A "Basic English" Global Core Vocabulary

What follows is an attempt to initiate a global core vocabulary of common words. For practical reasons, at least, such a vast enterprise should begin in a manageable way. We have therefore subjected it to two limitations: firstly the phonetic restriction suggested by the UPSID list of commonest consonants worldwide, and secondly Ogden's "Basic English" Word List - with the addition of a supplementary list. The UPSID list of consonants is as follows (for best results, please avoid Internet Explorer - the alternative Firefox browser is downloadable free):

Most of the consonants are as in English (and many languages using Latin script), and are phonemic: [g] is always plosive as in "get", and [h] is always aspirated. Since English is the substrate for LangX we have tended towards English usage for the six IPA characters either not in the English alphabet or with a different phonetic representation: thus the IPA /j/ is represented by [y], the apostrophe ['] denotes the glottal stop and ɲ /nj/ is simply represented by the digraph [ny]. Otherwise, [c] is as in Italian ("cello"), [x] as in Portuguese, Catalan, Basque etc. and [q] is /ng/ as in Ceqli. By the Lang29 stage there will probably be a new global script, but meanwhile such a conventional assignment of English characters allows phonemic representation.

A few letters and phonemes commonly seen or heard in English do not feature in the Lang25 phonology and core vocabulary, due to comparative rarity worldwide, and a consequent tendency to be confused with other sounds. However, the UPSID-based Lang25 list is provisional. We are amenable to it being modified, perhaps on more of a population pro rata basis. Anyway, for the time being at least the following phonemes are excluded from Lang25, though we might expect to find them further up the hierarchy:

If at the initial Lang25 level someone fails to differentiate between voiceless and voiced (fortis and lenis) consonants /p/ and /b/, /t/ and /d/, /k/ and /g/, or between /l/ and /r/, or pronounces /w/or /f/ as /v/, or /s/ as /z/, or any other reasonably close approximation, nothing should be made of it so long as the word can be correctly identified (thanks to Sonja Elen Kisa, author of Toki Pona, for this insight). Similarly the five vowels may be either long or short, and should not be specified too narrowly. International communication is the need of the hour; anyone requiring phonemic accuracy may easily use another language.

To start the ball rolling, 10 words were chosen from two wordlists submitted in 2003, and matched in the lists below. More wordlists and/or suggestions for translations (or words) from the lists below most welcome, and will be attributed unless requested otherwise.                                                                   

Please submit suggestions / comments to: antonyalexander@langx.org

26/8/05 5 Japanese words added (thanks JW).

28/8/05 3 Chinese/English Pidgin words (JW) - NB ʧ = c (ʧau - cau)

OGDEN's BASIC ENGLISH

Word List - In His Order

OPERATIONS - 100 words

come, get, give, go, keep, let, make, put, seem, take, be, do, have, say, see, send, may, will, about, across, after, against, among, at, before, between, by, down, from, in, off, on, over, through, to, under, up, with, as, for, of, till, than, a , the, all, any, every, little, much, no, other, some, such, that, this, I , he, you, who, and, because, but, or, if, though, while, how, when, where, why, again, ever, far, forward, here, near, now, out, still, then, there, together, well, almost, enough, even, not, only, quite, so, very, tomorrow, yesterday, north, south, east, west, please, yes .

THINGS - 400 General words

account, act, addition, adjustment, advertisement, agreement, air, amount, amusement, animal, answer, apparatus, approval, argument, art, attack, attempt, attention, attraction, authority, back, balance, base, behavior, belief, birth, bit, bite, blood, blow, body, brass, bread, breath, brother, building, burn, burst, business, butter, canvas, care, cause, chalk, chance, change, cloth, coal, color, comfort, committee, company, comparison, competition, condition, connection, control, cook, copper, copy, cork, cotton, cough, country, cover, crack, credit, crime, crush, cry ,current, curve, damage, danger, daughter, day, death, debt, decision, degree, design, desire, destruction, detail, development, digestion, direction, discovery, discussion, disease, disgust, distance, distribution, division, doubt, drink, driving, dust, earth, edge, education, effect, end, error, event, example, exchange, existence, expansion, experience, expert, fact, fall, family, father, fear, feeling, fiction, field, fight, fire, flame, flight, flower, fold, food [cau - Chinese/English Pidgin - JW], force, form, friend, front, fruit, glass, gold, government, grain, grass, grip, group, growth, guide, harbor, harmony, hate, hearing, heat, help, history, hole, hope, hour, humor, ice, idea, impulse, increase, industry, ink, insect, instrument, insurance, interest, invention, iron, jelly, join, journey, judge, jump, kick, kiss, knowledge, land, language, laugh, law, lead, learning, leather, letter, level, lift, light, limit, linen, liquid, list, look, loss, love, machine, man, manager, mark, market [mart - pidgin - DE], mass, meal, measure, meat, meeting, memory, metal [metal - English - JB], middle, milk, mind, mine, minute, mist, money, month, morning ,mother, motion, mountain [yama - Japanese - JW], move, music, name, nation, need, news, night, noise, note, number, observation, offer, oil, operation, opinion, order, organization, ornament, owner, page, pain, paint, paper, part, paste, payment, peace, person, place, plant, play, pleasure, point, poison, polish, porter, position, powder, power, price, print, process, produce, profit, property, prose, protest, pull, punishment, purpose, push, quality, question, rain, range, rate, ray, reaction, reading, reason, record, regret, relation, religion, representative, request, respect, rest, reward, rhythm, rice, river, road, roll, room, rub, rule, run, salt, sand, scale, science, sea seat, secretary, selection, self, sense, servant, sex, shade [umbra - Latin - JB], shake, shame, shock, side, sign, silk, silver, sister, size, sky, sleep, slip, slope, smash, smell, smile, smoke, sneeze, snow, soap, society, son, song, sort, sound, soup, space, stage, start, statement, steam, steel, step, stitch, stone, stop, story, stretch, structure, substance, sugar, suggestion, summer, support, surprise, swim, system, talk, taste, tax, teaching, tendency, test, theory, thing, thought, thunder, time, tin, top, touch, trade, transport, trick, trouble, turn, twist, unit, use, value, verse, vessel, view, voice, walk, war, wash, waste, water [agua - Spanish - JB], wave [nami - Japanese - JW], wax, way, weather, week, weight, wind, wine, winter, woman, wood, wool, word, work, wound, writing , year .

THINGS - 200 Picturable words

angle, ant, apple, arch, arm, army, baby [bebi - pidgin - DE], bag, ball, band, basin, basket, bath, bed, bee, bell, berry, bird, blade, board, boat, bone, book, boot, bottle, box, boy, brain, brake, branch, brick, bridge, brush, bucket, bulb, button, cake, camera, card, cart, carriage, cat, chain, cheese, chest, chin, church, circle, clock, cloud, coat, collar, comb, cord, cow, cup, curtain, cushion, dog, door, drain, drawer, dress, drop, ear, egg, engine, eye, face, farm, feather, finger, fish, flag, floor, fly, foot, fork, fowl, frame, garden, girl, glove, goat, gun, hair, hammer, hand, hat, head, heart, hook, horn, horse, hospital, house, island, jewel, kettle, key, knee, knife, knot, leaf, leg, library, line, lip, lock, map, match, monkey, moon, mouth, muscle, nail, neck, needle, nerve, net, nose, nut, office, orange, oven, parcel, pen, pencil, picture, pig, pin, pipe, plane, plate, plough/plow, pocket, pot, potato, prison, pump, rail, rat, receipt, ring, rod, roof, root, sail, school, scissors, screw, seed, sheep, shelf, ship, shirt, shoe, skin, skirt, snake, sock, spade, sponge, spoon, spring, square, stamp, star, station, stem, stick, stocking, stomach, store, street, sun, table, tail, thread, throat, thumb, ticket, toe, tongue, tooth, town, train, tray, tree, trousers, umbrella, wall, watch, wheel, whip, whistle, window, wing, wire, worm .

QUALITIES - 100 General

able, acid, angry, automatic, beautiful, black, boiling, bright, broken, brown, cheap, chemical, chief, clean, clear, common, complex, conscious, cut, deep, dependent, early, elastic, electric, equal, fat, fertile, first, fixed, flat, free, frequent, full, general, good, great, grey/gray, hanging, happy, hard, healthy [genki - Japanese - JW], high, hollow, important, kind, like, living, long, male, married, material, medical, military, natural, necessary, new, normal, open, parallel, past, physical, political, poor, possible, present, private, probable, quick, quiet, ready, red [aka - Japanese - JW], regular, responsible, right, round, same, second, separate, serious, sharp, smooth, sticky, stiff, straight, strong, sudden, sweet, tall, thick, tight, tired, true, violent, waiting, warm, wet, wide, wise, yellow, young .

QUALITIES - 50 Opposites

awake, bad, bent, bitter, blue, certain, cold, complete, cruel, dark, dead, dear, delicate, different, dirty, dry, false, feeble, female, foolish, future, green [midori - Japanese - JW], ill, last, late, left, loose, loud, low, mixed, narrow, old, opposite, public, rough, sad, safe, secret, short, shut, simple, slow, small, soft, solid, special, strange, thin, white, wrong .

SUPPLEMENTARY LIST (thanks to Alan Mole)

aluminum, automobile, ballet, bank, bus, cafe [cafe - Pidgin - DE], calendar, check, chemist, chocolate, chorus, cigarette, circus, club, coffee, college, colony, computer [komputer - Pidgin - JB], dance, dynamite, embassy, empire, encyclopedia, engineer, gas, hotel [hotel - English - DE], imperial, inferno, influenza, king, lava, macaroni, madam, malaria, museum, olive, omelette, opera, orchestra, paradise, paraffin, park, passport, patent, phonograph, piano, police, post, president, prince, princess, program, propaganda, queen, quickly [copcop - Chinese/English Pidgin - JW], radio, referendum, restaurant [restoran - Pidgin - DE], rheumatism, royal, salad, sardine, sir, sport, taxi [taksi - Pidgin - DE], tea [ca - Chinese/English Pidgin - JW], telephone, terrace, theater, toast, tobacco, university, vanilla, violin, visa, volt, zinc ~ ~ algebra, arithmetic, biology, chemistry, geography, geology, geometry, mathematics, physics, physiology, zoology ~ ~ one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, first, second, third, fourth, fifth, hundred, thousand, million

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