40

Every Inflection a Real Word.

roughly-hewn doll, with very little shape, and with no grace, but at the time, no doubt, regarded as perfection; then, through the gradual progress of Greek civilization, she gains in greater beauty and idea, till at last, at the highest point of Greek thought and art, we see the patron goddess of Athens in her most perfect and most elevated embodiment.

INFLECTIONS.

One of the features in Lingua is that all the particles employed as the inflections of Verbs are real words, each having a meaning suitable to the function which it performs in the conjugation of the Verb. Thus the inflections used to denote the three tenses are the three Latin words-num (now), for the present, tum (then), for the past, and qum (at the time which, when), for the future, as no better words could be found to indicate time. The inflections to denote whether the action of the Verb is imperfect, perfect, or indefinite are í (going), ívi (gone) -the first indicating imperfect, the second perfected action. The absence of any verb-quality inflection signifies indefinite action.

It may even be found necessary or convenient to cut down num-í and num-ívi into ní and nívi, and the other compounds of tense and quality particles, just as in Latin verse the final um becomes eliminated when followed by a vowel. This could, however, easily be established as a rule if it were required.

It would also have been superfluous to form Adverbs from Adjectives by adding modo (in the manner) as a suffix, when one of the Latin methods is a very good one -viz., simply adding an e.

The English method of forming the passive is adopted, the Verb es (to be, being) being attached as a prefix directly before the stem of the Verb,

The Meanings of the Inflections.

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The mood inflections have also been selected with the intention of making them as self-explaining as possible. These are all suffixes. Si (if) throws the Verb into the mood of mere possibility, or (to use a Germanicallyformed term, which often brings forward the idea more directly) into a state of perhaps-ness. Neces- takes the place of the English must, being necesse est shortened, and indicates the state of must-ness (necessitated action). Potes, for can-ness (from posse, to be able), potential action. Vol-, again (from volo, to wish, be willing), throws the Verb into the volitional mood (into the state of would-ness). And so on with the rest of them.

In the Articles we have the English a and the French masculine le, used for all genders. It would be a useless lengthening of words to write plus after Substantives to denote the plural, therefore a simple s is used. An e is inserted when the singular ends with an s—as is the case with the modern word gas, adopted by Lingua, for example, which becomes, as in English, gases.

Lingua, it will be seen, is practically not a new language, but a new method for selecting and re-arranging materials taken from languages already existing. It is capable of being soon understood by people of different nations, and the languages from which it selects are well known by all educated Europeans, and are more or less familiar to all. Seeing that the grammatical part of the method is mainly English, and that the words are taken without changing their meanings, the method supplies a medium of communication almost as complete as any European language. In some respects it is more so, for there are no restrictions against the introduction of new words, provided that the laws of word-taking are strictly observed,

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Lingua, though Not Used, Useful.

THE ADVANTAGES OF LINGUA.

Many will fear that an international association wil never be formed in order to make and sanction some complete international language. Lingua, however, though not sanctioned in this manner, is so constructed as to be efficient as a next-best substitute for that more perfect medium. For ordinary communications, when serious matters which are liable to lead to disputes are not involved, it is quite capable of being brought into use, for all the material of which it is composed has already been sanctioned by society generally. Every word is a real word existing in some language, and the grammar is almost entirely English. The element of individual opinion in it is thus reduced to a minimum.

Any schoolboy who knows Latin can master the principles of Lingua in an hour or two, and commence to write it without the fear of composing bad Latin prose. As Latin will probably continue to be one of the main elements in secondary education in England, America, and on the Continent for many years, by this method it can be turned into a subject of commercial utility as well as being one of culture. Besides, when learning Lingua the student is wasting no time, as in the case of acquiring the knowledge of a special vocabulary without any historical connection whatever. Every word of Lingua learnt is at the same time an addition to his knowledge of Latin, English, French, Italian, &c. The majority of the words being Latin stems, if a Lingua Lexicon were compiled by a competent comparative philologist, it could be made a most useful work for teaching the elements of the Science of Language.

Assuming that an international Lingua dictionary were published (the compilation of which is not a matter

How Lingua Can be Used.

43

of difficulty, but one simply of great labour and expense), a mere knowledge of the method by which the language is constructed would enable people to use it as a medium of correspondence in a mechanical way. The writer would only have to follow strictly the laws of sentencemaking, looking up all his words in the dictionary. The reader or translator would have to bear in mind the rules of Lingua syntax, and look up the words one by one to find their equivalents in his own language. The following example will show how, with dictionary and method, much could be accomplished.

An Englishman wishes to write to a Frenchman saying: "Do not send off the ordered goods till next week." This is how he would write it: "! Non tu mitt-num le es-impera-tu mercs ante proximo hebdomad." He knows that" do not send off" is the negative imperative singular of the verb to send off or to despatch, accordingly he looks up the word in his dictionary, and finds the fo lowing: "To send off (to despatch).-MITT; French, envoyer, expédier; German, schicken, expediren, &c."; non is the negative particle. Knowing the conjugation of the verb, he could then complete the first part-"! Non tu mitt-num." "The" he finds is le; 66 goods mercs; "ordered" is past participle passive of to order, which in the dictionary is impera (used as simple attribute of the object, it precedes it); "till" here is the same as before, which is ante; "next" is proximo; and "week" hebdomad.

The Frenchman receives it, and reverses the process. In the Lingua-Français portion of his dictionary he finds MITT.-Envoyer, expédier," and the first part of the sentence becomes "N'expédiez pas"; "le" is here les; es-impera-tu," commandées; "mercs," marchandises; "ante," avant; "proximo," prochaine; "hebdomad," semaine. He can thus construct the full sentence in French by this merely mechanical use of Lingua, not

44

The Historical Basis.

knowing a word of English-" N'expédiez pas les marchandises commandées avant la semaine prochaine."

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A German could decipher the communication by the same method, turning to the Lingua-Deutsch portion of the dictionary. "Matt" becomes expediren; "le," die; "es-impera-tu,” bestellten ; mercs," Güter; "ante," bis ; "proximo hebdomad" nächste Woche; and the sentence becomes-" Expediren Sie nicht die bestellten Güter bis nächste Woche." The same method of course applies for people of other nations.

The plan on which an international dictionary could be compiled might be that adopted in "Trowitzsch's Universal Dictionary." [See Page 106.]

This suggestion for the formation of an international language upon an historical basis is to be placed before the French and German public—if possible, also in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. If it should appear a reasonable one, it may help to convince people of the necessity, first of all, of forming societies to consider the most practical basis upon which an international language could be built, and then of combining in an international association to pass laws as to the form which it is to take. These societies could commence by criticising Volapük, Lingua, and other similar schemes which are sure to be published if the movement continues to excite interest, considering their respective value and use as foundations upon which an international language could be constructed, and by calling upon the public generally for suggestions. In this way the ground would be cleared, and the foundations prepared for the Language of the Future.

Should this Lingua scheme find favour with the reading public, I shall endeavour to publish an enlarged and improved grammar and a dictionary.