基本英语

基于英文的人工语言

基本英语(英语:Basic English)是一种人工语言,它基于英语的一种简化版本而产生,由查尔斯·凯·奥格登创造。在他于1930年所出版的《基本英语——规则和语法的一般约定》一书中有详细的介绍。

基本英语
Basic English
创造者查尔斯·凯·奥格登
创造日期1925
设定和用法controlled natural language
分类
(目标)
人造语言
  • 基本英语
文字拉丁字母 (英文字母)
Unified English Braille
分类
(来源)
现代英语
管理机构
语言代码
ISO 639-3
IETFen-basiceng
英语

奥格登说:“学习英语要7年,学习世界语要7个月,而学习基本英语只要7星期。”其认为,商业公司因此会将艰涩难懂但需要全球使用的文书写成基本英语;而语言学校也会为了让学生短期内学会简单的英语,而教授基本英语。

奥格登不使用重复意义的单词,而且需要所有国家都适用这些单词。他利用大规模的测试和调整来得到这些词汇。在语法方面,他也做了简化,但是保留了英语通常的用法。

第二次世界大战后,这种简化开始蕴含“推进世界和平”的理念。但是由于缺乏规划,发展出了不同地方使用的简化版本。今天还存在的基本英语有850个单词作为初学英语者的单词词汇广传世界,特别是在亚洲最流行。[1]

语法规则

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奥格登基本英语的语法规则是为了让人们只用850个单词就可以解决一般交流:

  1. 在单词词尾加-s作为复数,那些加-es-ies的保留;
  2. 四个词缀:-er可以变成300多个名词,-ing-ed变成形容词;
  3. 使用-ly变成副词;
  4. 对于数量,使用moremost,保留-er-est
  5. 形容词反义词是加前缀un-, im-
  6. 问句使用相反的词序,加上do
  7. 人称代名词使用和一般英语相同;
  8. 可以使用两个名词组合成新词,比如milkmanwordend;还可以是名词加方位,例如sundown
  9. 单位数字货币月份日子年份钟点同一般英语形式;
  10. 使用专业和科技词汇。一些特殊词汇不属于基本英语,词性、复数等变化不遵守这个规范。

历史

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1944年,温斯顿·丘吉尔哈佛大学的一个演讲里,起初支持用基本英语作为世界语言,但是由于一个故事他放弃了,就是那句“blood, toil, tears and sweat”(鲜血、辛劳、眼泪和汗水)写成基本英语就是“blood, hard work, eyewash and body water”(血液、努力、泪液和体液)[2]乔治·奥威尔的作品《一九八四》中可能有对基本英语的模仿。书后对“新话”的注解可以认为暗含着对构造语言的批评,而且那在这本书的著作期间(1948年)呼声很高。

奥威尔的新话实际上更像是专为机器或网络设计的语言,不知晓网络的人士看不懂的。与之相比,奥格登的基本英语任何一个懂英语的人都能读懂,但它只能用作第二语言

单词表

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基本英语有850个核心词汇。

动作 - 100 个单词

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come, get, give, go, keep, let, make, put, seem, take, be, do, have, say, see, send, may, will, about, across, after, against, among, at, before, between, by, down, from, in, off, on, over, through, to, under, up, with, as, for, of, till, than, a, the, all, any, every, no, other, some, such, that, this, I, he, you, who, and, because, but, or, if, though, while, how, when, where, why, again, ever, far, forward, here, near, now, out, still, then, there, together, well, almost, enough, even, little, much, not, only, quite, so, very, tomorrow, yesterday, north, south, east, west, please, yes.

事物 - 400 个常用单词

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account, act, addition, adjustment, advertisement, agreement, air, amount, amusement, animal, answer, apparatus, approval, argument, art, attack, attempt, attention, attraction, authority, back, balance, base, behaviour, belief, birth, bit, bite, blood, blow, body, brass, bread, breath, brother, building, burn, burst, business, butter, canvas, care, cause, chalk, chance, change, cloth, coal, colour, comfort, committee, company, comparison, competition, condition, connection, control, cook, copper, copy, cork, cotton, cough, country, cover, crack, credit, crime, crush, cry, current, curve, damage, danger, daughter, day, death, debt, decision, degree, design, desire, destruction, detail, development, digestion, direction, discovery, discussion, disease, disgust, distance, distribution, division, doubt, drink, driving, dust, earth, edge, education, effect, end, error, event, example, exchange, existence, expansion, experience, expert, fact, fall, family, father, fear, feeling, fiction, field, fight, fire, flame, flight, flower, fold, food, force, form, friend, front, fruit, glass, gold, government, grain, grass, grip, group, growth, guide, harbour, harmony, hate, hearing, heat, help, history, hole, hope, hour, humour, ice, idea, impulse, increase, industry, ink, insect, instrument, insurance, interest, invention, iron, jelly, join, journey, judge, jump, kick, kiss, knowledge, land, language, laugh, law, lead, learning, leather, letter, level, lift, light, limit, linen, liquid, list, look, loss, love, machine, man, manager, mark, market, mass, meal, measure, meat, meeting, memory, metal, middle, milk, mind, mine, minute, mist, money, month, morning, mother, motion, mountain, move, music, name, nation, need, news, night, noise, note, number, observation, offer, oil, operation, opinion, order, organization, ornament, owner, page, pain, paint, paper, part, paste, payment, peace, person, place, plant, play, pleasure, point, poison, polish, porter, position, powder, power, price, print, process, produce, profit, property, prose, protest, pull, punishment, purpose, push, quality, question, rain, range, rate, ray, reaction, reading, reason, record, regret, relation, religion, representative, request, respect, rest, reward, rhythm, rice, river, road, roll, room, rub, rule, run, salt, sand, scale, science, sea, seat, secretary, selection, self, sense, servant, sex, shade, shake, shame, shock, side, sign, silk, silver, sister, size, sky, sleep, slip, slope, smash, smell, smile, smoke, sneeze, snow, soap, society, son, song, sort, sound, soup, space, stage, start, statement, steam, steel, step, stitch, stone, stop, story, stretch, structure, substance, sugar, suggestion, summer, support, surprise, swim, system, talk, taste, tax, teaching, tendency, test, theory, thing, thought, thunder, time, tin, top, touch, trade, transport, trick, trouble, turn, twist, unit, use, value, verse, vessel, view, voice, walk, war, wash, waste, water, wave, wax, way, weather, week, weight, wind, wine, winter, woman, wood, wool, word, work, wound, writing, year.

事物 - 200个可用图表示的单词

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angle, ant, apple, arch, arm, army, baby, bag, ball, band, basin, basket, bath, bed, bee, bell, berry, bird, blade, board, boat, bone, book, boot, bottle, box, boy, brain, brake, branch, brick, bridge, brush, bucket, bulb, button, cake, camera, card, cart, carriage, cat, chain, cheese, chest, chin, church, circle, clock, cloud, coat, collar, comb, cord, cow, cup, curtain, cushion, dog, door, drain, drawer, dress, drop, ear, egg, engine, eye, face, farm, feather, finger, fish, flag, floor, fly, foot, fork, fowl, frame, garden, girl, glove, goat, gun, hair, hammer, hand, hat, head, heart, hook, horn, horse, hospital, house, island, jewel, kettle, key, knee, knife, knot, leaf, leg, library, line, lip, lock, map, match, monkey, moon, mouth, muscle, nail, neck, needle, nerve, net, nose, nut, office, orange, oven, parcel, pen, pencil, picture, pig, pin, pipe, plane, plate, plough, pocket, pot, potato, prison, pump, rail, rat, receipt, ring, rod, roof, root, sail, school, scissors, screw, seed, sheep, shelf, ship, shirt, shoe, skin, skirt, snake, sock, spade, sponge, spoon, spring, square, stamp, star, station, stem, stick, stocking, stomach, store, street, sun, table, tail, thread, throat, thumb, ticket, toe, tongue, tooth, town, train, tray, tree, trousers, umbrella, wall, watch, wheel, whip, whistle, window, wing, wire, worm.

状态 - 100个常用单词

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able, acid, angry, automatic, beautiful, black, boiling, bright, broken, brown, cheap, chemical, chief, clean, clear, common, complex, conscious, cut, deep, dependent, early, elastic, electric, equal, fat, fertile, first, fixed, flat, free, frequent, full, general, good, great, grey, hanging, happy, hard, healthy, high, hollow, important, kind, like, living, long, male, married, material, medical, military, natural, necessary, new, normal, open, parallel, past, physical, political, poor, possible, present, private, probable, quick, quiet, ready, red, regular, responsible, right, round, same, second, separate, serious, sharp, smooth, sticky, stiff, straight, strong, sudden, sweet, tall, thick, tight, tired, true, violent, waiting, warm, wet, wide, wise, yellow, young.

状态 - 50 个有反义词的单词

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awake, bad, bent, bitter, blue, certain, cold, complete, cruel, dark, dead, dear, delicate, different, dirty, dry, false, feeble, female, foolish, future, green, ill, last, late, left, loose, loud, low, mixed, narrow, old, opposite, public, rough, sad, safe, secret, short, shut, simple, slow, small, soft, solid, special, strange, thin, white, wrong.

参见

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参考文献

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  1. ^ Edmond H Weiss The Elements of International English Style, pp. 17-18, M. E. Sharpe, 2005 ISBN 978-0-7656-1572-5(英文)
  2. ^ 来自于时代教育副刊名言集页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆

外部链接

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