science

Uropi

Uropi 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 Uropi rather than just read about it. In short: Uropi is a constructed language which was created by Joël Landais, a French English teacher. Uropi is a synthesis of European languages, explicitly based on their common Indo-European roots, and aims at being used as an international auxiliary language for Europe and thus contributing to building a European identity.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Uropi is a constructed language which was created by Joël Landais, a French English teacher. Uropi is a synthesis of European languages, explicitly based on their common Indo-European roots, and aims at being used as an international auxiliary language for Europe and thus contributing to building a European identity. Uropi was begun in 1986; since then, it has undergone certain modifications as its vocabulary continues growing (the French-Uropi dictionary has over 10,000 words). Uropi became known in Europe in the early 1990s.

Creator

After studying languages at the University of Orléans, then at the Sorbonne and at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, Joël Landais obtained the Agrégation diploma in English. He speaks French, English, Italian, Spanish and German and has a working knowledge of modern Greek and Russian. Today, he teaches English in a Chartres college. Parallel to his training as a linguist, Landais's travels throughout Europe, Senegal, the Maghreb, Egypt, Mexico, former USSR, Vietnam and the West Indies, together with a passion for languages, led him to create Uropi.

Orthography and phonology

The Uropi alphabet has 26 letters, the 26 letters of the ISO Basic Latin alphabet minus q, plus the letter ʒ, which comes from the International Phonetic Alphabet. Each letter corresponds to a sound and each sound to a letter. All consonants are pronounced as in English except

c = [ʃ], which is always pronounced as sh g = [g], which is always pronounced as in "give" j = [j], which is pronounced as y in "you" or "boy" ʒ = [ʒ] which is pronounced as s in "pleasure, measure, leisure" r = [r], which is rolled as in Italian, Spanish or Scottish English s = [s], which is always pronounced as s in "this" or ss in "boss'", and never as z. x = [x], used in foreign names, [1] y = [y], used in foreign names, [2] The vowels a, e, i, o, u are pronounced as in Italian or Spanish, e.g., casa, vino, luna and pepe. Stress normally falls on the main root. For example, in apkebo "to behead", the stress falls on keb "head". However some suffixes (such as -èl indicating an instrument) and the ending -ì for the past are always stressed; when two or more suffixes are combined, the stress always falls on the penultimate suffix. The stress is marked with a written accent (à è ì ò ù) on the stressed vowel when it falls on the last syllable. For example: kotèl "knife", perì "carried", fotò "photo", menù "menu".

Vocabulary

Roots Uropi roots can be divided into three categories:

Indo-European roots First and foremost Uropi claims to be a way to recreate a unity between Indo-European languages. With this aim, a great many Uropi roots correspond to common Indo-European roots which have been simplified, in their pronunciation and length (very often Uropi roots have one or two syllables). Thus, "mother" is mata (from Indo-European: *mātēr); "sun" is sol (from Indo-European: *sāwel). This simplification corresponds to the natural evolution of Indo-European roots which have given birth to the words which are used today in modern Indo-European languages. Thus mata corresponds to Hindi माता (mātā), and sol to Spanish, Portuguese, Galician and Icelandic sol.

"Hybrid" roots When there is no common Indo-European root or when there are several roots to express the same reality in various languages, Uropi may use "hybrid" words, crossing two different roots taken from different languages so as to create the most easily recognizable term for speakers of the greatest number of Indo-European languages. Thus, in liamo "to love", the li- comes from Germanic and Slavic languages (cf. German lieben and Russian любить), and the -am, from Romance languages (amar, amare, amo); or in mand "hand", the ma- comes from Romance languages and the -and, from Germanic languages (cf. Latin manus and German Hand, respectively). This process is not so artificial as it seems at first sight: it has been observed in natural languages, for example, the French haut "high" comes from the crossing between old French aut (from Latin altus) and Frankish hōh. Likewise, the English island comes from the crossing of Old English īeġland (from Proto-Germanic *awjōlandą) and Old French isle (from Latin insula). It has also been deliberately used in languages like English to form new words, called portmanteaus, for instance, the word "smog" comes from the crossing of "smoke" and "fog". Others include franglais (from français + anglais), denglisch (from Deutsch + Englisch), and spanglish (from Spanish + English). These "hybrid" words only account for 3% of Uropi vocabulary.

International words Uropi also uses many words which are already "international", like taksì, skol "school", bus, art, matc "match", polìz "police", simfonij "symphony", and tabàk "tobacco".

Compounds Like many other conlangs, Uropi uses many compounds, either combining two roots, or using prefixes and suffixes. Among the former, there are the following examples: lucitòr "lighthouse" from luc "light" and tor "tower"; or, from sopo "to sleep", sopisàk "sleeping-bag" and sopivagòn, "sleeper (train)". There are also numerous examples of compounds built with prefixes or suffixes: for example with davo "to give", disdavo "to distribute" can be formed; with tel "goal, purpose", atelo "end up in, come to", can be formed; with breko "to break" and us "out", usbreko "to break out", can be formed; with apel "apple", aplar "apple tree" and aplaria "apple orchard", can be formed. In most cases, those compounds reveal the roots and thus the meaning of the compound. However, some of those compounds, even if they follow the etymology of equivalent words in living European languages, have a more obscure, rather metaphorical meaning. Thus, ruspeko, literally "to look back", means "to respect"; or incepo, literally "to seize, to grasp inside", means "to understand" (reminiscent of "to grasp (a concept)").

Grammar

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Uropi: Joël Landais, Uropi Kreator, creator of the auxlang Uropi. — Joël Landais, Uropi Kreator, creator of the auxlang Uropi.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Uropi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Uropi 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 Uropi 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 Uropi 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 Uropi

In research: Uropi 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 Uropi 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: Uropi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1986 introductions, Constructed languages, Constructed languages introduced in the 1980s, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Uropi 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 Uropi in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Uropi 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 Uropi out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Uropi in simple terms?

Why does Uropi 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 Uropi?

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 Uropi.