The Collateral Forms in Interlingue

It is often stated, particularly by the adherents of Interlingua, that the structure of Occidental/Interlingue is too rigid, and does not permit of the existence of so-called “collateral forms”. But a close examination of Occ/Ile text-books and literature, especially recent publications, shows that this criticism (like so many others) is quite without foundation.

From its inception, Occidental/Interlingue has allowed the use of either single or double consonants in such words as comense (commense), afere (affere), acusar (accusar), eclesia (ecclesia), recomendar (recommendar), and a host of others.

The choice is left to the personal preference of the individual, although it is recommended that single consonants be used except where they are needed to indicate that a preceding vowel is short, or that an s is not sonorous, or where the consonants are pronounced differently. (Haas: Grammatica).

Also from the start have the “historic” and the “modern” orthografies been equally permitted, though here again the “modern” is advised. (Haas: Grammatica).

Many adjectives with no special ending can either take the final -i or not, according to taste. The modern trend is to drop this except where it is absolutely necessary to preserve the soft sound of a preceding -c-, or -g-, in such words as necessi, informatori (when the final -i corresponds to a final -y in the English word). The euphonic termination -e for nouns, too, is often discarded when it is not needed to distinguish them from the associated adjectives, as for example, central/e.

All these are “collateral forms” which have been in Occidental/ILe long before Interlingua-Gode saw the light of day, despite the claims of the adherents of the latter interlanguage to have been the first to accept such variations.

The pronunciation of Occidental/ILe, too, allows of slight personal variations as, for example, in the cases shown below:

ch: correct pronunciation is as in English sh, but the pronunciation tsch or as English ch is permitted.

x: which may be pronounced either “hard” or “soft”.

y: correctly as in English yes, but the French vocalic pronunciation is tolerated.

qu: should be pronounced as koo, but kw is allowed.

j: should have the sound heard in English vision, but the sound of dj is accepted.

(All the above examples are taken from Dr. Haas’s Grammatica.)

Even the marks of accentuation may be omitted, but not advised (Pollog: Interlingue), for the simple reason that in the national tongues which use them, these are never correctly omitted.

The assimilation of the prefixes in- and con- is yet another permitted variation in Occidental/ILe. For example, one may use either irregular or ínregular, collaborar or conlaborar and so on, as one desires. (Haas: Grammatica & Pollog: Interlingue.)

Normally the future tense of the verb is formed in Occidental/ILe by the use of the auxiliary va, (yo va vider, etc.): and the conditional by vell (yo vell vider, etc.). But, even here again, alternative forms are allowed. They are, for the future, -rá (yo viderá, etc.): and, for the conditional, -ría (yo videría, etc.).

The verb “to be” (esser), too has its irregular collateral forms. These are será (va esser) and serìa (vell esser) (Pollog: Interlingue).

Word-formation also has its collateral forms in Occidental/ILe as shown in the following examples: scri-table/ table por scrir: vent-moline/ moline movet per vente: nota-librette/ librette por notas: carte postal/ postcarte, and so on. (Haas: Grammatica)

Dr. Haas, in his Grammatica so widely quoted above also allows the following alternative derivatives:

factor/fator:
malediction/maledition:
prescription/prescrition:
distincter/distinter:
conjunction/conjuntion:

… so that, once again, the user of Occidental/ILe has a choice at hand.

Like any national language, Occidental/ILe goes through a process of gradual evolution, untrammelled by any notions of “untouchability”.

As this short account has attempted to show, this evolution has already given rise to a great many collateral forms, and no doubt will continue to do so. The purpose of the Occidental/ILe Academy is not to prevent such changes, but merely to see that the variations that arise rest naturally upon the firm and unassailable rock of the language; and that they are not just personal idiosyncrasies which appeal to one or two persons because of a sentimental regard for Latin, or from a desire to completely jettison all regularity for the doubtful advantages of a too-high degree of “naturalitate”.

The principle upon which Edgar de Wahl built his language was “maximum internationality combined with the highest possible degree of regularity”. This fundmental basis remains, and all “collateral forms” which do not coincide with this principle are, per se, outside of the structure of a language designed for modern international usage.

- W. R. Wallace