基本英語

基于英文的人工语言

基本英語(英語:Basic English)是一種人工語言,它基於英語的一種簡化版本而產生,由查爾斯·凱·奧格登創造。在他於1930年所出版的《基本英語——規則和文法的一般約定》一書中有詳細的介紹。

基本英語
Basic English
創造者查爾斯·凱·奧格登
創造日期1925
設定和用法controlled natural language
分類
(目標)
人造語言
  • 基本英語
文字拉丁字母 (英文字母)
Unified English Braille
分類
(來源)
現代英語
管理機構
語言代碼
ISO 639-3
IETFen-basiceng
英語

奧格登說:「學習英語要7年,學習世界語要7個月,而學習基本英語只要7星期。」其認為,商業公司因此會將艱澀難懂但需要全球使用的文書寫成基本英語;而語言學校也會為了讓學生短期內學會簡單的英語,而教授基本英語。

奧格登不使用重複意義的單字,而且需要所有國家都適用這些單字。他利用大規模的測試和調整來得到這些詞彙。在文法方面,他也做了簡化,但是保留了英語通常的用法。

第二次世界大戰後,這種簡化開始蘊含「推進世界和平」的理念。但是由於缺乏規劃,發展出了不同地方使用的簡化版本。今天還存在的基本英語有850個單字作為初學英語者的單字詞彙廣傳世界,特別是在亞洲最流行。[1]

文法規則

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奧格登基本英語的文法規則是為了讓人們只用850個單字就可以解決一般交流:

  1. 在單字詞尾加-s作為複數,那些加-es-ies的保留;
  2. 四個詞綴:-er可以變成300多個名詞,-ing-ed變成形容詞;
  3. 使用-ly變成副詞;
  4. 對於數量,使用moremost,保留-er-est
  5. 形容詞反義詞是加前綴un-, im-
  6. 問句使用相反的詞序,加上do
  7. 人稱代名詞使用和一般英語相同;
  8. 可以使用兩個名詞組合成新詞,比如milkmanwordend;還可以是名詞加方位,例如sundown
  9. 單位數字貨幣月份日子年份鐘點同一般英語形式;
  10. 使用專業和科技詞彙。一些特殊詞彙不屬於基本英語,詞性、複數等變化不遵守這個規範。

歷史

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1944年,溫斯頓·丘吉爾哈佛大學的一個演講裏,起初支持用基本英語作為世界語言,但是由於一個故事他放棄了,就是那句「blood, toil, tears and sweat」(鮮血、辛勞、眼淚和汗水)寫成基本英語就是「blood, hard work, eyewash and body water」(血液、努力、淚液和體液)[2]喬治·奧威爾的作品《一九八四》中可能有對基本英語的模仿。書後對「新話」的註解可以認為暗含着對構造語言的批評,而且那在這本書的著作期間(1948年)呼聲很高。

奧威爾的新話實際上更像是專為機器或網路設計的語言,不知曉網路的人士看不懂的。與之相比,奧格登的基本英語任何一個懂英語的人都能讀懂,但它只能用作第二語言

單字表

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基本英語有850個核心詞彙。

動作 - 100 個單字

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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 個常用單字

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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個可用圖表示的單字

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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.

狀態 - 100個常用單字

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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.

狀態 - 50 個有反義詞的單字

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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.

參見

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參考文獻

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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. ^ 來自於時代教育副刊名言集頁面存檔備份,存於互聯網檔案館

外部連結

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