Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2000, Page 63

Planmál
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adjectives, etc. Thus from mal-, which can figure as a prefix meaning ‘directly oppo-
site, negative’ we can form the noun malo, adj. malla, verb mali, and so on. Esperanto
ts an a pcwfen'on'-language but it has many schematic features that give it a special
place among planned languages described, which are more naturalistic in imitation of
the ethnic languages. It was the idea of Zamenhof that free schematic formation of
words from independent morphemes would make the language easier to leam for
those with no knowledge of other languages. The use of affixes with clear meanings
that save a lot of word-roots has the same purpose. Typologically, esperanto stands
close to both agglutinative and isolating languages.
Other planned languages described in the article imitate naturalistic features of
the chief European languages more closely than Esperanto. They are therefore
“intemational” in a limited (or a Westem-European) sense. Ido, recommended by the
Délégation pour Tadoption d'une langue auxiliaire intemationale 1907, is in fact
esperanto with considerable changes towards naturalistic forms and stricter mles of
word-formation. Occidental designed by Edgar de Wahl (1922) goes much further
than Ido in imitating naturalistic forms, according to the author a planned language
should be comprehensible at first sight and without previous instmction to all civi-
lized Europeans. Novial, invented by Otto Jespersen (1928), a former idist, is much
influenced by English and Occidental. Interlingua, initiated by The Intemational Aux-
iliary Language Association 1951 is naturalistic to the extreme in imitation of Latin
and the Romance languages. AU these languages make use of a simplified grammar
without inflections and declinations. Their grammatical systems are described in
detail in the article.
Three of the those seven planned languages have been able to develop supporting
formal organizations: Volapuk, Esperanto and Ido. Only Esperanto has been able to
form and to maintain a mass movement on an intemational scale. It has now a wide
and varied literature, classics have been translated into it and scientific works of
repute have appeared in the language.
Baldur Ragnarsson
Sogavegi 170
1S-108 Reykjavík
esp@mh.is