Gilo Grammar 1

Introduction

 

1    Introduction

1.1       The Reason for Gilo

The aims of Gilo are quite simple – to provide an auxiliary language for world use, that is simple to use and learn, that is unambiguous in use and, by basing the vocabulary and format as much as possible on English, providing a language is most familiar to the maximum number of people.

1.2       The Problems with English

At present the only language that fills an international role is English.  The English language, although easier to learn than some others, is still complicated and illogical.  To speak English well takes a very long time.  A universal second language that is very similar to English but which is quicker and simpler to learn would be of benefit to all who need to learn a second language.

1.3       International Conventions

No auxiliary language can really be started on a clean sheet of paper.  There are already too many international conventions that are so well established that it would be impossibly disruptive to change them (e.g. a decimal number system written in descending figures from left to right, a Latin based genus naming system for animals and plants etc, both of which are retained in Gilo).  However, there are other aspects, such as the use of a new alphabet, that would rapidly repay the investment of time needed to learn it by elimination of the confusion resulting from the multiple sounds possible for conventional Roman letters.  An optional alphabet has been produced for Gilo.  See Gilo Alphabet for further details.

1.4       The main features of Gilo:

·           Gilo follows the word order convention of English, Chinese etc (i.e. Subject, Verb, Object) but with a simpler grammar and vocabulary.

·           The vocabulary is based on 'condensed' English, providing maximum familiarisation for those people who have some knowledge of English as a first or second language and short simple words to learn for those who don't.

·           The whole vocabulary is logically categorised by the meaning of the words.

·           The grammar is 'logical', in that qualifiers (adjectives & adverbs) follow the word they are qualifying, enabling the listener to be.g.in to understand the meaning of each sentence as it is spoken or read, rather than having to wait until the end.

·           International conventions for numbers and Latin based plant & animal genus names are retained (but transcribed into phonetic Gilo words).

·           The optional Gilo alphabet, using a single symbol matched to each sound, overcomes many of the difficulties associated with the well used, but far from uniform, Roman alphabet.  For further details see Gilo Alphabet

1.5      For information about the specification of Gilo and the Rules of Gilo see Information.