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 do not 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 does not 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 C can be pronounced as either /k/ (canto) or /ts/ (cento). 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
Chile, cochi
machine, chef
h /h/
silent		 silent after r and t horologio
rhetoria
rh /r/ pronounced as the "r" in Spanish caro rhetorica, rheumatic
sh /ʃ/ pronounced as "sh" in English Shakespeare
th /t/ always pronounced like /t/ theatro
ph /f/ always pronounced like /f/ photographia, photosynthese
t /t/
/ts/		 pronounced as /t/ except when followed by an i and a second vowel in an unstressed syllable, in which case it is realized as /ts/ tourista
creation
u /u/
/w/		 /u/ except when unstressed before a vowel, in which case it can be realized as /w/ luna, plural
persuader, superflue
y /j/
/i/		 /j/ when unstressed before vowels
other like /i/		 Yugoslavia, yoga
tyranno, typo

Besides, there are also unassimilated loan words that retain their original pronunciation and spelling.

Diacritics are permitted when they do not influence the pronunciation of the word borrowed into Interlingua. Common examples of such words are radios Röntgen (X rays) and kümmel.

Contractions

Just as 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 loan 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")

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 for (io) es
  • son for (nos/vos/illes/-as/-os) es
  • 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
  1. Alexander Gode & Hugh Blair (2011-10-23). "Grammar of Interlingua (Second Edition)". Archived from the original on 2004-07-24. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
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