Why Peoplese?

             A video presentation that answers this question is available by clicking on the link on upper right of the home page. Below, explanation in more detail.

            The problem with the more than 6,000 existing evolutionary languages is that they evolved bit by bit, so lack consistency; hence most are littered with irregularities.  That is no problem for native children, but a big problem for foreigners trying to learn the languages.

            English is evolving as the international language despite native speakers of only about 5% of humanity, therefore more than a billion English language students today are not native English speakers.  English grammar is simpler than Hindi, Arabic, and continental European languages, while Chinese, with tonal pronunciation requirements and no alphabet, requires much too much time for non-native speakers to learn.  But the average native Englsh-speaking middle-school student knows 3,700 irregular words, e.g. English blew (Peoplese blow۔d), blown (blow۔t), began (begin۔d), begun (begin۔t), bit (bite۔d), bitten (bite۔t), broke (break۔d), broken (break۔t), built (build۔d) - to name a tiny few.  A second problem with English is that there are no rules or even guidelines governing its growth.  In the modern era words are added willy nilly almost daily.  Two popular online dictionaries listed, for ""break", an average of 65 meanings; three years later these dictionaries listed 77 and 81 meanings for the same word, "break"!  Shall we write “database”, “data-base”, or “data base”? – a technical magazine editor with no philology background will make the decision, which others may emulate.  A USA or British university student must know about 20,000 words, Oxford English Dictionary contains more than 600,000 words, and altogether more than one million English words have been recorded.  The situation, worsening year by year, is not only torturous to students, and unfair to those without the resources to spend years learning a global lingua franca, but also enormously expensive -- economically inefficient, unecological. 

            The goal of Peoplese is to evolve into a pleasant sounding intuitive language spoken in the singsong manner of Rio de Janeiro’s falla cantando (speaking singing), an ecological language with no homonyms (every word a pure concept), no spelling memorization reqiured, a global lingua franca that for most purposes of communication can be learned at home in a few months without paying any money – or learned to professional level within two years – so that everybody can communicate with anybody anywhere.

 
Summary of Main Features of Peoplese

            Root-words.  Peoplese is based on root words to which are added unique-meaning prefixes and suffixes.The root-words never change spelling, and are separated by the prefixes and suffixes by a hyphnette (half-length hyphen).  For example, the past-tense of all verbs take the form:  root-verb + hyphennete + d, as in tell۔d, fall۔d, live۔d, spell۔d, re۔send.  Notice how the root word clearly stands out.

            No irregular plurals.  For plurals, Peoplese Alike English training version adds an "s" to the root word.. The plural of English “leaf” is Peoplese “leafs”, of  “mouse”, “mouses”, of "stories, "storys"  In pure Peoplese, adding hyphnette + s to the noun creates the plural.

           Only two irregular verbs:  Peoplese learners are not forced to memorize hundreds of irregular verbs.  And unlike English, “s” is not added to third-person singular present-tense verbs, so we say “I come, you come, he come, we come, they come”. Peoplese has no past-participles. (Details on “Grammar” page.) 

            Prefixes with unique fixed meanings.  Any prefix before a hyphenette (half-length hyphen) has one and only one meaning.  For example, “dis-” means “reverse the action of the following root verb”, so “dis-button” means to un-do what had been previously buttoned.  Not only are the meanings of prefixed words instantly clear, those prefixes can be attached to any root word.  English speakers already know most prefixes and suffixse. (For details and list, "Grammar" → “Prefixes”.)

            Suffixes with unique fixed meanings.  Like hyphenated prefixes, each hyphenated suffix has a unique meaning.  For example, “-ward” means “in the direction of the preceding noun”.  Thus, out-ward, down-ward, school-ward, Paris-ward, Mars-ward, God-ward.  “Toward” isn’t hyphenated because it doesn’t mean “in the direction of `to’”.  Likewise “-ness” converts any adjective into a noun, as in “messy-ness”.  (For details and list, “Grammar” → “Suffixes”.)           

            Derivative freedom.  A big advantage of hyphenated prefixes and suffixes assigned to unique fixed meanings is that they can be applied to any words, not just words already in a dictionary. Unlimited derivative possibilities are available in Peoplese.  Words such as "daredevil۔ish", "milktoast۔y", "orangie۔ish", "perfume۔y", "smell۔able", "non۔wear۔able". When forming new words we try to utilize prefixes and suffixes as much as possible, because the new hyphenated word is instantly recognizable and requires no memorization.

            Familiar & Formal Pronouns.  An endearing feeling results when a Spanish-speaking acquaintance, referring to you, switches from usted to tú; the relationship just took a subtle shift to warmer.  For the first time he used the familiar form of “you”, the pronoun used within all families and between close friends.  Now it’s up to you to respond, if you accept his subtle offer of friendship, you may respond at the next available opportunity by referring to him as tú.  That warm language feature – available in varying degrees also in Hindi, Russian, Portuguese, French, German, i.e. many of the main languages and more than 40 others – is not available in English, but it is available in Peoplese.  (For details, “Grammar” → “Pronouns”.)

            Elimination of Language Idiosyncrasies that Prolong Gender Bias.  In Peoplese, the genderless pronoun "ta" (from Mandarin Chinese) is used when the speaker/writer does not want to specify gender.  E.g., "Carpentor want۔d -- ta must have at least four years experience."

            Function Nouns.  Are Jian-guo and Neville personal names of males or females?  Unless you speak Chinese or French, you probably don’t know.  Is a farmer necessarily a man?  In the emerging one-world society where many women are finally allowed to choose any career, when writing or speaking about somebody, the reader or hearer doesn’t necessarily know the gender.  Functional things in Peoplese end in “or”, as examples “amplify۔or” (a thing which amplifies) and “blend۔or” (a thing that blends).  Similarly, a "farm۔or" is someone of either gender who farms, while a "farm۔ort" is a male farmer, and a "farm۔orm" is a female farmer.  Similarly, golf۔or, hike۔orm, inform۔ort, kidnap۔orts, perform۔orms.  And “murder۔eer” (somebody who has been murdered), “insult۔eerm” (a female who has been insulted).  “Foreignor” isn’t “somebody who foreigns”, but Peoplese assigns the neutral functional ending “or” anyway, althought without the hyphnette, because it identifies a person; so “foreignorms” are female foreignors. Noun endings -ort and -orm exist to clarify gender only when necessary; they are optional; the root word is neutral by default. (For details, “Grammar" → “Function Nouns”.)

            Autoknow Words.  As outlined on the home page, autoknow words require no memorization.  They are at the heart of language simplification – discussed (and listed) in the Grammar and Creating New Words sections. On a keyboard we can type "Alt d" and a mid-dot will appear; see FAQ section for instructions..

            Accuracy Versus Sloppiness. In English lap۔top and desk۔top electronic∙processors are dubbed “computers”, despite the fact that computing is a tiny part of their functionality; that is alike dubbing a truck a “radio”, although it has one installed.  To declare that Shanghai is a city of 25 million people is almost certainly a falsehood; in Peoplese we say “ap 25 millions”, “ap”, which can stand in as an article alike “a”, “an”, and “the”, meaning “approximately”.  Can we seriously advocate "universal health care", when we haven’t the faintest idea of how many needy there are in the universe?  Ap half a millennium ago Europeans discovered that our world isn’t wide -- it’s spherical -- although pronouncing three w’s in a row – as in “world wide web” – may be irresistibly appealing.  And what we dub “up” is actually “out”.  Because the sky is no longer the limit. 
           
            Non-English Words.  There we go again, inventing words like “ap” and using “alike” instead of English “like” to mean “similar to”.  Peoplese has some non-English words, yet most have meanings that are intuitive to English speakers.  Non-English words can be grouped into several categories.  (1) New pronouns:  familiar pronouns (mentioned above) which English lacks, and “yous” as the plural of “you”.  (2) Combining English two-word combinations which make no sense; English “in vain” becomes Peoplese “invain”, “of course" becomes "ofcourse"; also “kickstart”, “peanutbutter”, “enmasse”, and others.  (3) New words which eliminate illogicalities of English words, such as “irrationalize” to replace English “rationalize” meaning to offer an irrational explanation to justify unacceptable behavior.  (4) Non-English words for concepts for which English have no word, e.g. Chinese Mandarin “mianze” (面子), which is much more powerful than English “face” as in "save face", and French “dejavu” (one word, no accent marks).  (5) Pleasing words like “heartberry”, easy to remember, to describe the tasty red berry shaped like a heart, not like a straw. 
           
            Has, is, am, are, was, were.  Seasoned English speakers know to say “I have”, “you have”, “we have”, “they have”, but you to say “he have” is “wrong”, and if you’re an adult we’ll know you’re poorly educated.  Using “has” is a no brainer for native English speakers who learned it as tots, but it’s the bane of foreigners trying to learn English.  There is no such word as “has” in Peoplese, foreign learners will be glad to know; in Peoplese, we say, "He have a good job."  Similarly, English "am", "is", and "are" (a headache for people in Asia where most people live) are replaced by Peoplese "iz"; and English "was" and "were" are replaced by Peoplese "wuz". Iz you okay with that?

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