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Romániço

INTRODUCTION

In the mid 1980s, a small circle of juvenile shoplifters decided that it would be a good idea if they had some sort of code language to use on their filching sprees. One of them introduced the others to Esperanto, and for the next year or so it was their thieves' cant of choice on the grounds that: (1) Esperanto's lexicon is mostly Romance, so it would be fairly easy to learn since they were all studying either Spanish or French in school; (2) the grammar looked easy enough to learn in a few hours; (3) the orthography, endings, and many of its word choices made it “strange” enough that others might not be able to decipher it at first glance if ever it became necessary to write in it; (4) no one else they knew had ever heard of Esperanto.

How much they actually had occasion to use the language is unclear, but apparently it was enough to warrant a number of field changes. All but one refused to use Esperanto's accusative case, and the arbitrary “strangeness” that was initially a selling point of the language was now looked at as a defect. They began substituting words from other Romance languages that they all knew, and a couple of them started re-working the grammar so that plural nouns could end in s instead of j. Having their own secret language was fun, it seems, but few of them had the time to spend learning anything that was not immediately accessible.

By their last year of high school, they had experimented with Ido (very briefly) and Interlingua. The latter was initially very popular with the whole circle, but the irregular nature of the language made it difficult to use. At some point it occured to them to “Esperanto-ize” Interlingua, i.e., to apply Esperanto's regular grammar and endings to Interlingua's more recognizable lexicon. After some initial disputes on how to proceed, one or two of the group (which had by now broken up and dispersed to different colleges) came to the conclusion that the best, most international way to construct their language was to compare the lexicons of the major Romance languages (including English, insofar as its lexicon is Latin-based) and determine the immediate etymological root. What they came up with was, in effect, an Esperanto-ized, updated proto-Romance, the look of which is something like an anthropomorphic robot — obviously artificial due to its regularity, but also easily recognizable. It claims:

  • A lexicon based on living Latin, framed by a completely regular grammar;
  • A system of pronunciation that preserves Latin stress;
  • Consistent word derivation for predictability;
  • Distinctive verb endings, both synthetic and analytical;
  • An epicene pronoun to refer to human beings of unknown gender;
  • A strictly optional accusative case rendered by a preposition

They decided to call their language Romanico (and later, as the language evolved, Romániço), a name coined from the Vulgar Latin word romanice that would eventually come to mean “Romance”.

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ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION

Romániço’s orthography is naturalistic, modeled, perhaps, on Old Spanish:

a Like a in English father, e.g., afábila, matino.
b Like b in English bat, e.g., bela, obseser.
c Before e and i, like ts in English bits, e.g., centro, ácida. The digraph çh has the sound of ch in English church, e.g. çhocolato. In all other positions, like c in English can, e.g., caso, coloro, curso, claso. Written ç or cz to force the ts sound, qu to force the k sound.
d Like d in English dog, e.g., deo, idioto.
e Like e in English get, e.g., exter, baleno.
f Like f in English fan, e.g., fácila, refuter.
g Before e and i, like g in English gentle, e.g., girafo, agento. In all other positions, like g in English gall, e.g., glacio, cigaro. Written ĝ to force the soft sound, ǧ to force the hard sound.
h Like h in English home, e.g., hómino, alcoholo.
i Like i in English machine, e.g., infanto, ásino. When followed by a vowel in words whose roots contain two or more vowels, like i in English onion or phobia (whichever is easier to say), e.g., medio, Anglia. When followed by a vowel in words whose roots contain two or more vowels, like y in English boy, e.g., caimano, androido.
j Like j in joie de vivre, e.g., júvena, projecter.
l Like l in English loser, e.g., leono, ácuilo.
m Like m in English munchkin, e.g., mover, amoro.
n Like n in English nice, e.g., nationo, pionero.
o Like o in English pole, e.g., oficiala, adorer.
p Like p in English pot, e.g., politío, imperio.
r Like r in Spanish señor, e.g., recordo, Árabo.
s Like s in English sock, e.g., seducter, absoluta. The digraph sh has the sound of sh in English ship, e.g., shacos, casho.
t Like t in English top, e.g., teléfono, accidento.
u Like oo in English moon, e.g., ultimato, industrio. When followed by a vowel in words whose roots contain two or more vowels, like u in English persuade or superfluous (whichever is easier to say), e.g., guero, Europia. When preceded by a or e, like u in German haus, e.g., auro, causo
v Like v in English vicious, e.g., valoro, eviter.
w Like w in English web, e.g., westo, wombato.
x Like x in English fix, e.g., xenono, explorer.
y Like y in English yuppie, e.g., yusta, Mayo.
z Like z in English zipper, e.g., zebro, gazelo.

Other letters and digraphs may be used as necessary to transcribe “foreign” sounds, and existing letters might take on additional sounds, e.g., Pythagoras, Björk Guðmundsdóttir.

Those interested in Romániço may have noticed that its orthography has changed numerous times since its inception in 1991, when it differed little from Esperanto (liquida ĉokolato). Later it introduced different diacritical marks for ĉ, ĥ, and ŝ (usually č, ǩ, and š), but kept ĝ as-is. Still later it introduced irregular stress (eg., líquida), and eventually became completely naturalistic in a way inspired, perhaps, by French or Old Spanish (lícuida çhocolato). It then reverted back to an Ido-like orthography, and kept it for a long time before finally going back to the more naturalistic style.

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ACCENT

In general, the Romániço accent falls on the penultimate syllable, except when the word is an infinitive verb (in which case the stress falls on the last syllable: scriber = “skree-BEHR”) and where discussed above. Words that do not obey this convention indicate where the stress falls by means of stress marks. For example, computero (“kohm-poo-TEH-roh”), libro (“LEE-broh”), músico (“MOO-see-koh”), ópero (“OH-peh-roh”). Nevertheless, the specially marked words still obey the “normal” stress pattern when a suffix that alters the word’s number of syllables is added: accélero and accélere are both stressed on the second syllable, but accèleranta is stressed on the penultimate like most words.

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DERIVATION

The lexicon of Latino Sine Flexione is often called “etymological Anglo-Latin”; Romániço’s lexicon might be called “etymological Romance”. The basic method for derivation is to find the original forms of the words currently in use by the Romance languages (usually Latin, but not always, as in the case of léger below), then distill them as follows: nouns and adjectives are taken from the ablative, verbs from the past participial root, and prepositions remain unchanged. The dipthongs ae and oe are transcribed e. Also, all words are “written in full”, that is, words that have been truncated in medieval or Vulgar Latin from earlier forms are restored to their full length, as in the case of Latin oricla (from earlier auricula) below. For example:

ENGLISH FRENCH ITALIAN SPANISH SOURCE
WORD		 ROMÁNIÇO
horse cheval cavallo caballo căballus cabalo
same même medesimo mismo met ipsimus metípsima
old vieux vecchio viejo veculus vécula
ear oreille orecchio oreja auricula aurículo
light léger leggero ligero léger legera

In some cases, Romániço may be obliged to seek other, extinct or semi-invented forms to avoid homonyms:

ENGLISH FRENCH ITALIAN SPANISH SOURCE
WORD		 ROMÁNIÇO
alone seul solo solo solus sola
sun soleil sole sol sōl solelo
carry porter portare llevar portare portationer
door porte porta puerta porta porto
harbor port porto puerto portus portuo

Some other guidelines for transforming words into Romániço:

  • Where Latin c appears before e or i at the end of a root, it becomes ç in Romániço when followed by any letter except e or i. Where Latin c appears before letters other than e or i at the end of a root, it becomes qu in Romániço when it is followed by e or i. Otherwise, Latin c remains c in Romániço: dulcis becomes dulça (“sweet”; but dulce “sweetly”), caballicare becomes cabàliquer (“to ride”; but cabálico “a ride”).

  • Latin qu is transcribed cu. However, unstressed -que remains -que, not -cue: antiquus becomes anticua, but usque stays usque.

  • Latin hard g is transcribed ǧ when it precedes e or i, including at the end of a root; soft g is transcribed g at the end of a root: lĭgare becomes liǧer, rex (regis) becomes reĝo.

  • Romániço verbs are generally formed from the Latin present tense stem when the source word is “simple” (i.e., unaffixed), as in dicer (“to say”) from Latin dicere, from the past participle when they are “complex”, as in maledicter (“to put a curse on”) from maledicere, -dictum. Presumably this is to avoid confusion between Romániço composed words and composed words in Latin adopted whole as a single root. (A composed word maledicer in Romániço would literally mean male dicer “to say badly”.)

  • Romániço retains the au of classical Latin even when it becomes o in Vulgar Latin and Romance: classical Latin auris (Vulgar Latin oricla) becomes aurículo.

  • Latin sci, sce is written ci, ce: descendere becomes decenser.

  • Latin -nct- is written -nt-: sanctus becomes santa.

  • Latin -mpt- is written -nt-: promptus becomes pronta.

  • Latin -atic- is written -aĝ-: silvaticus becomes silvaĝa.

  • Words taken from languages other than Latin or its descendents are transcribed as close to the original as possible.

  • For all these rules, however, it should be noted that any of them might be broken to avoid confusion and duplication: delectationer “to delight” should more properly be delecter (Latin delectare), but Romániço already has lecto “bed” (Latin lectus), and delecto (“delight”) would in speech sound like de lecto (“from bed”).

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ARTICLES

Like Esperanto and Ido, Romániço has no indefinite articles: homo has dationen isto ad mi “a man gave this to me”. To emphasize a noun’s indefiniteness, álica (“some”) or cuida (“a certain”) is used: álica homo has dationen isto ad mi “some (unknown) man gave this to me”; cuida homo has dationen isto ad mi “a certain (known but not specified) man gave this to me”. Álica (and alicuala “some kind of”) is also used to make countable nouns out of non-countable ones: la sapiitio di alicuala Socrates “the wisdom of a Socrates”; lei has sposecen cun álica Rockefeller “she married a Rockefeller”.

Romániço has two definite articles, which do not vary according to gender or number. They are:

  • La: An “exclusive” definite article, la is only used when the noun denotes one or more countable, determinate individuals of a class (that is, when it singles out one or more objects from other, similar objects): la CDs di mia cambresca companiono “my roommate’s CDs” (the complement di mia cambresca companiono determines CDs, singling them out from all the other CDs in the world); entrifen la claunos “send in the clowns” (the ones we hired; simply claunos would mean “send in some clowns”); la stelnavo Enterprise has volen circum la solelo “the starship Enterprise flew around the sun” (Enterprise determines la stelnavo, and “the sun” is the one at the center of whatever solar system the Enterprise is flying through). La becomes los (“they”) when referring to unexpressed plural nouns: selecten la máxim bona “pick the best one”; la mia CDs et los via “my CDs and yours”.

  • Il: An “inclusive” definite article, il is used only when the noun (singular or plural) represents the entire class of that noun, or every individual within the class: il leono ne vere es la máxim potenta bestio en la foresto, pro que li ne viven ilác “the lion is not really the mightiest beast in the forest, because it doesn’t live there”; il scolo es merdo “school sucks”; il apículo haben furo, mas ne convenen carecier li “bees have fur, but are not good for petting”. Il can also be used to refer to actions in general (danço “a dance”; il danço “dance”).
Unlike other Western languages, Romániço does not use the definite article:
  • When the noun is a material, mass noun, indeterminate abstract entity, quality, virtue, etc., since these are not a class of objects nor a countable, individual object: fero, acuo, vèculitio, blanquitio, coraĝo, energío.

  • When the noun is the name of a science or art: físico, geometrío, quendo.

  • When the noun is any sort of proper name without an adjective, including those of rivers, mountains, seasons, months, and days: Himalaya, Mediteráneo, Danubio. Proper names modified by an adjective or introduced by another noun (one that isn’t a title), however, are another matter: la Nigra Maro, la fluvio Ganga, Alexandro la Magna, but papo Leo Xª “Pope Leo X”; reĝo Gentirex “Théoden king”.

  • When the noun denotes a kinship relation, body part, article of clothing, or other object intimately associated with the speaker: James has culpifen sia sororo Angelina sopre la máculo en sia pantalono “James blamed his sister Angelina for the stain in his pants”.

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NOUNS

All singular nouns end in o, all plurals add s. Unassimilated “foreign” words keep their original spelling as much as possible; if they end in a vowel, they add s in the plural, otherwise, they add os. There’s no grammatical gender of any kind, i.e., filio no more indicates the male sex than it does the female. To make such distinctions, -içho and -iso are used: filiiçho (“son”), filiiso (“daughter”).

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PROPER NOUNS

Names usually written in the Roman alphabet are transcribed into Romániço as literally as possible, and pronounced as closely as one can get to the original within the limits of the Romániço phonetic system: Caesar, Shakespeare, Descartes, Dell’Abate, John, Giovanni, Hans, Jesus, Fafa Floly. (If more uniformity is desired, names introduced to the West through Rome or the Vulgate can be rendered in their Romániço-ized Latin form: Antonio Blair, Justino Timberlake, Rosa McGowan.) Names written in non-Roman scripts are transcribed phonetically: Socrates, Pushquin, Pythagoras, Wo Fat. To this category is added any foreign word that is exclusively national or local: pasha “pasha”, pasha-esca “pashalic”, pashas “pashas”. Country and continent names are taken from their Latin(ized) form and are made to conform to Romániço’s orthography and grammar: Europia, Asia, Peruvia, Anglia, América, Haytia. The names of cities, rivers, etc., on the other hand, are treated like foreign words: Paris, München, New-York, Dniepr.

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ADJECTIVES/ADVERBS

In Romániço, all “natural” adjectives (i.e., words with adjectival roots, like alta “tall”, nigra “black”) end in -a as in Esperanto (ex. bona patro “good father”), but do not agree in number. (Ex. bona patros “good fathers”, vai prenden la máxim bona, “take the best one”, prenden los máxim bona “take the best ones”.) But Romániço is much like Ido when it comes to adjectives formed from noun roots in that it is more exacting than Esperanto:

  • -a (“made of” or “being a”): acua vialo “a water-way”, i.e. “a way made of water”.

  • -esca (“of” or “relating to”): acuesca jocos “water sports”.

  • -osa (“having” or “full of”): acuosa vialo “a way full of water”.

Adjectives generally come before the nouns they modify in Romániço, except when:

  • One wishes to emphasize the adjective: dationen lo ad la sororo linda “give it to the pretty sister”

  • The adjective has a complement: nivo flava pro urino “snow yellow from urine”

It should also be noted that in Romániço, like in Ido, a noun made from an adjective generally indicates something more or less concrete, not an abstraction as in Esperanto: rico “a rich person”; bono “a good person” or “a good thing”.

Adverbs made from adjectives end in -e (vere). But note that when the subject is an infinitive, clause, or simply doesn’t exist, the predicate does not take the adverbial -e, as in Esperanto, but remains unchanged: Id es calda hodie. Creer nova linguaĝo es fútila. Adverbs can precede or follow the verbs they modify, as long as no other words come between them: Lui rápide has morten pro verecundo / Lui has morten rápide pro verecundo. The exceptions are ne, valde, and mere, which always precede the words they modify.

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COMPARATIVES

The comparative follows the following model:

Mia lactofrulaĝo es men bona cam la via. My milkshake is worse than yours.
Mia lactofrulaĝo es tam bona cam la via. My milkshake is as good as yours.
Mia lactofrulaĝo es plu bona cam la via. My milkshake is better than yours.
Mia lactofrulaĝo es la mínim bona de omnos. My milkshake is the worst of all.
Mia lactofrulaĝo es la máxim bona de omnos. My milkshake is the best of all.

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ACCUSATIVE

The accusative in Romániço is expressed by the preposition je, and is used only when the word order itself is not enough to make the sense clear. Je Fafa has colpen Howard = Howard has colpen Fafa = “Howard hit Fafa”. Cui has colpen Fafa? = “Who hit Fafa?” Je cui has colpen Fafa? = Cui Fafa has colpen? = “Whom did Fafa hit?”

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PRONOUNS

mi
ti
vi
lui
lei
li
lo
si 		I
thou
you
he
she
he/she
it
himself/herself/itself (reflexive) 		nos
vos
vos
los
los
los
los
si 		we
you all
you all
they
they
they
they
themselves (reflexive)
mia
tia
via
luia
leia
lia
loa
sia 		my
thy
your
his
her
his/hers
its
his/her/its (reflexive) 		nosa
vosa
vosa
losa
losa
losa
losa
sia 		our
your
your
their
their
their
their
their (reflexive)

In general, one reserves ti for close friends and family (or for antiquarian flavor), vi for everyone else. One can also substitute lui, lei, li, and lo with li if one likes.

There are also two other pronouns: oni (“one, they, people”) and id (impersonal “it”, as in oni dicen que id van pluven “They say it will rain”).

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VERBS

Originally, simple verbs and participles were formed by adding suffixes to the root:

-er
-an
-in
-on
-eban
-es 		infinitive
present
past
future
conditional
imperative 		scriber
scriban
scribin
scribon
scribeban
scribes 		to write
write
wrote
will write
would write
write!

NOTE: The verb eser (“to be”) is often abbreviated to es in the present tense: Cuo es en nómino?

However, this synthetic approach to verb conjugation later gave way to a more analytic one using the particles has, van, volde, and vai (to indicate the past, future, conditional, and imperative) with the tenseless verb ending -en:

mi (nun) scriben
mi here scriben
mi has scriben
mi demane scriben
mi van scriben
mi volde scriben
mi vai scriben! 		I’m writing (now)
I wrote yesterday
I wrote
I’ll write tomorrow
I’ll write
I would write
may I write!

Complex tenses are expressed by using the verb eser with a participle:

scribanta
scribinta
scribonta 		writing
having written
about to write 		scribata
scribita
scribota 		being written
having been written
about to be written

For example: mi es scribinta “I am having-written”; mi has es scribonta “I was going-to-write”; mi volde es scribinta “I would have written”.

One should take note that participles ending in -inta and -ita indicate action that was completed before the time indicated by eser — that is, la fenestro has es clusita cuande Fafa has entren la cambro (“the window was closed when Fafa entered the room”) means that the window was closed at some time prior to Fafa’s entry. To indicate that the window was closed at the same time Fafa entered, use fer (“be rendered”) or deventioner (“become”): la fenestro has fien clusita cuande Fafa has entren la cambro “the window was (became) closed when Fafa entered the room”.

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NUMBERS

The numbers are very similar to those of Ido: zero, un, du, tri, cuar, cuin, ses, sep, oc, non, deç, cent, mil. The ordinal, multiple, and fractional numbers are made by adding -ésim-, -opl-, and -av-, respectively.

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CONCLUSION

All the languages critiqued on this site — Volapük, Esperanto, Ido, Latino Sine Flexione, Interlingua — are or were important in the history of international language projects. All have had books written about them and can be researched offline in a good library, and all can claim books written in their own language.

The same cannot be said for Romániço.

I included this language project (which I learned about from one of its creators) not because it is or ever will be important in the way that Esperanto is important, but because it explicitly attempts to do something I’ve always felt an international auxiliary language should: it attempts to bridge the gap between the schematic and the naturalistic — not by modeling its words on any modern Romance language, as Ido appears to do, but by modeling them on the etymological source from which all the Romance languages sprang.

How well it does this is tricky to answer. Though its formula for incorporating new words is a sound one (better, I believe, than the ones used by Peano or Gode), its results are sometimes necessarily undermined by the language’s schematicness. For example, Latin solus “alone” and sol “sun” are sola and solelo in Romániço; obviously, the language couldn’t use sol- for both words, but solelo (from the progenitor of the French soleil) is not especially recognizable to any modern Romance language. Still, Romániço’s word stock in general is probably as “pan-Romance” as we’re ever likely to see in a schematic language, which alone sets it apart from the countless other Esperanto reform projects that have come and gone.

As for Romániço’s grammar, the prepositional object marker je is a handy innovation, one inspired, no doubt, by the “personal a” of Spanish. The system of using particles instead of inflexions to indicate tense and mood is an interesting idea, too, one I had never given much thought to before. There is at least one other conlang that does this (the name of it escapes me; if anyone knows it, feel free to email me). I don’t know if the analytic approach is truly any easier to learn or understand than the synthetic method, but if nothing else, it is more distinct and probably less prone to misunderstanding in noisy environments.

(Oh, and before the usual Interlingua evangelists barrage me with claims that Interlingua offers an analytic verb system that’s just as user-friendly, let me say that there’s a world of difference between “unchanging particle + root + unchanging affix connoting verbalness” and Interlingua’s “synthetically conjugated verb + participle or infinitive”.)

On the downside, one is obliged to choose between several suffixes for most adjectives, just as in Ido, and the affix -ig-, while a logical necessity for many compound words, is a little cumbersome. Also, while the Esperanto/Ido opero sounds terrible in speech, some may find writing the accent marks for Romániço’s ópero and other antepenultimately stressed words a little bothersome.

What the future holds, then, for Romániço and its speakers, if any, is anyone’s guess. It has been, after all, extremely obscure. Perhaps more will come of it now that it has its own website, which offers Romániço as a full-blown international auxiliary language. Perhaps not. Either way, late-coming Esperanto clone though it may be, it’s an instructive case study and worth a look just the same.

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SAMPLE TEXT

LA RACONTO SOPRE BABEL
  1. Ben la tero has es di un linguaĝo et pluse di il metípsima parlo.

  2. Et cuande los has avantien de la esto, los has incontren planuro en la paeso Shinar, et has habitecen lo.

  3. Et los has dicen un ad sia próximo: «Venen, nos vai facen bricos et cocinen los.» Et los has usen la bricos por saxos, et bitúmino por cemento.

  4. Et los has dicen: «Venen, nos vai constructen por nos civitato et turo cuya supro van atingen celestio et nos vai gloriizen nosa nómino ante que nos van divisezen tra la tota tero.»

  5. Ben la Senioro has decensen por vider la civitato et la turo cua la filios di Adam has sta constructen,

  6. et lui has dicen: «Ecce, un es la pópulo, et ci es un linguaĝo por omnos: et cominitiinte facer isto, los van ne cesationen sia projecto usque que los van completionen sia laboro.

  7. «Venen dunque, nos vai decensen, et nos confusen ilác losa linguaĝo por que omni vai ne comprensen il parlo di sia próximo.»

  8. Et tale la Senioro has divisen los ec ila loco ad la tota tero, et los has cesationen constructer la civitato.

  9. Et pro ilo oni nominijen lo Babel, pro que ilác la linguaĝo di la tota tero has fien confusita; et de ilác la Senioro has dispersen los ad sur la superficio di la tota regiono.

Genesis 11:1-9 traductita
de la Vulgato da Fafa Floly

HISTORIA BABEL
  1. Erat autem terra labii unius, et sermonum eorundem.

  2. Cumque profiscerentur de oriente, invenerunt campum in terra Senaar, et habitaverunt in eo.

  3. Dixitque alter ad proximum suum: Venite, faciemus lateres, et coquamus eos igni. Habueruntque lateres pro saxis, et bitumen pro caemento;

  4. et dixerunt: Venite, faciamus nobis civitatem et turrim, cuius culmen pertingat ad caelum et celebremus nomen nostrum antequam dividamus in universas terras.

  5. Descendit autem Dominus ut videret civitatem et turrim, quam aedificabant filii Adam,

  6. et dixit: Ecce, unus est populus, et unum labium omnibus: coeperuntque hoc facere, nec desistent a cogitationibus suis, donec eas opere compleant.

  7. Venite igitur, descendamus, et confundamus ibi linguam eorum, ut non audiat unusquisque vocem proximi sui.

  8. Atque ita divisit eos Dominus ex illo loco in universas terras, et cessaverunt aedificare civitatem.

  9. Et idcirco vocatum est nomen eius Babel, quia ibi confusum est labium universae terrae: et inde dispersit eos Dominus super faciem cunctarum regionum.

Genesis 11:1-9 conversus ex
Latino vetulo ab Sancto Hieronymo



UN LINGUAĜO POR GUBERNER LOS OMNA

Tri Anelos por la Elfos sub la celo stelosa,
Sep por la Duergos en petra salono,
Non por la Hóminos en sortos mortosa,
Un por la Nigra Dómino sur nigra trono,
En la paeso di Mordor ube jacen la Umbros.
Un Anelo por guberner los omna, Un Anelo por trover los,
Un Anelo por venifer los omna et en la ténebro liǧer los,
En la paeso di Mordor ube jacen la Umbros.

Uruquensa verso da J.R.R. Tolkien
traductita da Fafa Floly
(cursiva líneos de la Anelesca enscribo)

ONE TONGUE TO RULE THEM ALL

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on this dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Orkish verse by J.R.R. Tolkien
(lines in italics from the Ring inscription)



D-RO ZASLAVSKIY, AUT:
CUALE MI HAS APRENSEN CESATIONER DESTRANCUILESER ET AMER IL RUSENSO

La Rusiana linguaĝo es deventioninta universala linguaĝo ... La serio di linguaĝos curen tra la evos. Il Latinenso has es la linguaĝo di la anticua mundo, il Francenso di la feudesca mundo, il Anglenso di capitalismo. Il Rusenso es la universala linguaĝo di socialismo. Il Francenso es la linguaĝo ornamentizita di cortanos et il Anglenso la jargono di comerciistos. Los has es la linguaĝos di la gubernanta clasos et di snoba intelectosos. La Angliana linguaĝo has corupten pópulos en extraniera paesos. Il Rusenso es la unésima universala linguaĝo di internationismo. Nuli poten nominijer si erudito se li ne sapen il Rusenso.

Selectaĝo de “La magna linguaĝo di nosa evo” da David Zaslavskiy
Literaturesca jurnalo, Moscvá, n-ro 1, 1 Januario 1949
traductita da Fafa Floly

DR. ZASLAVSKY, OR:
HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE RUSSIAN

The Russian language has become a world language ... The succession of languages runs through the ages. Latin was the language of the ancient world, French of the feudal world, English of capitalism. Russian is the world language of Socialism. French is the fancy language of courtiers and English the jargon of traders. They were the tongues of the ruling classes and of snobbish intellectuals. The English language corrupted peoples in foreign lands. Russian is the first world language of internationalism. No one can call himself a scholar if he does not know Russian.

Отрывок из «Великий язык нашей эпохи» Давида Заславского
Литературная газета, Москва, № 1, 1 января 1949



ACHTUNG ESPERANTISTOS!

Sur ista unésima et maxim granda mendacio, que il Judeo ne es racio mas religiono, es constructata dunque en consecuanto necesa sempre plusa mendacios. Ad los apertinen anque la mendacio concernanta je la linguaĝo di il Judeo. Lo ne es apud li la medio por expreser lia pensos, mas la medio por absconder los. Dum que li parlen Francense, li pensen Judeense, et dum que li tornen versos Alemanensa, li viven mere secuno la naturo di sia nationitio. Ube il Judeo has ne deventionen la dómino super áltera pópulos, li has deben por bonitio aut malitio parler losa linguaĝo, mas imediate cuande los has es lia servantos, omna los has deben aprenser linguaĝo universala (ex. Esperanto!), por que per anque ista medio il Judeo plu fácile vai poten dominationer los!

Selectaĝo de Mein Kampf, Volumo 1, Capítulo 11,
“Pópulo et Racio”, da Adolf Hitler
traductita de il Alemanenso da Fafa Floly

ACHTUNG ESPERANTISTEN!

Auf dieser ersten und größten Lüge, das Judentum sei nicht eine Rasse, sondern eine Religion, bauen sich dann in zwangsläufiger Folge immer weitere Lügen auf. Zu ihnen gehört auch die Lüge hinsichtlich der Sprache des Juden. Sie ist ihm nicht das Mittel, seine Gedanken auszudrücken, sondern das Mittel, sie zu verbergen. Indem er französisch redet, denkt er jüdisch, und während er deutsche Verse drechselt, lebt er nur das Wesen seines Volkstums aus. Solange der Jude nicht der Herr der anderen Völker geworden ist, muß er wohl oder übel deren Sprachen sprechen, sobald diese jedoch seine Knechte waren, hätten sie alle eine Universalsprache (z. B. Esperanto!) zu lernen, so daß auch durch dieses Mittel das Judentum sie leichter beherrschen könnte!

Auswahl von Adolf Hitlers Mein Kampf,
Erster Band, Kapitel 11 „Volk und Rasse”



LA ÜBER-LINGUAJO

Brigitte has liven sia Alemanensa lectiono firme resolvinta ne studer la linguaĝo. Funde, un-látere, en la linguaĝo di Goethe lei has viden por si nula besonio (la lectionos has es imposita ad lei da leia matro), álter-látere lei has senten si cuomo profunde neconcordanta cun il Alemanenso. La linguaĝo has iriten lei per loa manco di lógico. La hodiesca exemplo has exhausten leia pacientitio: la prepositiono ohne (sine) prenden la acusativo, la prepositiono mit (cun) prenden la dativo. Pro cuo? Ya la du prepositionos signífiquen la aspecto positiva et negativa di la metípsima relato, et dunque los vai relaten ad la metípsima caso. Lei has protesten sopre isto ad sia instructisto, júvena Alemaniçho, cua has deventionen imbarasita et imediate has senten si culposa. Lui has es simpata et lena homo cua has júdiquen cuomo dolorifanta apertiner ad nationo cua has permisen si eser gubernata da Hitler. Presta vider en sia propria nationo omna vitio, lui imediate has creden que ci es nula acceptanda causo pro cua la prepositionos mit et ohne vai relaten ad du diferanta casos.

«Lo ne es logicosa, mi sapen, mas lo jam has deventionen acceptita dum la fluo di la séculos», lui has dicen, cuale se precanta je la júvena Franço compasioner linguaĝo maledictita da il historio.

«Mi joyen que vi confesen lo. Lo ne es logicosa. Mas linguaĝo ya deben eser logicosa», has dicen Brigitte.

La júvena Alemano has concorden: «Desfortune, manquen ad nos álica Descartes. Ilo es nepardonébila lacuno en nosa historio. En il Alemanenso ci ne es traditiono di rationo et claritio, en lo ci es multo di metafisicosa nébulo et Wagnerana músico, et nos omna sapen cua has es la maxim granda admiranto je Wagner: Hitler!»

Je Brigitte has interesen nec Wagner nec Hitler, et lei has secuen sia propria pensado: «Linguaĝo en cua ci ne es lógico es aprensébila ad infanto, pro que infanto ne pensen. Mas lo ne es aprensébila ad adulto. Dunque, por mi, il Alemanenso ne convenen cuomo linguaĝo di totmunda comunicado.»

«Vi es absolute justa», has dicen la Alemano, et lui has adjunten sumise, «Admínime vi viden cuante absurda has es la Alemaniana exfortio je totmunda dominationo!»

Contenta cun si ipsa, Brigitte has sedecen en sia automóbilo et vehen ad “Fauchon” por comprer botelo de vino....

Selectaĝo de Nemortivitio da Milan Kundera
traductita de il Rusenso da Fafa Floly

ÜBER-ЯЗЫК

Брижит уходила с урока немецкого, твердо решив им не заниматься. С одной стороны, потому что в языке Гёте не видела для себя никакой надобности (к его изучению ее принудила мать), с другой — потому что ощущала с немецким глубокое несогласие. Этот язык раздражал ее своей нелогичностью. Сегодняшний пример переполнил чашу ее терпения: предлог ohne (без) управляет винительным падежом, предлог mit (с) — дательным. Почему? Ведь оба предлога означают позитивный и негативный аспект одного и того же отношения, поэтому должны были бы управлять одним и тем же падежом. Она сказала об этом учителю, молодому немцу, который смутился и фазу же почувствовал себя виноватым. То был симпатичный мягкий человек, страдающий от того, что он представитель народа, который позволил властвовать над собой Гитлеру. Готовый видеть в своем отечестве все пороки, он мгновенно согласился, что не существует никакого приемлемого основания, чтобы предлоги mit и ohne управляли двумя различными падежами.

— Нелогично, я знаю, но так уж принято в течение веков, — говорил он, словно просил молодую француженку смилостивиться над языком, проклятым историей.

— Я рада, что вы с этим согласны. Это нелогично. А язык должен быть логичным, — говорила Брижит. Молодой немец подпевал ей:

— К сожалению, у нас не было Декарта. Это непростительная брешь в нашей истории. В Германии нет традиции разума и ясности, в ней полно метафизического тумана и вагнеровской музыки, и мы все знаем, кто был величайшим поклонником Вагнера: Гитлер!

Брижит не интересовали ни Вагнер, ни Гитлер, и она следовала за своей мыслью:

— Языком, в котором нет логики, может овладеть ребенок, потому что ребенок не думает. Но им никогда не сможет овладеть взрослый иностранец, поэтому для меня немецкий не является языком мирового общения.

— Вы абсолютно правы, — сказал немец и тихо добавил: — По крайней мере, вы видите, насколько абсурдно было стремление немцев к мировому господству!

Довольная собой, Брижит села в машину и поехала к «Фашон» купить бутылку вина...

Отрывок из романа Бессмертие Милана Кундеры
Перевод с чешского Нины Шулъгиной



LA LINGUAĜO DI IL AMORO

Dunque Bracciani, Olympe, Chigi et mi has pasen ad en la secreta cabineto di placeros di la principiso, ube plusa abominandos has celebrezen, et mi rubiecen, pro honoro, confeser los ad vi. Ila maledictita Borghèse has haben omna gusto, omna fantasiaĝo. Eunuco, hermafrodito, nano, muliero evanta ocadeç anuos, meléagro, simio, valde granda mastino, capriso et infantetiçho de cuar anuos — la postnepoto di la vécula muliero — has es la objectos di il libídino cua la dueñas di la principiso has presentationen ad nos.

«Ho! Magna Deo!» mi has clamen vidante je omna ilo, «Cuala depravititio!»

«Lo es la maxim naturesca afaro conoçata,» has dicen Bracciani: «La par-uso je gaudos fiquen necesa cerquer álteros. Blasita da ordinaria cosos, on desíderen la extránea, et ecce pro cuo il crímino deventionen la finesca grado di il libídino. Mi ne sapen, Juliette, cuala utilitio vi van troven en ista extránea objectos, mas mi dicen ad vi que la principiso, mia amico et mi certe van troven granda placeros per los.»

«Id jam es necesa que anque mi vai fien contentifita», mi has responden, «et mi vai sine-dubitifen vi avantie que vi jamás van viden mi en la detroaĝo cuande ci van es cuestiono di deboçho et nedeçaĝos.»

Etiam ante que mi has finen parler, la granda mastino, sine-dúbite custumanta ad tala amuso, has venen cercosnifader sub mia jupos.

«Ha! Ecce Lucifer cominitien!» has dicen Olympe ridante. «Juliette, desvestizen ti; consignen tia cárminos ad la libidinosa carecios di ista belaza bestio, et ti van viden cuante contenta ti van deventionen.»

Mi accepten ... post omno, cua hororo has poten repugner mi, mi cua omnadie cerquen omna specio di hororo tale atentioneme? Oni ponen mi sur cuar pedos meze di la cambro; la mastino turnen, snifen mi, liquen mi, monten mi, et finen per mirabilie cunio-futuer mi et spricer en mia útero. Mas álico alicuante extránea has eventen: la membro di la mastino has tante grandecen dum la acto, que luia probos ectirer lo has producten ad mi enorma doloros. La amusema bestio alore has volitionen ricominitier; oni has decisen que ilo van es la solvo maxim rápida: facte debilifita da duésima spriço, lui has ectiren si spriç-maculizinta je mi duvece per sia spermo.

«Ecce,» has dicen Chigi, «vos pronte van viden S-ro Lucifer tracter mi cuale lui has tracten Juliette. Extreme libertina sopre sia gustos, ista carminanta bestio honorizen belitio ube cunque lui troven lo: lui van futuen mia culo cun la metípsima placero cun cua lui has futuen la cunio di la sioriso, mi van parien. Mas mi van ne ímiten la neacto di nosa cara amico, et mi van futuen ista capriso dum que mi van rolijen puto ad Lucifer.»

Mi jamás has viden álico cunque tale extránea cam je ista gaudo. Chigi, avara ye sia futuaĝo, has ne spricen; tamen lui has semblen prender placeros valde granda de ista voluptosa extravagaĝo.

«Reguarden mi,» has dicen Bracciani, «mi van dationen ad vos áltera spectáculo...»

Lui fiquen si culfutuata da la eunuco dum que lui culfutuen la meléagro. Olympe, cun sia glúteos turnita ad lui, has tenen inter sia coxos la cápito di la avicelo; lei sequen lo ye la instanto cuande la médico perden sia sémino.

«Ecce,» has dicen la libertino, «la maxim delectanta de placeros! Oni ne poten imaginationer la sento facita da meleagresca ano cuande lo constricten si dum que oni sequen la colo di la avicelo juste ye la crisa instanto.»

«Mi jamás has probationen lo,» has dicen Chigi; «mas mi has auden laudado tale forta sopre ista manero di futuer que mi jam deben probationer por mi ipsa... Juliette,» lui has dicen ad mi, «tenen ista puero inter vosa coxos dum que mi van culfutuen lui; poste, ye la instanto cuande mia blasfemos van anuntien ad ti mia deliro, vi vai sequen luia colo.»

«Bona,» has dicen Olympe, «mas servante je vosa placero, mia cara, anque mia amiquiso deben haber de placero. Mi van ponen la hermafrodito sub leia buco, et careciante ye la metípsima témporo lia du sexos, lei van sucten alternante la probo di lia masculitio et anque di lia feminitio.»

«Atenden,» has dicen Bracciani, «la positiono poten deventioner arangita tale, que mi van poten culfutuer la hermafrodito et fiquer mi futuata da la eunuco, habante super mia naso je la culo di la vèculiso, cua van caquen ad sur mia facio.»

«Cuala depravititio!» has dicen Olympe.

«Sioriso,» has dicen Bracciani, «omna ilo haben sia éxplico; ci es etiam ne un gusto, etiam ne un inclino, di cua oni ne poten reveler la causo.»

«Mi ne creden isto,» has dicen Chigi, «Pro que omna vos has liǧen vos un ad áltera, id es necesa que la simio vai culfutuen mi dum que la nano, cabalicante je la infanteto, vai presentationen ad mi sia glúteos por basier.»

«Nun ilo vaden belaze,» has dicen Olympe; «mas Lucifer, la capriso et mi resten hic neocupata.»

«Nulo van esen plu fácila,» has dicen Chigi, «cam poner omna nos ad en la ceno. La capriso et vi vai ponen vos próxima ad mi; mi van alternen de un culo ad áltera, et Lucifer van sodomiijen vos cuande mi van ne ócupen vosa culo; mas mi incore intenten spricer ad en ila infanteto, cuya colo Juliette van sequen imediate cuande lei van viden mi suoner.»

La ceno es arangita: jamás antee álico tale abominanda has fien facita pro il libídino; omna nos tamen has spricen; la infanto has fien descapitizita imediate ye la justa instanto, et nos has disrupten la ceno mere por gloriizer la deesca placeros cua ista extraneaĝo has acuisiten por omni.

Selectaĝo de Juliette da la Marqueso de Sade
traductita de il Francenso da Fafa Floly

LA LANGUE DE L’AMOUR

Bracciani, Olympe, Chigi et moi, nous passâmes donc dans le cabinet secret des plaisirs de la princesse, où de nouvelles infamies se célébrèrent, et je rougis, d'honneur, de vous les avouer. Cette maudite Borghèse avait tous les goûts, toutes les fantaisies. Un eunuque, un hermaphrodite, un nain, une femme de quatre-vingts ans, un dindon, un singe, un très gros dogue, une chèvre et un petit garçon de quatre ans, arrière-petit-fils de la vieille femme, furent les objets de luxure que nous présentèrent les duègnes de la princesse.

— Oh ! grand Dieu ! m'écriai-je en voyant tout cela, quelle dépravation !

— Elle est on ne saurait plus naturelle, dit Bracciani : l'épuisement des jouissances nécessite des recherches. Blasés sur les choses communes, on en désire des singulières, et voilà pourquoi le crime devient le dernier degré de la luxure. Je ne sais, Juliette, quel usage vous ferez de ces bizarres objets, mais je vous réponds que la princesse, mon ami et moi, nous allons sûrement trouver de grands plaisirs avec eux.

— Il faudra bien que je m'en arrange aussi, répondis-je, et je puis vous assurer d'avance que vous ne me verrez jamais en arrière quand il s'agira de débauche et d'incongruités.

Je n'avais pas fini, que le gros dogue, accoutumé sans doute à ce manège, vint farfouiller sous mes jupes.

— Ah ! voilà Lucifer en train ! dit Olympe en riant. Juliette, déshabille-toi ; livre tes charmes aux libidineuses caresses de ce superbe animal, et tu verras combien tu en seras contente.

J'accepte... Et comment une horreur m'eût-elle révoltée, moi qui, journellement, les recherchais toutes avec tant de soins ? On me place à quatre pattes au milieu de la chambre ; le dogue tourne, me flaire, lèche, monte sur mes reins, et finit par m'enconner à merveille, et me décharger dans la matrice. Mais il arriva quelque chose d'assez singulier : son membre grossit tellement dans l'opération, qu'il n'essayait de le retirer qu'en me causant des douleurs énormes. Le drôle alors voulut recommencer ; on décida que c'était le plus court : une seconde décharge l'ayant effectivement affaibli, il se retire après m'avoir deux fois arrosée de son sperme.

— Tenez, dit Chigi, vous allez voir M. Lucifer me traiter bientôt comme Juliette. Extrêmement libertin dans ses goûts, ce charmant animal honore la beauté partout où il la trouve : il va foutre mon cul avec le même plaisir qu'il vient de baiser le con de madame, je le parie. Mais je n'imiterai point l'oisiveté de notre chère amie, et je vais foutre cette chèvre tout en servant de putain à Lucifer.

Je n'ai jamais rien vu de si bizarre que cette jouissance. Chigi, avare de son foutre, ne déchargea point ; mais il eut l'air de prendre de bien grands plaisirs à cette voluptueuse extravagance.

— Regardez-moi, dit Bracciani, je vais vous donner un autre spectacle...

Il se fait enculer par l'eunuque et encule le dindon. Olympe, les fesses tournées vers lui, tenait entre les cuisses la tête de l'animal ; elle la coupe au moment où le physicien perd sa semence.

— Voilà, dit le libertin, le plus délicieux des plaisirs ! On n'imagine pas ce que fait éprouver le resserrement de l'anus du dindon, quand on lui coupe le cou, positivement à l'instant de la crise.

— Je ne l'ai jamais essayé, dit Chigi ; mais j'ai si fort entendu vanter cette manière de foutre, qu'il faut que j'essaie dans un autre genre... Juliette, me dit-il, tenez cet enfant entre vos cuisses pendant que je l'enculerai ; puis, au moment où mes blasphèmes vous annonceront mon délire, vous lui couperez le cou.

— Bien, dit Olympe, mais en le servant, mon cher, il faut que mon amie ait du plaisir. Je vais placer l'hermaphrodite sous sa bouche, et caressant à la fois dans lui les deux sexes, elle lui gamahuchera tout à tour, et les preuves de sa virilité et celles de sa féminine existence.

— Attendez, dit Bracciani, la posture peut s'arranger en telle sorte que je puisse enculer l'hermaphrodite et me faire foutre par l'eunuque, ayant sous mon nez le cul de la vieille, qui me chiera sur le visage.

— Quelle dépravation ! dit Olympe.

— Madame, dit Bracciani, tout cela s'explique ; il n'est pas un seul goût, pas un seul penchant, dont on ne puisse dévoiler la cause.

— Allons, dit Chigi, puisque vous vous enchaînez tous, il faut que le singe m'encule, pendant que le nain, à cheval sur les reins du petit garçon, me présentera ses fesses à baiser.

— Voilà qui va le mieux du monde, dit Olympe ; il n'y a donc de vacant ici que Lucifer, la chèvre et moi.

— Rien de plus aisé, dit Chigi, que de nous mettre tous en scène. Que la chèvre et vous se placent près de moi ; je varierai d'un cul à l'autre, et Lucifer vous sodomisera quand je n'occuperai pas votre cul ; mais je déchargerai toujours dans celui du petit garçon, dont Juliette coupera le cou dès qu'elle me verra pâmer.

Le tableau s'arrange : jamais rien d'aussi monstrueux ne s'était fait en lubricité ; nous n'en déchargeâmes pas moins tous ; l'enfant fut décapité très à point, et nous ne dérangeâmes le tableau que pour faire l'éloge des divins plaisirs que cette bizarrerie venait de nous procurer à tous.

Morceau choix de Juliette par le marquis de Sade

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