Simplified English

English is becoming a lingua franca for the world, allowing people from many different places to communicate in a common language.

But English is a difficult language to learn, in large part because of the huge number of irregularities in the grammar as well as the often-nonsensical spelling. Even native English speakers spend huge amounts of time learning to spell (and thus to read and write), time that could be spent learning other things if the spelling were more logical.

It would be quite easy to devise a parallel rational English language with simple phonetic spelling and simplified regular grammar. The vocabulary could remain basically unchanged. Such a ‘New English’ would be very easy to master for those who speak traditional English, and it would make learning the language very much easier and faster for non-English speakers.

New English could be introduced in two stages. Stage 1 would be a phoneticisation of the spelling. This would make it clear how newly seen words are pronounced and how newly heard words are spelt. The spoken language would be unchanged. Stage 2 (which wouldn’t have to be introduced until later) would be a rationalisation and simplification of the grammar. This would change the spoken language somewhat, but, because most of the vocabulary would be unchanged, the New English should still be largely understandable to traditional English speakers and vice versa. What’s more, because the new grammar would be much simpler than the old and without all the irregularities, it shouldn’t take more than a few days to master understanding it, speaking it, reading it and writing it.

Stage 1: A Phonetic Spelling System

A possible system uses the present letters (except q) and four accents (called bar, down, up and cap) as shown below. The letters in black are written and pronounced the traditional way. Those in red are written and pronounced as indicated. There is no upper case (it serves no essential purpose), and no cursive (cursive is just an excuse to write a bit quicker at the expense of legibility). L is used instead of l, to avoid confusion with 1.

Stress can optionally be indicated by underlining the vowel, e.g. rēmūvêL.

The following is an example of prose written using this system. It should sound exactly the same as traditional English when read. It shouldn’t take long to become fluent with reading and writing with it. Keyboards could have three or four accent keys in place of the present Q, shift key and caps lock.

wuns êpon ê tīm d̅é wù t̅rē bèz, mumē bè, dadē bè and bābē bè, and d̅ā áL Livd têged̅ê in ê litêl hâs in d̅ê wûdz. wun dā mumē bè mād sum porij. sum woz tū hot and sum woz tū kóLd. mumē bè and dadē bè àgyūd êbât d̅ê porij. d̅ā kûd hav miksd d̅em têged̅ê, but, bēin̅ bèz ov litêl brān, d̅ā went tū makêz fò brekfêst insted.

àftê d̅ā left, ê yuñ lât káLd góLdēLoks kām stumblin̅ t̅rū d̅ê wûdz in hù yūz̅yūêL drunkên styūpê. s̅ē kras̅d hù wā into d̅ê bèz’ hâs, feL fās-fùst into a bóL ov porij, and bùnt hù nōz. ‘#*@^!’ s̅ē sed, ‘d̅is porij iz hot!’ s̅ē stuk hù fingê intū d̅ê nekst bóL: it woz tū kóLd. d̅ê t̅ùd bóL woz just rīt, sō s̅ē āt it. d̅en s̅ē brōk ê cè and went tū slēp in d̅ê bed d̅at woz just rīt.

wen d̅ê bèz got bak, stiL àgyūin̅ êbât d̅ê porij, d̅ā hùd góLdēLoks snòrin̅. ê skufêL ensyūd, but góLdēLoks manijd tū eskāp t̅rū ê windō wid̅ just mīnê kuts and brūziz. s̅ē had wákd ê litêl wā t̅rū d̅ê wûdz wen ê wúLf jumpd ât from behīnd ê bûs̅ and bit hù hed of. d̅ê end.

Stage 2: A Rational Grammar System

Devising a good, intuitive, natural and easy-to-use rational grammar system is more complicated than devising a good phonetic spelling system. The following is a first attempt only. It will be incomplete and able to be improved on. It is uninflected, so in general, words have just one form and most irregularities thus disappear.

Verbs

A verb clause has three parts: subject/person, tense indicator, verb.

• The subject/person can be a noun or a pronoun (ī, yū, zē (gender-neutral third person singular), hē, s̅ē, it, wē, yē, d̅ā).

• The tense indicators are: iz, duz, wiL, did, dun, woz.

• The verb is uninflected. So ēt is used in place of eat, eats, eating, eaten and ate.

i ēt: I eat, I do eat (no tense indicator)

i iz ēt: I am eating

i wiL ēt: I will eat, I am going to eat

i wiL iz ēt: I will be eating

i wiL duz ēt: I will make a habit of eating

i wiL dun ēt: I will have eaten

i did ēt: I did eat, I ate

i dun ēt: I have eaten

i woz ēt: I was eating

i woz duz ēt: I used to eat

i woz dun ēt: I had eaten

i woz wiL ēt: I was going to eat

Other forms are produced as follows:

Infinitive: add tū before the verb,

e.g. it woz stàt tū get dàk (it was starting to get dark)

Imperative: just the verb,

e.g. stop!

Negative: add nō before the tense indicator,

e.g. i nō wiL iz ēt (I will not be eating)

Interrogative: add trū before the subject,

e.g. trū yū Līk mangō? (do you like mango?)

Passive: add got before the verb,

e.g. i wiL got ēt (I will be eaten)

Conditional: if for indicative, wif for subjunctive

e.g. if i dū d̅at (if I do that), wif i bē ric (if I were rich)

Gerundive: add -in̅ to the end of the verb,

e.g. wáLk-in̅ dân̅ d̅ê strēt, i did sē ê rat (walking down the street, I saw a rat)

Other parts of speech

Articles: ê (a), an (an), êz (some), d̅ê (the, singular), d̅êz (the, plural).

Plurals: indicated by the article or a number,

e.g. d̅êz bé did cās i (the bears chased me)

Possessive: for nouns, add ov before,

e.g. d̅ê bīk ov bob (Bob’s bike);

for adjectives and pronouns, īz, yūz, zēz, hēz, s̅ēz itz, wēz, yēz, d̅ās,

e.g. d̅at bē s̅ēz (that’s hers)

Comparative: mò, Les, mōst, Lēst before the adjective,

e.g. i bē d̅ê mōst big (I’m the biggest)

Adverb: -Lē after the adjective,

e.g. sLō-Lē (slowly)

Nouns from adjectives:

styūpid-nis stupidity (the state of being stupid)

Nouns from verbs:

kiL-in̅: killing (gerund, the act of killing),

kil-ê: killer (one who kills),

kiL-ē: killee (one who is killed)

Adjectives from nouns:

rē-remêdē (remedial, related to remedy)

Līk-Lizêd (lizard-like)

in-trend (trendy),

ēc-dā (daily),

wiv-kàbên (carbonaceous),

wiv-lēk (leaky),

cov-grēs (greasy, contaminated with grease, covered with grease)

Adjectives from verbs:

dū-skè (tending to scare),

can-skè (able to scare),

got-fòget (forgotten),

can-got-brāk (breakable)

Negative adjectives:

not simetrik (asymmetric),

not can-got-brāk (unbreakable)

Verbs from nouns:

pût-grēs (apply grease),

dē-grēs (remove grease),

rē-grēs (re-apply grease),

ōvê-grēs (over-apply grease),

undê-grēs (under-apply grease),

in-kās (cause to be in a case),

ât-ground (take out of the ground), etc. māk-model (make a model)

Verbs from adjectives:

māk-wēk (weaken, cause to be weak),

māk-mò-wēk (weaken, cause to be weaker), māk-not-wēk (cause to be not weak),

māk-Les-wēk (cause to be less weak)

The following is the same story using the rational grammar system.

wuns êpon ê tīm t̅rē bè woz bē, mumē bè, dadē bè and bābē bè, and d̅ā áL woz Liv têged̅ê in ê litêl hâs in d̅êz wûd. wun dā mumē bè did māk sum porij. sum woz bē tū hot and sum woz bē tū kóLd. mumē bè and dadē bè did àgyū êbât d̅ê porij. d̅ā woz can miks d̅em têged̅ê, but, bē-in̅ êz bè ov litêl brān, d̅ā did gō tū makêz fò brekfêst insted.

àftê d̅ā did lēv, ê yun̅ lât got káL góLdēLoks did kum stumbêL-in̅ t̅rū d̅êz wûd in s̅ēz yūz̅yūêL drunkên styūpê. s̅ē did kras̅ s̅ēz wā intū d̅ê hâs ov d̅êz bè, did fáL fās-fùst into ê bóL ov porij, and did bùn s̅ēz nōz. ‘#*@^!’ s̅ē did sā, ‘d̅is porij bē hot!’ s̅ē did stik s̅ēz fin̅gê intū d̅ê nekst bóL: it woz bē tū kóLd. d̅ê t̅ùd bóL woz bē just rīt, sō s̅ē did ēt it. d̅en s̅ē did brāk ê cè and did gō tū slēp in d̅ê bed d̅at woz bē just rīt.

wen d̅êz bè did get bak, stiL àgyū-in̅ êbât d̅ê porij, d̅ā did hé góLdēLoks snòr-in̅. ê skufêL did ensyū, but góLdēLoks did manij tū eskāp t̅rū ê windō wid̅ just mīnê êz kut and êz brūz. s̅ē woz dun wák ê litêl wā t̅rū d̅êz wûd wen ê wúLf did jump ât from behīnd ê bûs̅ and did bīt of s̅ēz hed. d̅ê end.