# Neo language

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For other uses, see [Neolanguage (disambiguation)](/source/Neolanguage_(disambiguation)).

**Neo** is an [international auxiliary language](/source/International_auxiliary_language) created by [Arturo Alfandari](/source/Arturo_Alfandari), a [Belgian](/source/Belgium) diplomat of Italian descent. It combines features of [Esperanto](/source/Esperanto), [Ido](/source/Ido_language), [Novial](/source/Novial), and [Volapük](/source/Volap%C3%BCk). The root base of Neo is closely related to [French](/source/French_language), with some influence from [English.](/source/English_language)

## History

The basic version of Neo was published in 1937 by [Arturo Alfandari](/source/Arturo_Alfandari). It attracted attention in 1961 when Alfandari published his books *Cours Pratique de Neo* and *The Rapid Method of Neo*. The works included both brief and complete grammars, learning course of 44 lectures, translations of literary works, scientific and technical texts, idioms, detailed bidirectional French and English dictionaries. The total volume of the publications was 1,304 pages, with dictionaries numbering some 75,000 words.

The language combines the features of [Esperanto](/source/Esperanto) or [Ido](/source/Ido_language), with the same goal: a simple, neutral and easy-to-learn second language for everybody.

Neo attracted the interest of the circle around the *[International Language Review](/source/International_Language_Review)*, a periodical for IAL proponents whose publishers co-founded the international Friends of Neo (*Amikos de Neo*) with Alfandari; the organization also published its bulletin, the *Neo-bulten*. For a few years it looked like Neo could give some serious competition to [Esperanto](/source/Esperanto) and [Interlingua](/source/Interlingua).

As Alfandari's health worsened, to avoid disappearance of his language, he founded a second, more serious organization: the Academy of Neo (*Akademio de Neo*), with the task of regulating, nurturing and spreading the language; but the organization was not very successful. Progress was cut short by Alfandari's death in 1969 and the language was mostly forgotten.[1]

## Overview

Grammatically, the language is mostly influenced by Ido and [Esperanto](/source/Esperanto); though some characteristics such as a [plural](/source/Plural) *-s* and natural-appearing [pronouns](/source/Pronoun) come from naturalistic IALs like [Interlingua](/source/Interlingua) and [Interlingue](/source/Interlingue).

The way of forming the vocabulary and the preference for short, monosyllabic words show a substantial [Volapük](/source/Volap%C3%BCk) influence but, unlike the latter's roots which are often changed and mutilated beyond recognition, the Neo roots are easily recognizable as [Romance](/source/Romance_languages).

It is also notable for its terseness, which exceeds that of English or any [International auxiliary language](/source/International_auxiliary_language) (IAL) of the *a priori* type, which makes it very compact and brief in expression, and for the facility of its grammar whose overview occupies only two pages.

## Phonology

### Consonants

Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal m n (ŋ) Stop p b t d k ɡ Fricative f v s z ʃ h Affricate ts tʃ dʒ Approximant w l j Trill r

### Vowels

Front Back Close i u Mid e o Open a

## Orthography

### Alphabet

Neo alphabet (+ digraphs) Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 - - Upper case A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z SH TS Lower case a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z sh ts IPA phoneme a b t͡ʃ d e f g h i d͡ʒ k l m n o p kw r s t u v w ks j z ʃ t͡s

Neo uses the 26 letters of the standard Roman alphabet: 5 vowels and 21 consonants. When spelling a word, the consonants have an -e ending:

a, be, ce, de, e, fe, ge, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, qe, re, se, te, u, ve, we, xe, ye, ze.

### Pronunciation

Examples: Neo English approximation c (ch) chair, such g garden, log j jewel, badge q (kw) quart, liquid s some, mash sh shall, mash ts tsetse, lots w wing, southwest x (ks) oxen, taxes y yarn, yogurt

The *c* has the same pronunciation as the digraph *ch*; both are pronounced as in English words like ***ch**alk* or ***ch**imney*, and in borrowed Italian words like ***c**iao* or *boccon**c**ini*, never with the 'k' sound in *care* or the 's' sound in *certain.* The *g* always has the “hard” pronunciation of ***g**et* or ***g**ood*, never the “soft” pronunciation of ***g**em* or ***g**iant*. The *s* is always unvoiced, never pronounced with the 'z' sound in *ro**s**e* or the 'zh' sound in *lei**s**ure.*

Other letters, including the vowels, are pronounced as in [Esperanto](/source/Esperanto). Words with the letters *q* (not pronounced 'kjoo' but as in English 'qu') and *x* (pronounced 'ks' without an initial vowel) may optionally be spelled with *kw* and *ks*, respectively. Each letter is always spoken in the same way, except that final *h* is silent in a few borrowed words like pasha*h*, mufti*h*, kadi*h*, papa*h*, mama*h*.

### Spelling

All words are written with initial small letters (minuscules), except for proper nouns and the first word of a sentence.

### Stress

Words ending in a vowel have a stress accent on the second-last syllable. Words ending in a consonant have a stress accent on the last syllable.

Examples: Neo English meaning libro book patro father kemio chemistry folyo leaf garden garden amik friend

The plural **-s** or **-os** does not affect the stress accent.

Examples: Neo English meaning libros books gardenos gardens amikos friends

In the combinations **uo**, **au** and **eu**, the vowels are to be pronounced separately, not as [diphthongs](/source/Diphthong). Nevertheless, the stress accent does not fall on the **u** in these vowel combinations.

Examples: Neo English meaning linguo language auto automobile neutra neuter (grammatical gender)

## Grammar

The articles are invariable:

- **lo** (the): lo frato, lo soro, lo arbro → l'arbro
- **un** (a/an): un arbro

Adjectives end in *a* and are invariable:

- un bona soro, un bona frato, lo bona fratos (no *s* added to *lo*, nor to *bona*)

Adverbs end in *e* and are invariable:

- bon → bone

Singular nouns end in *o*, which can be dropped, as long as the pronunciations remain very easy.[2] Plural nouns end in *os*.

- - arbro, frat(o), sor(o), arbros

Pronoun declension English Subject Object Possessive I mi me ma you tu te ta he il le la she el le/ley la it it le/it la (reflexive) so se sa we nos ne na you vu ve va they (m.) zi ze za they (f.) zel ze/zey za

There is also the pronoun **ziel** for mixed-sex group.[3]

- *Mi vidar te* = I see you
- *Tu vidar me* = You see me

Verbs:

- Present: **ar** → mi vidar (I see)
- Past: **ir** → mi vidir (I saw/have seen)
- Future: **or** → mi vidor (I will see)
- Conditional: **ur** → mi vidur (I would see)
- Imperative/infinitive: **iu** or **u** (the latter for polysyllabic verbs) → vidu! (See!)
- Past participle: **at** → vidat (adjective: vidata) (seen)
- Present participle: **ande** → vidande (adjective: vidanda) (seeing)
- Future participle: **inde** → vidinde (adjective: vidinda) (will be seen)

## Samples

**The [Lord's Prayer](/source/Lord's_Prayer)**

**Sentences**

- Look before you leap. = *Miru pri salti.*
- Goodnight, Miss Wilson. = *Bonnox, Damel Wilson.*
- What do you call this in Neo? = *Kom namar vu eto nee?*
- Where are you going? = *Qo tu?*
- It's none of my business. = *Eto no ma eco.*

**Numbers**

- 1 *un*, 2 *du*, 3 *tre*, 4 *qar*, 5 *qin*, 6 *sit*, 7 *sep*, 8 *ot*, 9 *non*, 10 *is*
- 11 *isun*, 12 *isdu*
- 20 *duis*, 21 *duisun*, ... 30 *treis*, 40 *qaris*
- 100 *ek*, 1000 *mil*
- 5184 *qinmil ek otis qar*
- 3522 *tremil qinek duis du*

**[Wanderer's Nightsong](/source/Wanderer's_Nightsong)** (German: *Wanderers Nachtlied*) by [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](/source/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe)

- ***Noxkant del wander***

- **Wanderer's Nightsong**

Up there all summits are still. In all the tree-tops you will feel but the dew. The birds in the forest stopped talking. Soon, done with walking, you shall rest, too.

- ***Wanderers Nachtlied***

**The Task** by Douglas Blacklock

- ***Lo Tasko***

- **The Task**

Words are used both to inform And to deceive and ensnare. God turns mens hearts From the path of slavery To that of Freedom. The unadorned short words of Neo May become an inspiration To the rightful use Of Speech and Writing.

***Lo diplomata linguos***

*Latin sir, us l'endo del issepa seklo, l'oficala linguo de diplomatio. Latine so redaktir lo tratalos e l'akordos e so skambir lo komunikos inte governos. Lo last gran tratal ridaktat latine sir lo de Westfalio, in 1648; depdan kauzel preeminenta plas trenat pe Franso, Latin pokpoke cedar plas a fransal; e fransal restar us l'enso d'et seklo - us 1918 - lo diplomata linguo, lo linguo de tot internasyona medos.*

*Ab 1918, lo diplomata linguos jar du: fransal e anglal. In et du linguos, sir meant lo negosados pol Versailles-Tratal e pol osa paxtratalos de 1919 e sir ridaktat et tratalos, amba linguos fande fid; dok no sen inkonvenos, lo du textos pande somyes determeni def interpretazos.*

*Do 1945, espanal, rusal e cinal sir an admitat as oficala linguos. Nos nun nel epok de tradukeros e interpretos.*

(Gino Buti)

***Ka sor l'avena diplomata linguo?***

*Sar nel internasyona riunos, konferensos e kongresos, dey num pluar idide, ke lo neso d'un monda adlinguo se far senti pluste.*

*Nilo samtempe plu groteska e plu afligifa qam lo spekto ofrat pel kongresistos munat kon udokaskos, ki tentar, sen sem riusi, kapi lo diskorsos pronuncat in def lingoes. Diskorsos tradukat aste pe interpretos, dey lo melestas sar force, konforme l'itala dikton: tradukeros, trazeros.*

*Es so exijur dal parpreneros lo kono d'un komuna adlinguo, ke zi pur apreni kon infana izeso, so fur ilke un enorma ekonomio de temp, dengo... e de malkomprenos.*

(Arturo Alfandari)

## References

1. Harlow, Don (2000). ["How To Build A Language: Neo"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120204044938/http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/EBook/chap03.html#neo). *The Esperanto Book*. Archived from [the original](http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/EBook/chap03.html#neo) on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2008-11-09.

1. Rapid Method of Neo, p. 10: not "tabl" or "libr" which may be difficult to pronounce

1. Rapid Method of Neo, p. 16

## Bibliography

- [Arturo Alfandari, *Cours pratique de NEO*](http://www.box.net/shared/static/1ixe21haq6.djvu), Brussel, Éditions Brepols, 1961. (DJVU 23.3 MB)
- [Arturo Alfandari, *Méthode rapide de NEO*](http://www.box.net/shared/static/xjfr6qbcmf.djvu), Brussel, Éditions Brepols, 1965. (DJVU 4.5 MB)
- [Arturo Alfandari, *Rapid method of NEO*](http://www.box.net/shared/static/istqzad97o.djvu), Brussel, Éditions Brepols, 1966. (DJVU 4.7 MB)

## External links

- [Neo - a language conceived by Arturo Alfandari](http://www.connectedglobe.com/mmm/neo.html)
- [A blog in and on Neo](https://neo-nel-mond.blogspot.com/)
- [A two-page overview](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neo_in_two_pages.jpg)
- [The first 30 pages of The Rapid Method of Neo](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_30_pages_of_The_Rapid_Method_of_Neo.djvu)
- [Neo Wiki on Miraheze](https://incubator.miraheze.org/wiki/Wp/neu/Princa_pajo)

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