Irregularities and exceptions in Interlingua

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 of the effort to keep it naturalistic. Most of these irregularities also exist in Interlingua's source languages; English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and to a lesser extent German and 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 three different words for English am (so), 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 three 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

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:

Letter / Digraph	Possible Pronunciations^[1]	Rules	Examples
c	[k] [ts] (or [s])	[k] when c is followed by a, o, u or any consonant [ts] (or /s/) when e, i or y come after c	camera, crear acido, Cinderella
ch	[k] [tʃ] [ʃ]	like [k] in words of Greek origin [tʃ] only in a few words (very rare) [ʃ] in several words that come from the French	cholera, chrome, echo chic machine, chef
h	[h] silent	usually [h] but silent after r and t	horlogio rhetoria
rh	[r]	always pronounced like [r]	rhetorica, rheumatic
s	[s] [z]	[s] if followed by a consonant [z] between vowels	son, spa accusative, abstruse
sh	[ʃ]	always pronounced like [ʃ]	Shakespeare.
th	[t]	always pronounced like [t]	theatro
ph	[f]	always pronounced like [f]	photographia, photosynthese
t	[t] [ts]	[t] when it is followed by a, o, u or any consonant [ts] when e, i or y come after t	tourista creation
u	[u:] [w]	[u:] when between two consonants or stressed before a vowel [w] when unstressed and precedes a vowel	luna, plural persuade, superflue
x	[ks] [z] [gz]	usually [ks] like [z] when precedes a vowel between two vowels	affixo xenon, xenophobia exacto
y	[j] [i:]	[j] when unstressed before vowels other like [i:]	Yugoslavia, yoga tyranno, typo

Besides, there are also unassimilated guest words that retain their original pronunciation and spelling; though the diacritics are usually removed. Commons examples of such words are radios Röntgen (X rays) and kümmel.

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:

Words	Contraction	Example
de (of) + le (the)	del	del matre (of the mother)
a (to) + le (the)	al	al luna (to the moon)

Plurals

Plurals can be formed in three different ways depending on the ending of a noun.

Ending	Add	Example
ends in a consonant other than c	-es	conversation - conversationes pais - paises
ends in c	-hes	roc - roches choc - choches
ends in a vowel	-s	radio - radios academia - academias

There are also irregular plurals that occur in guest words. The common ones are tests (from 'test'), addenda (from 'addendum') and lieder (from 'lied').

Numbers

Numbers	Logical Name	Name used
10	unanta	dece
20	duoanta	vinti
30	tresanta	trenta
40	quatranta	quaranta
13	tresdece	tredece
14	quatrodece	quattuordece
15	cinquedece	quindece
16	sexdece	sedece

Parts of speech

Not all adverbs are derived from adjectives.
If an adjective ends with -c, an adverb derived from it takes -amente (instead of -mente).
Sia is the imperative form of esser ('to be'): Sia contente! 'Be content!'

Optional

Pronunciation

if s is between vowels, it can be pronounced [z], like in "these" (instead of the [s] of "stay")
if x is between vowels, it can be spoken like the [ɡz] in "exact" (instead of like the [ks] in "fox")

Verbs

Optional short forms

"ha" for "habe", 'has', 'have'
"va" for "vade", 'goes', 'go'
"es" for "esse", 'is', 'am', 'are'

Alternative forms of esser

Note. These forms are rarely used.

"so", a first-person singular present tense
"son", a plural present tense
"era" for "esseva"
"sera" for "essera"
"serea" for "esserea"

Comparative and superlative adjectives

"(le) minor" instead of "(le) plus parve"
"(le) major" instead of "(le) plus magne"
"(le) melior" instead of "(le) plus bon"
"(le) pejor" instead of "(le) plus mal"
"minime" instead of "le plus parve" or "le minor"
"maxime" instead of "le plus magne" or "le major"
"optime" instead of "le plus bon" or "le melior"
"pessime" instead of "le plus mal" or "le pejor"

References

↑ Alexander Gode & Hugh Blair (2011-10-23). "Grammar of Interlingua (Second Edition)".

External links

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