Intergermansk

On Monday, January 24, 2005, at 11:00 , Pascal A. Kramm wrote:

> Ok, here is my newest masterpiece: a common Germanic language combined
> from
> the most used Germanic languages (English, German, Swedish, Norwegian,
> Danish, Dutch).
So basically the same goal as Folkspraak? The Folkspraak Charter had:
"Folkspraak is a model language being designed as a common Germanic
language (an "Intergerman", if you will)."

I think if Danish & Norwegian are counted among the most used languages,
then Afrikaans should also be included. Way back in 1996, the Folkspraak
Charter listed the following estimated numbers of speakers for spoken
Germanic languages:
English		325,000,000
German 		 98,000,000
Dutch 		 17,500,000 (includes Flemish)
Swedish 	  8,300,000
Danish 		  5,100,000
Afrikaans 	  4,500,000
Norwegian     4,300,000
Yiddish 	    350,000
Frisian 	    300,000
Icelandic 	    240,000
Faroese 	     40,000

I dare say there are more up to date numbers available.

> http://www.choton.org/ig/
>
> On the web site, you'll find a pronunciation guide, a detailled grammar
> description, the obligatory Babel text and the ever-more-popular McGuffey'
> s
> First Reader :D
I shall look, it will be interesting to see a different take on the same
idea. I was a bit disappointed to find that there does not seem to be any
Folkspraak version Babel Text - maybe the language never reached a state
where it could do so. It was one of those languages being created 'by
committee'. A pity - it would have been interesting to compare a
Folkspraak Babal Text with the Intergermansk one.

> For your convenience, I'll put the Babel text right here and the McGuffey'
> s
> text in a new post (so this one doesn't get too long).
>
> 1 Nu ganz werld hafte en sproch med sam words.
But one difference I can spot immediately: sproch ~ spraak    :)

One thing surprised me when I read the McGuffey sentences. Intergermansk
does not appear to have any articles, yet all the most commonly spoken
Germanic languages have both definite and indefinite articles.

Just curious.

Ray
=======================================================
http://home.freeuk.com/ray.brown
ray.brown@freeuk.com
=======================================================
"If /ni/ can change into /A/, then practically anything
can change into anything"
          Yuen Ren Chao, 'Language and Symbolic Systems"