysyllabic verbs) → vidu! (See!)
* Past participle: at → vidat (adjective: vidata) (seen)
* Present participle: ande → vidande (adjective: vidanda) (seeing)
* Future participle: inde → vidinde (adjective: vidinda) (will be seen)

Samples

The Lord's Prayer

Sentences

:Look before you leap. =
:Goodnight, Miss Wilson. =
:What do you call this in Neo? =
:Where are you going? =
:It's none of my business. =

Numbers

:1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10
:11 , 12
:20 , 21 , ... 30 , 40
:100 , 1000
:5184
:3522

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

:

: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.

:

The Task by Douglas Blacklock

:

: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.

(Gino Buti)

(Arturo Alfandari)

References

Bibliography

Arturo Alfandari, ''Cours pratique de NEO''
Brussel, Éditions Brepols, 1961. (DJVU 23.3 MB)
Arturo Alfandari, ''Méthode rapide de NEO''
Brussel, Éditions Brepols, 1965. (DJVU 4.5 MB)
Arturo Alfandari, ''Rapid method of NEO''
Brussel, Éditions Brepols, 1966. (DJVU 4.7 MB)

External links

A blog in and on NeoA two-page overviewThe first 30 pages of The Rapid Method of NeoNeo Wiki on Miraheze

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Constructed languages
International auxiliary languages
Constructed languages introduced in the 1930s
1937 introductions