Seaspeak is a

controlled natural language Controlled natural languages (CNLs) are subsets of natural languages that are obtained by restricting the grammar and vocabulary in order to reduce or eliminate ambiguity and complexity. Traditionally, controlled languages fall into two major types ...

(CNL) based on English, designed to facilitate communication between ships whose captains' native tongues differ. It has now been formalised as Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP). While generally based on the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to t ...

, seaspeak has a very small vocabulary, and will incorporate foreign words where English does not have a suitable word. There are other similar special-purpose CNLs, including aviation English for aircraft, and the English–French hybrid PoliceSpeak for safety administration of the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone ( Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles (Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dove ...

History

Seaspeak originated at the International Maritime Lecturers Association (IMLA) Workshop on Maritime English in 1985 in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest ci ...

(WOME 3), in a project led by Captain Fred Weeks, and was updated in the following years. After the MS ''Scandinavian Star'' disaster in 1990, in which communication errors played a part, an effort was made by the International Maritime Organization to update Seaspeak and the Standard Maritime Communication Vocabulary (SMCV). This resulted in the development of the Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP), which were adopted by the IMO as resolution A.198(22) in November 2001 at their 22nd Assembly.

Example phrase "Say again"

A good example of the benefit of seaspeak is the use of a single short and carefully crafted phrase to replace a multitude of phrases. Thus the phrase "say again" could replace any of the following: * Could not hear what you said, please repeat! * I did not understand, say that again. * Too much noise, repeat what you said! * I am having difficulty hearing what you are saying! Please repeat what you were trying to say. * There is too much noise on the line – I cannot understand you. * What did you say? A simplified vocabulary also helps overcome static, since the phrase "say again" is always two words and three syllables, no matter how much it is blurred by that static.

References

* * * {{cite book , title=IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) , publisher=International Maritime Organisation , isbn=92-801-5137-1

External links

Prolingua
the company where Edward Johnson worked on SeaSpeak, AirSpeak, etc. English for specific purposes Naval signals

History

Example phrase "Say again"

References

See also

External links