76 INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE AND SCIENCE 



the support of the scientific and literary men of the Delegation and 

 Committee, has a chance of being adopted some day by Governments and of 

 being introduced into the schools of all countries. 



The following pages provide a key which enables one to read a text in 

 this language. 



GRAMMAR. 



Pronunciation. All letters are pronounced, and have always the same 

 sound : a (as in father), c (like ts), e (like e in set, or a in fate}, g (always 

 hard, as in go), i (like ee in sweet}, j (either as in English, or like the French 

 j in journal), o (like o in not or like o in go), q (qu as in English, or like kv), 

 s (unvoiced), u (like oo in too), x (like Its or gz), y (as in English), z (as in 

 English), ch (as in church), sh (as in English), au (likeow in how), eu( = e-u). 

 It will be seen that a certain amount of latitude is permitted, in order to 

 suit the convenience of different nations. Stress (tonic accent) on the 

 penultimate syllable, except in the infinitive, when it falls on the last 

 syllable (-ar, -ir, -or). Since y is a consonant, it does not count as a separate 

 syllable (fluvyo). 



Definite Article. La, for all genders and numbers. 



Substantive. Ends in -o in the singular, in -i in the plural. 



Adjective. Is invariable, and ends in -a. 



Personal Pronouns. Me = I, tu = thou, vn = you (singular), il = he or 

 it (masculine), el = she or it (feminine), ol = it (thing) ; ni = we, vi = 

 you (plural), li = they (all genders). If distinction is necessary, ili = they 

 (masculine), eli = they (feminine), oli = they (neuter). 



Possessive Pronouns. Mea = my, mine, tua = thy, thine, vua = your, 

 yours (singular), sa = his, her, hers, or its ; nia = our, ours, via = your, 

 yours (plural), lia = their, theirs. In the plural the ending -i is substituted 

 for -a when the above words are used as true possessive pronouns. 



Reflexive Forms. Su is used as an objective (reflexive) personal pronoun 

 (for singular and plural) in the third person. The corresponding possessive 

 forms are sua and sui (plural pronoun). It may be remarked that the 

 possessive pronominal adjectives sa (singular) and lia (plural) may be made 

 to indicate sex in the following way : 



Singular. Plural. 



Masculine lisa ilia 



Feminine elsa elia 



Neuter olsa olia 



Demonstrative Pronouns. lea = this, these ; ita = that, those. The plural 

 forms ici = these, and iti = those, are only used as true demonstrative 

 pronouns. The indeterminate (neuter) forms are ico = this, ito = that. In 

 all the above words the initial i is usually omitted, except where euphony 

 requires it. 



If it is required to indicate sex, or something which is not alive, this may 

 be done as follows : 



This. That. 



Masculine ilca ilta 



Feminine elca elta 



Neuter olca olta 



Plural | ilci ilti 



Pronoun J etc. etc. 



