Novial
Novial is a constructed international auxiliary language (IAL) for universal human communication between speakers of different native languages. It was devised by Otto Jespersen, a Danish linguist who had been involved in the Ido movement that evolved from Esperanto at the beginning of the 20th century, and participated later in the development of Interlingua. The name means 'new' + 'international auxiliary language'.
Novial | |
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novial | |
Created by | Otto Jespersen |
Date | 1928 |
Setting and usage | International auxiliary language |
Purpose | |
Sources | Romance and Germanic languages; also Interlingue and Ido |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | nov |
nov | |
Glottolog | novi1234 |
Linguasphere | 51-AAB-dc |
Its vocabulary is based largely on the Germanic and Romance languages while its grammar is influenced by English.
Novial was introduced in Jespersen's book An International Language in 1928. It was updated in his dictionary Novial Lexike in 1930, and further modifications were proposed in the 1930s, but the language became dormant with Jespersen's death in 1943. In the 1990s, with the revival of interest in constructed languages brought on by the Internet, some people rediscovered Novial.