Novial '98

<body bgcolor=#ffffff> <center> <h1>Novial '98</h1> <hr> <a href="#news">News</a> · <a href="#2830">N28->N30</a> · <a href="#3098">Grammar changes</a> · <a href="#vocab">Vocabulary</a> · <a href="#quo">Status quo</a> · <a href="#cur">Current debate</a> · <a href="dict.html">Dictionary</a> · <a href="links.html">Other Novial Links</a> <hr> </center> <p> <tr><td valign=top> Novial '98 is an ongoing project to revive and improve (where felt necessary) Novial. Our aim is to leave it as close to Jespersen's original language (as presented in <a href="http://yi.com/home/ChandlerJames/AIL.html">An International Language"</a> and <a href="nl.html">"Novial Lexike"</a>) as possible, but to fix up some problematic or difficult areas, increase the vocabulary, and ultimately present it to the world as an international auxiliary language. Therefore 1928/30 Novial is taken as our "status quo". </td> <p> <td valign=top> Novial '98 es sta-esenti projete at ri-vivifikar e plubonizar (kilok sentit nesesari) Novial. Nusen eme es ke le rester tam proxi a li originali lingue de Jespersen (kom prisentat in <a href="http://yi.com/home/ChandlerJames/AIL.html"><i>An International Language</i></a> e <a href="nl.html"><i>Novial Lexike</i></a>) kam posibli, ma ke unesmim nus reparar problemosi o desfasili lokes, kreskar li vordesie, e finalim prisentar le a li monde kom internationali auxiliari lingue. Dunke 1930 Novial bli usar kom nusen "status quo". </td> <p> <tr><td valign=top> Our forum for doing this is a mailing list called <b>NOVIAL-REV</b>, maintained by Don Blaheta. Anyone who wishes to join us in our work are welcome. The languages used on the list are English and Novial, but we would especially like input from people whose native language is other than English. If you'd like to subscribe, send mail to <a href="mailto:listserv@brownvm.brown.edu">listserv@brownvm.brown.edu</a> with "<tt>subscribe novial-rev </tt><i>My Name</i>" in the text; to unsubscribe, send mail to the same address saying "<tt>unsubscribe novial-rev</tt>". Those wishing to argue the merits of another IAL versus Novial and so forth are not invited, however, as there are other forums for such debates; the list is for work on (and in) Novial only. Please note that decisions already made are considered final and will only be re-opened for debate if a majority of the group members vote to do so. Also, any people who feel they would like to join should make themselves as familiar as possible with Jespersen's language first (here are some <a href="links.html" target=_top>Novial links</a>). </td> <p> <td valign=top> Nusen forume por he es posteliste nomati <b>NOVIAL-REV</b>, mantenati da Don Blaheta. Irge kel vud volir junkter kun nus at laborar es bonveniti. Li lingues usati an li liste es Anglese e Novial, ma nus spesialim vud volir kontributiones da homes kelen naskivi lingue es altre kam Anglese. Si vu vud volir abonar, e-postar a <a href="mailto:listserv@brownvm.brown.edu">listserv@brownvm.brown.edu</a> kun "<tt>subscribe novial-rev </tt><i>Men Nome</i>" in li texte; por desabonar, e-postar a li sami adrese skriptant "<tt>unsubscribe novial-rev</tt>". Tes kel volir argumentar pri li meritationes de altri IAL ulter Novial non es invitati, tamen, pro ke es altri forumes por tal debatationes; li liste es por labores nur pri Novial (e parlatione noviali). Bonvolir notar ke li desisiones ja fat es konsiderati kom finali e va bli riviser nur si majoritate de li grupanes votar far talim. Anke, irge kel vud volir junkter dever unesmim devenir tam komprendanti kam posibli ye Jespersenen lingue (trovar hilok <a href="links.html" target=_top>Noviali linkes</a>). </table> <hr> <h2><a name="news">News</a></h2>  <p> </p> <hr> <h2><a name="2830">Changes between Novial28 and Novial30</a></h2>  <p> There weren't very many changes between the Novial28 of <em>An International Language</em> and the Novial30 of <em>Novial Lexike</em>, but here they are. <ol> <p> <li>Numbers: 7 <b>sep</b> and 8 <b>ok</b> became <b>set</b> and <b>ot</b>. <p> <li>Vocabulary: There are a few vocabulary changes (e.g. <b>monate</b>-><b>mensu</b>, <b>vorte</b>-><b>vorde</b>); since AIL did not have a glossary, I will not list all the changes here but merely say that NL is the canonical vocabulary reference. <p> <li>Adverbs: the <b>-im</b> ending is no longer required if it immediately precedes an adjective. Thus <b>extrem fasil</b>, <b>tot nudi</b>. <p> <li>Future: The particle <b>ve</b> has been added by the side of <b>sal</b> to represent the future tense. <p> <li>Concrete neuter: Whereas in N28 the ending <b>-um</b> represents neuter, N30 has an additional ending also. The suffix <b>-u</b> represents <em>concrete</em> neuter objects, and <b>-um</b> is reserved for <em>abstract</em> things. These endings are primarily used in two ways: to form nouns from adjectives, and in the pronouns <b>lu</b>, <b>lum</b>. </p> </ol> <p> In all other cases, AIL may be regarded as correct as a base upon which the N98 modifications are applied. James Chandler has put online many sections of <a href="http://yi.com/home/ChandlerJames/AIL.html">AIL</a>. </p> <hr> <h2><a name="3098">Grammatical changes between Novial30 and Novial98</a></h2>  <ol> <p><li>The most striking change has been the addition of <strong>-r</strong> to verbs. Jespersen had verbs ending in <strong>-a, -e, -i, -u</strong>. We changed these to <strong>-ar, -er, -ir, -ur</strong>, because all these endings had other functions as well: <strong>-a</strong> and <strong>-e</strong> are noun endings, <strong>-i</strong> is the adjectival ending, and <strong>-u</strong> is both a concrete noun ending and an adverbial ending; we felt it better to distinguish the verbs somehow, and the ending <strong>-r</strong> appears both in most Romance languages in the infinitive of verbs, and in the Scandinavian languages in the present tense (in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish) and other tenses (Icelandic, Faroese). <strong>[07.02.1997]</strong> <p><li>The auxiliaries <strong>did, sal / ve,</strong> and <strong>vud</strong>, which were previously used only to form verbal tenses, may now be used with other parts of speech as well, eg. <strong>did bruni hause</strong> "a formerly/previously brown house, a house which was brown"; <strong>sal bruni hause</strong> "a house which will be brown (in the future)". We also created one new auxiliary, <strong>sta</strong>, which can be used to emphasize the ongoing, continuing nature of an action, eg. <strong>me lekter</strong> = "I read, am reading"; <strong>me sta lekter</strong> = "I am reading (right now), I am engaged in the act of reading". <strong>[07.02.1997]</strong> <p><li>Changes to the affixes: <ul> <li>Jespersen offered two prefixes for forming abstract nouns: <strong>-eso</strong> and <strong>-itate</strong>. We preferred <strong>-itate</strong> because <strong>-eso</strong> ends in an <strong>-o</strong>, which should only be used to denote masculine animate nouns; we could just change it to <b>-ese</b>, but we also think it's a bad idea to have two suffixes which mean exactly the same thing. Thus <b>-eso</b> will no longer be used in any form. <b>[07.02.1997]</b> Adjectives ending in <b>-nt(i)</b> now form abstract nouns by changing this ending to <b>-nse</b>; all other adjectives use <b>-itate</b>. <strong>[29.03.1997]</strong> <li> A new suffix denoting a group or collection of things or people has been created. Jespersen had <strong>-aro</strong>, which we felt could be too easily confused with the other suffixes <strong>-arie</strong> and <strong>-ari</strong>, and also ended in <strong>-o</strong>, which is only to be used for masculine nouns. Our new form is to add <strong>ie</strong> to the plural of the word. Eg. <strong>vorde > vordesie</strong> (previously <strong>vordaro</strong>). <strong>[07.02.1997]</strong> <li>The prefix <strong>bo-</strong> (showing relation by marriage) has been replaced with <strong>mari-</strong>. <strong>[07.02.1997]</strong> <li>The ending <strong>-u</strong> served both to form concrete nouns from adjectives and to make adverbs from prepositions. We have assigned the first meaning only to <strong>-u</strong>, and decided that adverbs from prepositions be made with the regular adverb suffix <strong>-im</strong>, eg. "inside" now = <strong>inim</strong> (previously <strong>inu</strong>). <strong>[07.02.1997]</strong> </ul> <p><li>Though the basic noun ending is <strong>-e</strong>, Jespersen gives some nouns such as <strong>piano, mensu</strong>, with other terminations; we are regularizing these everywhere possible, thus ending up with forms like <strong>piane, mensue</strong>. This includes the suffixes <strong>-ia, -ilo </strong> and <strong>-ologia</strong>, which have become <strong>-ie, ile</strong> and <strong>-ologie</strong>. <strong>[07.02.1997]</strong> <p><li>The pronouns in the third person are <strong>le</strong> "he/she", <strong>lu</strong> "it (concrete neuter)", and <strong>lum</strong> "it (abstract neuter)". These are formed regularly according to the same pattern as nouns, eg. <strong>bone, bonu, bonum</strong> from <strong>boni</strong>. It has been decided for Novial '98, however, that while it is always correct to use the three distinct pronouns <strong>le, lu, lum</strong>, it is also permissible to use just <strong>le</strong> as a "general third person pronoun" for all beings and things, if it is felt that no confusion or ambiguity will thereby result. <strong>[05.04.97]</strong> <p><li>The phonology philosophy of Novial98 can be summed up as follows: Every letter (or digraph--<b>CH</b>, <b>SH</b>, and <b>QU</b>) has one or more "ideal pronunciations", zero or more "positional variants", and zero or more "accepted alternative pronunciations". If there are multiple "ideal pronunciations", either can be used anywhere the corresponding letter appears in a word. This is the case for e.g. <b>J</b> ([Z] or [dZ]) or (at the moment) <b>CH</b>/<b>SH</b> ([S] or [tS]). A "positional variant" is perfectly allowed, but only in certain phonological environments. For instance, N may be pronounced as [N] before a velar (<b>K</b>, <b>G</b>, <b>X</b>). And lastly, some letters have "alternative" pronunciations; these are <i>not</i> considered correct Novial, but are better at least than unacknowledged alternatives. For instance, <b>X</b> is usually [ks], but [gz] is a substandard alternative. (This is more of a clarification than a change.) <b>[8.5.1997]</b> <p><li>The letter <strong>W</strong> has been added (on a limited basis) to the Novial alphabet. Its exact pronunciation has not yet been fixed, however. <strong>[12.05.1997]</strong> <p><li>The letter <strong>Z</strong> has been added to the Novial alphabet, with the pronunciation [z] (as in English). <strong>[06.06.1997]</strong> <p><li>In order to differentiate between it and the pronoun <strong>tu</strong>, the infinitive marker has been changed from <strong>tu</strong> to <strong>at</strong>. <strong>[15.06.1997]</strong> <p><li>Now that we have the letter Z, there are a few places where S needs to be changed to Z. A number were approved by unanimous consent; the most important are the number "zero" (0), and the suffix "-izar". A nonproductive prefix "zoo-" was tentatively added; and several others, listed in the <a href="vocab.html">Vocabulary section</a>. <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <p><li>An additional correlative adverb ending has been added: -<b>rez</b>, meaning "reason": thus <b>quirez</b> "why"; <b>tirez</b> "for that reason", etc. <b>[23.09.1997]</b> <p><li>To accomodate speakers of languages without the [h] sound, [x] (German "ch" (the ach-laut), Spanish "j") is now allowed as a secondary pronunciation for /h/ (written "<strong>H</strong>"). <strong>[17.11.1997]</strong> <p><li>The N28/30 form for the number 5 was <b>sink</b>, which is terrible in terms of visual recognizability. We have changed it to the Greek-derived <b>pent</b>, which is internationally recognizable from words like "pentagon", "pentium", etc. <b>[24.11.1997]</b> <p><li>The close deictic prefix, <b>dis-</b>, was considered extremely unwieldy. It was changed to <b>h-</b> (partially by analogy with Germanic here/there; also partially from the Latin deictics). Thus we now have <b>te</b> "that" and <b>he</b> "this"; likewise <b>tilok, hilok</b>, and so on. <b>[24.11.1997]</b> <p><li>In America, large numbers are written with commas separating blocks of three digits, whereas elsewhere internationally we see periods serving that purpose. The reverse is true for the decimal point. To resolve this issue, Novial98 will adopt the scientific convention of separating thousands blocks with spaces, and allowing either the comma <em>or</em> period as the decimal point. <b>[24.11.1997]</b> <p><li>The suffix <b>-atr</b>, derived from French, really didn't occur outside of French, and wasn't very recognizable. We have changed it to the very international (from scientific usage) <b>-oid</b>. <b>[25.11.1997]</b> <p><li>The N28 way of forming comparatives and superlatives was not especially regular; we had <b>min</b> and <b>plu</b> but <b>minim</b> and <b>maxim</b>. For Novial98 we have changed this so that comparatives are <b>min</b> and <b>max</b>, and superlatives are <b>li min</b> and <b>li max</b>. <b>Max</b> as a comparative is evidenced with Spanish <i>más</i>; and the article+comparative construction is found in many of the Romance languages. <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <p><li>The suffixes <b>-endi</b> and <b>-indi</b> had several problems: they were very similar, and relatively rare; thus they were easily confused. Plus, no language (other than Esperanto) really evidences them nowadays. Thus, we have chosen to collapse them into a single suffix, <b>-ndi</b>, which conveys both meanings. <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <p><li>The N28 future particle was <b>sal</b>, and N30 added <b>ve</b>. The N98 group has instead adopted <b>va</b>, which is more in line with the Romance forms. <b>Sal</b> was derived only from English, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages; J's primary objection to <b>va</b> was that "combinations like <i>la va ja ha fa</i> `she will already have done' are not particularly pleasing". It appears that <b>ve</b> was chosen as a deformed version of <b>va</b> to avoid this problem, but we decided that such constructions would be only a minor difficulty, and in any case, exceedingly rare. <b>[21.01.1998]</b> <p><li>Where languages were formed with <b>-um</b> in N28/30, they will be formed with <b>-ese</b> in N98. <b>[21.01.1998]</b> </ol> <hr> <h2><a name="vocab">Vocabulary</a></h2>  <ul> <h4>Changes from N28 to N30 (not comprehensive)</h4> <li>milite -> +guere <li>monate -> mensu <li>ok -> ot <li>sep -> set <li>te -> tee <li>vorte -> vorde <h4>Changes from N30 to N98</h4> <li>aeroplane -> [bli eliminar; usar "avie"] <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>ajio -> [bli eliminar; usar "kambianti premie"] <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>akusar -> akuzar <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>album -> albume <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>alegorie -> alegore <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>algebra -> algebre <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>alimentar -> [bli eliminar; usar "nutrir"] <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>altri -> otri <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>amasona -> amazona <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>anale -> [bli eliminar; usar "yarlibre"] <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>anatemanse -> anateme <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>anekter -> anexar <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>angina -> angine <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>angusie -> anguise <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>apendise -> apendixe <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>area -> aree <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>arena -> arene <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>arlekino -> harlekine <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>arpejio -> arpejie <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>arsene -> arsenike <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>aspekter -> aspektar <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>astma -> astme <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>asuri -> azuri <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>balbutiar -> stamrar <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bambu -> bambue <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>baptisar -> baptizar <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>baptisonome -> baptinome <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>basare -> bazare <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bear -> [bli eliminar; usar "gapar"] <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>beladona -> beladone <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bensine -> benzine <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>berete -> beree <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bigamie -> bigame <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bisari -> bizari <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bivake -> bivuake <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>blanki signature -> [bli eliminar] <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>blate -> kukarache <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>boa -> boe <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>borse -> burse <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bose -> [bli eliminar; usar "kestete"] <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>botanikar -> botanizar <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>botanike -> botanie <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>boye -> buye <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bravo! -> brave! <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bronse -> bronze <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bruisar -> bruir <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>burgese -> burjue <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>buro -> buroe <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>chelo -> [bli eliminar; usar "violonchele"] <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>chimpanse -> chimpanze <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>gaine -> [bli eliminar; usar "espade-kovre"] <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>gala -> gale <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>gardenia -> gardenie <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>gasele -> gazele <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>gayi -> [bli eliminar; usar "felisi" (o "homosexuali")] <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>genu -> genue <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>geodesia -> geodesie <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>geognosia -> [bli eliminar] <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>geranium -> geranie <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>gerundium -> [bli eliminar] <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>girlande -> [bli eliminar] <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>glotis -> glote <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>gnostiki -> gnosti <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>gnu -> gnue <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>gradu -> grade <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>grasi -> grasosi <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>gratitude -> [bli eliminar; usar "dankanse"] <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>guano -> [***] <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>horisonte -> horizonte <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>jirafe -> [bli eliminar; usar "girafe"] <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>maise -> maize <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>nafta -> nafte <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>narkose -> narkote <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>natron -> [bli eliminar] <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>negre -> [bli eliminar; usar "afrikanide"] <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>nexus -> nexue <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>nigrum -> [bli eliminar] <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>nihil -> [bli eliminar; usar "nulum"] <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>nirvana -> nirvane <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>nobilite -> nobile <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>nukleus -> nuklee <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>numerator -> numeratore <b>[16.01.1998]</b> <li>organisa -> organizar <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>pise -> pize <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>rasa -> razar <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>sebra -> zebre <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>senite -> zenite <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>sero -> zero <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>sigsaga -> zigzagar <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>sink -> pent <b>[24.11.1997]</b> <li>sinke -> zinke <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>sitare -> zitere <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>sodiake -> zodiake <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>sone -> zone <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>sune -> sole <b>[21.01.1998]</b> <li>true -> orifise <b>[28.09.1997]</b> <h4>Words in N30 which were disputed but will remain as they were</h4> <li>afekter <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>agle <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>aklimatar <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>akusative <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>ambitione <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>amidonar <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>analisar <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>arkitekte <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>bushele <b>[20.12.1997]</b> <li>gelatine <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>girafe <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <li>guere <b>[27.01.1998]</b> <h4>Disputed words (and suggested changes)</h4> <li>abortar -> aborter <li>absolut <li>adoptar -> adopter <li>afrankar <li>after <li>agnostiki -> agnosti <li>akompanar -> akompanir, akompaniar <li>alibi -> alibe, alibie <li>amusar -> amuzar <li>base/basi <li>basune -> basone <li>bloke <li>bruto <li>chek(h)e -> tch- <li>gasone -> grasne, grasone <li>generale <li>genre/genus -> gene, genuse, genre?? <li>gluta <li>goute -> gutmalade, gikte <li>grape <li>gremie <li>guano -> guane, X **** <li>narde <li>natrium -> natrie, natriume <li>svabre <li>svane <li>svimar <li>vare <li>vidue <li>yare -> anue <li>Lots of proper words related to the region/inhabitant problem: Afrika Albane Alsasia Amerika Argentina Armene Asia Asire Australia angli arabe Brasilia Britania bavare belgi bohemi bretone bulgare China chek(h)e Nederlande normande norvegi suede suise germani goti grek <h4>Suggested new words, derivations, and translations</h4> <li>robar = rob, steal <li>prohibir = forbid, prohibit <li>employeskar = hire (US) <li>enmachinar = type (something into the computer) <li>machineskripter = type (something [from scratch?] with a typewriter) <li>enretar = upload/put online <li>enretat/inreti = online <li>elijibili = eligible <li>sursalarie = bonus <li>humoraje-fine = punchline <li>kustomad = used to <li>efortar = try <li>vexar = annoy, bother <li>nomine = noun (cf. pronomine, substantive) <li>standanse = status <li>nunifikar = update <h4>Words new to N98</h4> <li>enzime (enzyme) <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>webe (web, at least in the computer sense) <b>[12.05.1997]</b> <li>zebue (zebu, a type of ox) <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>zele (zeal) <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>zepeline (zeppelin) <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>zigote (zygote) <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>zigurate (ziggurat) <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>zipar (zip) <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>zirkone (zircon) <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>zirkoniume (zirconium) <b>[21.08.1997]</b> <li>zukine (zucchini) <b>[21.08.1997]</b> </ul> <hr> <h2><a name="quo">Votes which upheld the status quo</a></h2>  <ol> <p><li>The question on whether to use C instead of or in addition to K to represent the sound [k] was put to a vote, and the decision was to continue using K exclusively, as in 1928/30. <strong>[01.05.1997]</strong> <p><li>The proposal to have an "inclusive" versus "exclusive" distinction in the first person plural, represented by two different pronouns <strong>nus</strong> and <strong>mes</strong> was rejected in the vote. Novial '98 uses only <strong>nus</strong> as the first person plural pronoun in all instances, like 1928/30 Novial. <strong>[12.05.1997]</strong> <p><li>The proposal to allow long forms of the correlative adverbs, thus <b>quirezon</b> in addition to <b>quirez</b>, was defeated. When you use such an adverb, you can only use the short-form endings -<b>rez</b>, -<b>man</b>, etc. (You can, of course, use adverbial <em>phrases</em> like "pro qui rezone".) <b>[01.10.1997]</b> <p><li>The inchoative ending <b>-esk</b> was objected to on the grounds of its similarity to EF "-esque". However, there really isn't any better form; as a result, its use is retained (by acclamation) in N98. <b>[12.12.1997]</b> </ol> <hr> <h2><a name="debate">Topics currently under debate</a></h2>  <p> 1) <strong>25.02.1997:</strong> In what we call "later Novial" (in other words, post-1930) , Jespersen had made some significant changes in the orthography, bringing Novial into to the "neo-Romance" end of the IAL spectrum and more like the better propagated and more widely used Occidental and (Peano's) Interlingua. This <a href="novspel.htm">"Orthographic Novial"</a> restored the letter C (with differing values before different letters as in the source languages), something which made it look "more natural" -- eg. <strong>aksepte</strong> became <strong>accepte</strong> -- but introduced complications which Jespersen himself had argued against when he first created the language. ON also introduced Y as a vowel, and even allowed accented letters (such as Ç). There were some grammatical changes as well, for example the passive voice particle <strong>bli</strong> was changed to <strong>fi</strong>, the future particle <strong>ve</strong> ousted <strong>sal</strong>, the past tense particle <strong>did</strong> seems to have disappeared, and the perfect auxiliary <strong>ha</strong> was used with the past participle instead of the basic form of the verb. There is now heated debate on NOVIAL-L as to whether such changes -- and if so, which ones -- ought to be implemented into Novial '98 as well. <p> 3) <b>18.06.1997</b>: The Novial verb system defies description; there seem to be several places where the only rule is "like in the source langs", though of course not as bad as some other languages. We're trying to come up with a consistent, easy set of rules which work in a relatively "natural" way. <p> 4) <b>09.08.1997</b>: Alphabet. It is not clear how to pronounce the letters of the Novial alphabet in isolation. Some have suggested an Esperanto style, with every consonant being followed by -e; others prefer to differentiate the letters better. Five proposals have been made; they can be referred to as "bo-cha-ex", "be-cha-ex", "be-che-xe", "be-che-ex", and "be-che-xu".  <p> 6) <b>28.08.1997</b>: In N28/30, there is some irregularity in the relationships between nation, citizen, and language; for instance we have the language "Fransum", the person "Franse", and the country "Fransia"; but the language "Novial" and person "Novialiste"; the person "Amerikane" and the country "Amerika"; and even the language "Italianum", the person "Italiane", and the country "Italia"! Clearly this needs to be cleaned up, although it isn't clear how. <p> 9) <b>24.07.1997</b>: In AIL, J devotes a whole section to his choice about the sounds [<ipa>S</ipa>] and [<ipa>tS</ipa>] and how to use and represent them; his decision was that the two sounds would be absolutely interchangeable, as would their representation (<b>CH</b> or <b>SH</b>, equally). The objection is that this is bad from several standpoints, especially one-sound-one-graph, but also because some words will have multiple valid spellings. A proposed alternative was to abandon <b>SH</b> entirely, leaving <b>CH</b> as primarily [<ipa>S</ipa>] and secondarily [<ipa>tS</ipa>], and modifying some vocabulary to fit the new rule. Another alternative was to make <b>CH</b> /<ipa>tS</ipa>/ and <b>SH</b> /<ipa>S</ipa>/. <b>06.12.1997</b>: Tabled until other questions are resolved. <p> 11) <b>05.11.1997</b>: At this point in the Novial process, we have two verb suffixes which have somewhat nebulous meanings: -<b>nse</b> and -<b>ione</b>. We need to clarify and codify their meanings. <p> 14) <b>13.11.1997</b>: N30 uses SUNE for "sun" and SOLI for "only". We would like to use SOLE as "sun"; but what to do with "only"? Suggestions have included UNALI and UNOIDI. <b>14.01.1998</b>: Now under vote until 21 Jan. <p> 17) <b>18.11.1997</b>: A spinoff from the language/country debate: currently languages are formed with <b>-um</b>, which is a little bit strange; the suggested alternative is <b>-eze</b>, which has cognates in EDFSI and possibly others. Another idea is <b>-ese</b>, which better matches spelling and (in some cases) pronunciation as well. <b>06.12.1997</b>: So far, the candidates seem to be: <b>-um</b>, <b>-eze</b>, <b>-ese</b>, <b>li -i</b>, <b>-ishe</b>, and <b>-ilingue</b>. <b>05.12.1997</b>: A related suggestion: languages which are not derived from region names will be their own root words, to which a suffix (possibly <b>-iste</b>) will be added to get the speakers. This rule can also be applied to derived language names; thus <b>fransesiste</b> "francophone" (assuming <b>-ese</b>; modify appropriately if another choice is adopted). <b>14.01.1998</b>: Now under vote until 21 Jan. <p> 18) <b>19.11.1997</b>: Well, looks like we won't finish before the end of CY 1997; what should we call our project now? Novial 98? Novial 2000? <p> 20) <b>30.11.1997</b>: The beginnings of the <a href="dict.html">N98 dictionary</a> are starting to come online, as are the corresponding bits of <a href="nl.html" target=_top>Novial Lexike</a>. See the <a href="dictproj.html" target=_top>dictionary project page</a> for more details. <p> 21) <b>30.11.1997</b>: As the dictionary comes online, words are being reviewed for eventual inclusion in N98. <b>04.12.1997</b>: Words in sections A-C which have not been disputed are under consensus check until 11 Dec. Other words are in a call for proposals. <b>07.12.1997</b>: Words in section N are under rubberstamp check until 14 Dec. <b>16.01.1998</b>: ABCN are done except for problem words; G is under vote. <p> 22) <b>05.12.1997</b>: An issue separate from but related to the region/inhabitants debate is how to capitalize such things; English capitalizes the country, the language, and all derivatives, French capitalizes countries only, and German capitalizes all the noun forms. This will be voted on as a separate issue. <p> 25) <b>14.01.1998</b>: How does one translate the habitual aspect? In English we have "used to" in the past, and the base form of the verb in the present; the French (past tense at least) used the imperfect of "avoir l'habitude de...". <b>18.01.1998</b>: We discovered the word <b>kustomar</b>, which seems to cover the habitual aspect nicely. (Other uses of "used to"--continual actions--are covered by the simple past (<b>-d</b>) or perfect (<b>ha</b>).) <p> 28) <b>10.02.1998</b>: In English we talk about "the word for X"; how should this be expressed in Novial? The prepositions <b>por</b>, <b>po</b>, and <b>pri</b> have been suggested, as well as the longer (but more descriptive?) forms <b>representant</b> and <b>signifikant</b>. Plus, of course, one could use a completely different construction "X signifikar Y novialim" instead of "Y is the word for X". <p> 29) <b>12.02.1998</b>: There are at least three other novialides under development. How should we cooperate with them? </p> <hr> <center> <p> © 1998 Don Blaheta. Lasti revisione: 17.04.1998 </p> </center> <hr> <address><a href="http://www.cs.brown.edu/~dpb/">Don Blaheta</a> / <a href="mailto:dpb@cs.brown.edu">dpb@cs.brown.edu</a></address> <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br> <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br> <font size=-1><a href="/~dpb/blank.html">hi spatie intentionalim fad vakui</a></font>