Langue nouvelle

''Langue nouvelle'' (French for 'new language') is a grammatical sketch for a proposed artificial international auxiliary language presented in 1765 by Joachim Faiguet de Villeneuve, a French economist, in the ninth volume of Diderot's encyclopedia. It is likely that it influenced Volapük, Esperanto, and other language projects of the 19th century.

Linguistic properties

Phonology

The phonology is undescribed, except that an "n" may be placed between vowels to avoid hiatus.

The sound inventory can only be deduced from the examples given. Vowels are ''a e i o ou u''; ''donu'' 'will give' and ''donou'' 'gift' imply a distinction between ''ou'' and ''u'', likely and respectively (as in French). The vowel of the past tense is sometimes written and sometimes , suggesting that the accent is merely a reminder that the letter is not silent, rather than marking a distinct vowel. From ''sinta'' 'hundred', cognate with "cent", it would seem that there may be nasalized vowels, for in French the letters represent a nasalized ; that is, ''sinta'' is presumably to be pronounced or , not *.

Attested consonants are:
:

It is possible that ''k, q, c'' all represent . The only illustrative words are ''ki, qui'' 'who, which' and ''co'' 'two', which show that ''k'' and ''qu'' are equivalent before ''i''. However, the lack of a numeral beginning with ''k'', to contrast with ''co'' 'two', suggests that ''k'' and ''c'' are also equivalent, and that ''co'' is to be pronounced . The lack of ''ch'' , as well as the few other consonants found in French, may merely be an accidental omission due to the small sample of vocabulary.

Verbs and pronouns

Verbs inflect only for tense and aspect: Indicative present in ''-a'', future ''-u'', past (''imparfait'') ''-e (-é),'' present perfect (''parfait'') ''-i,'' past perfect ''-o.'' The subjunctive is formed by adding ''-r'' to the indicative: ''-ar, -ur, -er, -ir, -or''; the infinitive by adding ''-s'': ''-as, -us, -es, -is, -os''. The present participle is in ''-ont''.

The present doubles as the imperative and, with the help of the verb ''sa'' 'to be', as the passive. The present subjunctive ''-ar'' may be used for the imperative as well. Questions are formed by inverting the pronoun and the verb, as in French.

Person is indicated by pronouns: ''jo'' (I), ''to'' (you singular, thou), ''lo'' (he, she, it), ''no'' (we), ''vo'' (you plural), ''zo'' (they), and the reflexive ''so'' (oneself). Possessive forms are ''me, te, se, noti, voti, se''. Demonstratives, ''soli'' (this) and ''sola'' (that), take plural ''-s'' (these, those). Who, what, which is ''ki''.

''Sofras'' 'to treat oneself' is given as an example of a reflexive verb; it's not clear if the initial ''s'' is a reflexive prefix, as in French ''s'offrir'', or part of the root. It is however invariable: ''jo sofra'' (I treat myself), ''to sofra'' (you treat yourself), etc.

Nouns, prepositions, and adjectives

For nouns, there are no cases, genders, or articles. The plural ends in ''-s,'' which unlike in French is pronounced. Augmentatives take ''-le (-lé)'', diminutives ''-li'':
:''manou'' a house, ''manoule (manoulé)'' a mansion, ''manouli'' a hut;
:''filo'' a boy, ''filole, filoli''.

Deverbals end in ''-ou'':
:''donou'' a gift (''donas'' to give), ''vodou'' will (''vodas'' to want), ''servou'' service (''servas'' to serve)

Prepositions are used:
:''bi manou'' of the house, ''bu manou'' to the house, ''de manou'' from the house, ''po manou'' through the house

It would seem there is no distinction between adjective and adverb, and adjectives do not agree in number with the noun.

Numerals and digits

Each numeral starts with a different consonant, and are in alphabet order:

:''ba'' one, ''co'' two, ''de'' three, ''ga'' four, ''ji'' five, ''lu'' six, ''ma'' seven, ''ni'' eight, ''pa'' nine, ''vu'' ten, ''sinta'' hundred, ''mila'' thousand, ''milo'' million
Ordinals add ''-mu'': ''bamu'' first, ''comu'' second.

Numbers are formed by juxtaposing numerals: Twenty-five is ''covuji'' (two-ten-five).

The consonants of the numerals one through nine are used as digits (in place of Arabic numerals), with o for zero, so "25" is written and "100" is written .

References

Langue nouvelle
the original article

{{Constructed languages

Constructed languages
International auxiliary languages
1765 introductions
Languages attested from the 18th century