Irregularities and exceptions in Interlingua: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 12:56, 21 June 2013

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The term '''irregularities or exceptions in Interlingua''' refers to deviations from the logical rules in a few grammatical constructions in the [[international auxiliary language]] [[Interlingua]]. These oddities are a part of the standard grammar. These special cases have crept into the language as a result to keep it naturalistic. Most of these irregularities also exist in Interlingua's source languages; [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], and to a lesser extent [[German language|German]] and [[Russian language|Russian]]. This feature of the language makes Interlingua more familiar to the speakers of source languages. And at the same time, it makes the language more difficult for others.

The speakers of the source languages don't perceive all deviations as irregular. For instance, Interlingua has two different words for English ''is'' (es) and ''are'' (son). While most English speakers will not find any thing abnormal about it, speakers of a few other languages may find the use of two words to express the concept of 'simple present' as unnecessary.

Interlingua is notable in the sense that unlike most auxiliary languages, that seek to minimise or eliminate any irregular aspects, Interlingua takes a flexible approach. It is mandatory to use certain exceptions in Interlingua while others have been kept optional.

==Mandatory exceptions==

===Pronunciation===

Unlike [[Esperanto]], the most popular [[International auxiliary language|auxiliary language]], Interlingua doesn't have a 'one letter one sound' orthography. As in English, several letters can be pronounced in different ways; depending on where they are in a word. For instance, the letter '''S''' can be pronounced as either [s] (stato) or [z] (Chinese). Here is a list of other mandatory exceptions in pronunciation:

{| class="wikitable"

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|-

| c

| [k] </br> [ts] (or [s])

| [k] when ''c'' is followed by ''a'', ''o'', ''u'' or any ''consonant'' </br> [ts] (or /s/) when ''e'', ''i'' or ''y'' come after ''c''

| camera, crear </br> acido, Cinderella

|-

| ch

| [k] </br> [tʃ] </br> [ʃ]

| like [k] in words of Greek origin </br> [tʃ] only in a few words (very rare) </br> [ʃ] in several words that come from the French

| cholera, chrome, echo </br> chic </br> machine, chef

|-

| h

| [h] </br> silent

| usually [h] </br> but silent after ''r'' and ''t''

| horlogio </br> rhetoria

|-

| rh

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|-

| t

| [t] </br> [ts]

| [t] when it is followed by ''a'', ''o'', ''u'' or any ''consonant'' </br> [ts] when ''e'', ''i'' or ''y'' come after ''t''

| tourista </br> creation

|-

| u

| [u:] </br> [w]

| [u:] when between two consonants or stressed before a vowel </br> [w] when unstressed and precedes a vowel

| luna, plural </br> persuade, superflue

|-

| x

| [ks] </br> [z] </br> [gz]

| usually [ks] </br> like [z] when precedes a vowel </br> between two vowels

| affixo </br> xenon, xenophobia </br> exacto

|-

| y

| [j] </br> [i:]

| [j] when unstressed before vowels </br> other like [i:]

| Yugoslavia, yoga </br> tyranno, typo

|}

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===Contractions===

Just like in English, where ''I am'' is usually contracted to ''I'm'' and ''he is'' to ''he's'', such contractions are also found in Interlingua and these two are compulsory to observe:

{| class="wikitable"

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| ends in a consonant other than ''c''

| ''-es''

| conversation - conversationes </br> pais - paises

|-

| ends in ''c''

| ''-hes''

| roc - roches </br> choc - choches

|-

| ends in a vowel

| ''-s''

| radio - radios </br> academia - academias

|}

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==Optional==

===Pronunciation===

*if ''s'' is between vowels, it can be pronounced {{IPA|[z]}}, like in "the'''s'''e" (instead of the {{IPA|[s]}} of "'''s'''tay")

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===Verbs===

====Optional short forms====

*"'''ha'''" for "habe", 'has', 'have'