Basic English
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basic English is an English-based controlled language created by Charles Kay Ogden (in essence a simplified subset of English) as an international auxiliary language, and as an aid for teaching English as a Second Language. It was presented in Ogden's book Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar (1930). Basic English is sometimes referred to as BASIC, an acronym that stands for British American Scientific International Commercial. However it has no connection to the BASIC programming language.
Ogden's Basic, and the concept of a simplified English, gained its greatest publicity just after the Allied victory in the Second World War as a tool for world peace. Although Basic English was not built into a program, similar simplifications have been devised for various international uses. Ogden's associate I. A. Richards promoted its use in schools in China. More recently, it has influenced the creation of Voice of America's Special English for news broadcasting, and Simplified English, another English based controlled language designed to write technical manuals.
What survives today of Ogden's Basic English is the basic 850 word list used as the beginner's vocabulary of the English language taught world-wide, especially Asia.[1]
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[edit] Design principles
Ogden tried to simplify English while keeping it normal for native speakers, by specifying grammar restrictions and a controlled small vocabulary which makes an extensive use of paraphrasis. Most notably, Ogden eliminated verbs, saying in his General Introduction that "There are no 'verbs' in Basic English", with the underlying assumption that, as noun use in English is very straightforward but verb use/conjugation is not, the elimination of verbs would be a welcome simplification.[2]
[edit] Historical references
In the future history book The Shape of Things to Come, published in 1933, H.G. Wells depicted Basic English as the lingua franca of a new elite which after a prolonged struggle succeeds in uniting the world and establishing a totalitarian world government. In the future world of Wells' vision, virtually all members of humanity know this language (for a similar real-world development, see Engrish).
From 1942 until 1944 George Orwell was a proponent of Basic English, but in 1945 he became critical of universal language. The language later inspired his use of Newspeak in Nineteen Eighty-Four.[3] Noted science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein used a form of Basic English in his story "Gulf" as a language appropriate for a race of genius supermen.[4]
[edit] Word lists
Ogden's word lists include only word roots, which in practice are extended with the defined set of affixes and the full set of forms allowed for any available word (noun, pronoun, or the limited set of verbs).[5]
The 850 core words of Basic English are found in Wiktionary's Appendix:Basic English word list. This core is theoretically enough for everyday life. However, Ogden prescribed that any student should learn an additional 150 word list for everyday work in some particular field, by adding a word list of 100 words particularly useful in a general field (e.g., science, verse, business, etc.), along with a 50-word list from a more specialized subset of that general field, to make a basic 1000 word vocabulary for everyday work and life.
Moreover, Ogden assumed that any student already should be familiar with (and thus may only review) a core subset of around 350 "international" words. Therefore, a first level student should graduate with a core vocabulary of around 1350 words. A realistic general core vocabulary could contain 1500 words (the core 850 words, plus 350 international words, and 300 words for the general fields of trade, economics, and science). A sample 1500 word vocabulary is included in the Simple English Wikipedia.
Ogden also provided lists to extend the general 1500 vocabulary with additional word lists to make a 2000 word list, enough for a "standard" English level. This 2000 word vocabulary represents "what any learner should know". At this level students could start to move on their own.
[edit] Criticism
Like all IALs, Basic may be criticized as unavoidably based on personal preferences, and thus, paradoxically, as inherently divisive.[6] Moreover, like all natural language based IALs, Basic is subject to criticism as unfairly biased towards the native speaker community.[7]
As a teaching aid for English as a Second Language, Basic has been criticized for the choice of the core vocabulary and for its grammatical constraints.[8]
[edit] See also
- E Prime
- European English
- Globish
- International English
- Plain English
- Simplified English
- Special English
- Newspeak
- A General Service List of English Words
- Plain language
- Bible in Basic English
- Wycliffe Bible Translators#EasyEnglish
- Number of words in English
- Simple English Wikipedia
- Simplified Chinese
[edit] References
- ^ Edmond H Weiss The Elements of International English Style, pp. 17-18, M. E. Sharpe, 2005 ISBN 978-0765615725
- ^ A good summary in Bill Templer: Towards a People's English: Back to BASIC in EIL Humanising Language Teaching.
- ^ Illich, Ivan; Barry Sanders (1988) (in English language). ABC: The Alphabetization of the Popular Mind. San Francisco: North Point Press. pp. 109. ISBN 0-86547-291-2. "The satirical force with which Orwell used Newspeak to serve as his portrait of one of those totalitarian ideas that he saw taking root in the minds of intellectuals everywhere can be understood only if we remember that he speaks with shame about a belief that he formerly held... From 1942 to 1944, working as a colleague of William Empson's, he produced a series of broadcasts to India written in Basic English, trying to use its programmed simplicity, as a Tribune article put it, "as a sort of corrective to the oratory of statesmen and publicists." Only during the last year of the war did he write "Politics and the English Language," insisting that the defense of English language has nothing to do with the setting up of a Standard English.""
- ^ Heinlein, Robert A., "Gulf", in Assignment in Eternity, published by Signet Science Fiction (New American Library), 1953. Page 52-53: "It was possible to establish a one-to-one relationship with Basic English so that one phonetic symbol was equivalent to an entire word".
- ^ See the list of words which are assumed and not counted for details.
- ^ Rick Harrison, Farewell to Auxiliary Languages
- ^ For instance, a sample quotation from the auxlang mailing list archives and another from noted linguist Robert A. Hall, Jr..
- ^ For instance, by proponents of Essential World English. See a summary of EWE for instance and, again, the linguist Robert A. Hall, Jr..
[edit] External links
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Look up Appendix:Basic English word list in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Charles Kay Ogden, Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar, London: Paul Treber
- Charles Kay Ogden, Basic English and Grammatical Reform, Cambridge: The Orthological Institute. (1937).
- I. A. Richards & Christine Gibson, Learning Basic English: A Practical Handbook for English-Speaking People, New York: W. W. Norton & Co. (1945)
- ogden.basic-english.org Ogden's books and wordlists online and several discussions.
- www.basic-english.org Ongoing project to support and update Ogden's Basic (with downloads).
- THE REFERENCE SHELF Vol. 17. No. 1 A discussion about Basic English, with supporters and critics.
- Wiktionary:Basic English template (uses Basic English word list as a basis for studying equivalent basic words in other languages)
- World English Organization
- VOA News - Voice of America Special English - News Radio for English Learners
- Online tool which might help you to write Basic English texts - Detect words which are not in some dictionary. Ogden's Basic English dictionary list included.
- Essential World English - some criticisms of Basic English and suggestions for overcoming its problems
- First, Second, Third Person - An alternative formulation to easily recognise third person.
