science

Pasilingua

Pasilingua is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pasilingua rather than just read about it. In short: Pasilingua is an international auxiliary language proposed by Paul Steiner, first published in Neuwied in 1885 in his book Three World Language Systems (German: Drei Weltsprach-Systeme). Overview For a time, Pasilingua was regarded as a serious competition to Volapük, but never got much support.

Key takeaways

Pasilingua belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pasilingua to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pasilingua from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pasilingua is an international auxiliary language proposed by Paul Steiner, first published in Neuwied in 1885 in his book Three World Language Systems (German: Drei Weltsprach-Systeme).

Overview For a time, Pasilingua was regarded as a serious competition to Volapük, but never got much support. However, Frederick Bodmer lauded the project and its author for its inclusion of pidgin elements; it was quoted by Louis Couturat and Leopold Leau, in their Histoire de la langue universelle, and in books of various other interlinguists at the beginning of the 20th century. The language was based on English, with influences from French and German. Its radicals had natural appearance, without much deformation, but the derivation was not natural, as it was possible to radically change the appearance of word; however, word families were formed regularly. In spite of its name, the language is not a pasigraphy because it is not an a priori language, but a posteriori/natural one, almost a euroclone.

Alphabet and pronunciation The alphabet has 31 letters:

10 vowels: a, ä, è, e, i, y, o, u, ü (French u); 21 consonants: b, c, ç (/s/), d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, z. There are also two digraphs: ch and sch. The words are pronounced like in German. There is no stress.

Grammar

Article The definite article is to (masculine), te (feminine), ta (neuter); The indefinite article is uno (masculine), une (feminine), una (neuter). The articles agree with the noun in number and case. There are four cases in a single conjugation; case can be indicated on the article - to (nominative), tode (genitive), toby (dative) and ton (accusative) - or on the noun.

Nouns Nouns have four cases and three genders; all form plural by adding -s. Gender endings are: masculine in -o; feminine in -e and neuter in either -a (concrete) or -u (abstract). For example, to homino (the man), te femine (the woman), ta cita (the city), ta modestiu (the modesty). The four cases are nominative, genitive, dative and accusative, like in German.

Verbs Verbs have four conjugations:

1) Grander esse - to be big 2) Grandir esse - to become big 3) Grandar esse - to make (something) big 4) Grandor esse - to be made big Each conjugation has three tenses:

1) mi morter - I die 2) mi mortefer - I died 3) mi morterer - I will die

Vocabulary The majority of the vocabulary was based on English, French, German and Latin; particles were generally based on the former. A lot of words had two synonyms, Germanic and Romance - for example bono and guto mean "good" and Deo and Gotto mean "God". Much like in other constructed languages, words are formed by affixes. For example, - mortu, death; morto, dead (masculine gender); morte, dead (fem.); morta, dead (neut.); mortiro, dying; mortaro, murderer; mortamenta, instrument of murder; mortana, poison; mortarea, battlefield; mortitarea, churchyard; mortiblo, mortal; mortablo, fatal; mortoblo, easy to kill; morter, to be dead; mortir, to die; mortar, to kill; mortor, to be killed

Examples The Lord's Prayer:

Patro miso, quo er in coela, nama tü sanctore kingdoma tüa kommire, tüa willu fairore sur erda ut in coela. Donnare misbi misan brodan taglian; pardonnare missas dettas uti mis pardonnars misosbi debitorosbi. Numbers from one to ten:

Some sentences:

Quota hora er al? - What o'clock [=time] is it? Ubi habitiris tüs? - Where do you live? Annóncius ers pro tos affäriros qua ta vapora pro ta industriu. - Advertisements are to the man of business what steam is to industry.

Bibliography F. Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1943), p. 442 Moser, Hans: Zur Universal-Sprache: Kritische Studie über Volapük und Pasilingua, Berlin [Neuwied]: Heuser, 1887 (32 p.), 408.9 M853u Pei, Mario: One Language for the World. New York: The Devin-Adair Company, 1958. Steiner, Paul: Elementargrammatik nebst Übungsstücken zur Gemein- oder Weltsprache Pasilingua, Neuwied: 1885 (80 p.) Steiner, Paul: Summary of the Universal Language Pasilingua, Neuwied: 1900 (35 p.)

External links A Google knol on Pasilingua Works by Paul Steiner on the Internet Archive Histoire de la langue universelle - A book by Louis Couturat and Leopold Leau which contains a description of Pasilingua (pages 280-293)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pasilingua

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pasilingua claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pasilingua before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pasilingua ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pasilingua

In research: Pasilingua appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pasilingua in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pasilingua is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1885 introductions, Constructed languages, Constructed languages introduced in the 1880s, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pasilingua outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pasilingua in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pasilingua means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pasilingua out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pasilingua in simple terms?

Pasilingua is an international auxiliary language proposed by Paul Steiner, first published in Neuwied in 1885 in his book Three World Language Systems (German: Drei Weltsprach-Systeme). Overview For a time, Pasilingua was regarded as a serious competition to Volapük, but never got much support.

Why does Pasilingua matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pasilingua?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pasilingua.