Algilez Vocabulary Notes

Contents on this page

1    Vocabulary - where does it come from?

The Algilez vocabulary is compiled from a number of different sources.  These include:

The Algilez Vocabulary continues to be developed.  In July 2006 there were 4,662 Roget entries, by January 2012 this had increased to 5,851.  This was the result of development of the Algilez documentation which includes the Grammar, Phrase Book, the English-Algilez Translation Guide, additional words from the AQA Examination Board and the draft GCSE Lesson Book.  There are estimated to be about a million words in the English language, so we still have some way to got yet.  Please remember that the vocabulary still really only contains general ‘day to day’ words but is being added to almost every day.  Note also that the word list will not contain all the possible grammatical combinations of tenses or adjectival affixes that are possible in Algilez, just a few examples (usually of the verb infinitive and adjective) are provided.

There were about 1725 root words used as of January 2012, excluding plants, animals and proper names. Algilez does not yet contain a full set of individual words for plants, animals and technical items that would be encountered in a natural language.  However, the core Algilez vocabulary appears to be fairly robust for day to day use – anything you can say in English you can say in Algilez!

Note that 'compound words' as defined below are new words with a new semantic meaning.  Grammatical variations derived from any existing root or compound word (e.g. conjugated tenses, adjectives & adverbs etc) are sometimes included, in order to make finding the words easier.  However since there are no irregular words in Algilez, all grammatical variations follow set patterns (e.g. for tenses, verbs, professions, adverbs and adjectives based on the root words) and are very easy to apply.

Statistics as of 27 January 2012 (note that these are changing regularly)

3

Comparison with English

3    Vocabulary required for standard exams

What do you need to know?

The AQA exam board word list provides a useful benchmark for estimating the words that need to be learned for Common European Framework (CEF) level B1.  I have combined the recommended wordlists for the French and German exams (marked with 'F' in the second column of the Algilez word list) which total 2843 words.   Most words are identical for both exams but a few hundred are specific to either French or German.  Also, many words are grammatical variations of the same root word.  The list contains many words appropriate to normal day to day life for European teenagers and is therefore a reasonable list for an intermediate standard of conversation and reading.

 There are 1276 Algilez root words (including plants and food) included in that list.  1567 words (2843-1276) are compound words or grammatical variations derived from the root words.  Hence as well as the grammar rules, knowledge of approximately 68% of the 1693 Algilez root words (and the compound words derived from them) would therefore need to be learnt to achieve a CEF level B1 (UK GCSE level).4

4    How to use the vocabulary

The Algilez vocabulary format is based on the Roget Thesaurus numbering system (see Roget's Thesaurus below).

5    Roget's Thesaurus

3.1    Ogden's Basic English

My initial starting point for a simple wordlist was Ogden's 'Basic English'.  This appeared to be a well thought out and compact list of 850 common English words.  The theory being that you can say anything that you need to say just using those words.  Unfortunately it soon became clear that 'Basic English' was fatally flawed due to allowing multiple meanings of words, since this is the only way the list can be kept down to 850.  Multiple meanings are confusing in any language and English suffers particularly badly from this problem.  Any artificial language must be designed to avoid this.

3.2    Roget's 1000 categories of meaning

The reference book which I used to establish the various meaning of the words used in Basic English was Roget's Thesaurus.  In using the book in a detailed and methodical way (rather than just looking for synonyms for essay writing or crosswords), I began to realise the excellent work which lay behind it.  In compiling his Thesaurus, Peter Roget had first categorised the whole of the English Language.  This was a lifetime's work and the final product is not just a detailed list of English synonyms, but, most importantly, a comprehensive analysis of the English language into a logical list of just under 1000 categories of meaning.

3.3    Other languages

It is a great complement to Roget's intellectual ability and language skill that his categories are, with only very minor exceptions, still valid today after 150 years.  Every single word in the English language can be placed in one of the categories.  Since the categories are based on meaning, then any other language can be similarly categorised using the same 1000 headings.  Roget himself was certainly familiar with, possibly even fluent in French, German and Latin and did hope that a common world language might benefit from his work.  In fact, shortly after Roget's Thesaurus was first published, versions also appeared in French and German.  It would be interesting to know if they have been published in any other languages.  Since crossword puzzles cannot be a purely English language hobby, then I'm sure there must be more versions around somewhere!

3.4    Different types of Thesaurus

Modern versions of Roget’s Thesaurus sometimes use a different numbering system (e.g. starting with '001: Birth' instead of '001: Existence').  Other versions may not use numbers at all but simply be a list of synonyms in alphabetical order.  It is the classification system of Roget’s original Thesaurus, as much as the grouping of synonyms that makes Roget’s work so useful in language analysis (although a few of his categories might seem a little questionable today).  The construction of a new logical vocabulary would be impossible without first deciding what meanings it was necessary to express and what associated words stem from those meanings.  The classification process was a lifetime’s work in itself.  Fortunately we are able to use the excellent work of Roget to continue with the construction of a new language, today.

The Historical Thesaurus of English, recently published by Glasgow University (after 45 years of work!) also uses a different numbering system to Roget.  However it is still possible to compare similar meanings from one book to another.  In view of this, I have decided to retain the Roget classification system for the time being, since it is better suited to language development work.  Given the enormous workload in producing a new thesaurus, it appears unlikely that a better version of the Roget system will appear, but we shall see.

3.5    Language by numbers - a new way of looking at language

A very interesting implication for language development has become apparent from working with the Roget Classification system.  Since every word in Algilez has (or will eventually have) a unique classification number, then it would be possible to write sentences in Algilez using just the classification numbers alone.  This is made much easier by the regular syntax of Algilez.

There are a number of implications for this.  Firstly, the actual words used could be changed very easily.  This has already proved very useful in this development stage of the language when words have sometimes needed to be changed to something more suitable.  For translation purposes, the substitution of foreign language words might also be possible (although syntax differences would still require further work to make a good translation).

The second implication is that machine reading of Algilez should be considerably easier, since any sentence could theoretically be reduced to the numerical components from the classified vocabulary list e.g.

Whether this will eventually prove to be worthwhile remains to be seen, but I suspect there is considerable potential for further development.     

3.6    Issues with Roget's Thesaurus

 Occasionally I have come across classification examples that I find questionable.  Generally I have accepted Roget's expertise in the matter and gone along with his classification.  However there are a few cases where I cannot agree and have put words into a different classification group.  Whether the original classifications were down to Roget or to later editors I cannot say.  Similarly, I wonder if these arguable classifications had been noticed and debated previously?  I list below the two examples found so far.  In any case it certainly does not detract from the magnificent achievement of the creation of the thesaurus in the first place.

6    Algilez classification example

4.1    Lateness

The word lists used to build the Algilez vocabulary contained three similar words: delay, defer and postpone.  All three words come under the same category of Roget 136, for which the Headword is 'Lateness'.  Lateness is a general term and is sub-divided into 'Lateness' and 'Delay', which I have given the numbers Roget 136a (Lateness) and Roget 136b (delay).  'Delay', 'defer' and 'postpone' all come under sub-section 136b (delay).

4.2    Delay, defer and postpone

In other words 'delay, defer and postpone' are all considered by Roget to have a similar enough meaning to be grouped under the same category and to be a form of 'delay'.  As an initial assumption, we could say that all three words have the same meaning.

Note that this does not imply that they would always be interchangeable whenever they were used in English.  It may be that under different circumstances either 'delay' or 'defer' or 'postpone' might be used, due to 'custom and practice' of normal English usage.  However, the point is, initially we are starting by saying that the semantic meaning of the three words is identical and for that reason any one of them could be used and the Algilez word that represents that meaning (del) would apply to any one of the three.

(Note that when I compare 'a delay' I am comparing it with 'a deferral' or 'a postponement', similarly we are comparing 'to delay' with 'to defer' or 'to postpone'.  It is the semantic meaning that we are looking at here, not the grammatical usage).

4.3    Differences between Defer/Postpone and Delay

However in looking at the words more closely, we may consider for example, that although 'defer' and 'postpone' have identical semantic meaning, that meaning is slightly different to that of 'delay'.  In such a case we need to modify the Roget numbering slightly e.g.

In this case we have chosen to define 'defer' & 'postpone' as a delay to starting something and therefore formed the compound word 'delgã ' from the roots 'del' (delay) and 'gã' (begin).  An alternative may have been to say that 'defer' & 'postpone' might be defined by 'del' (delay) and 'hãp' (happening/event) , hence making 'delhãp'.

This then enables others to quickly compare the semantic meaning of any words with both English and other languages, both natural and artificial.7

7    Vocabulary

5.1    Classification

Algilez is classified into approximately 1000 main classes of meaning.  The classification is based on those used by Peter Roget in his Thesaurus.  Each main heading of meaning is numbered.  Sub headings and individual words are shown by additional letters to a maximum of 3 digits and 3 letters e.g.:

5.2    Root Words

A Root Word is a Algilez word that is in its most basic simple form.  It is generally (but not always) a noun and can have tense and verbal affixes etc added.  An example of a root noun is 'bel', meaning beauty (an abstract noun).  To this root we add a verbal suffix to create the verb 'beliz', meaning 'to beautify'.  We can also add an adjective suffix 'a' to make 'bela' e.g. 'peel bela' (a beautiful woman).  The same affix 'a' can also make an adverb e.g. 'pintoz bela' (beautifully painted).  Note that a 'qualifying' word following a noun will always be an adjective and one following a verb will always be an adverb.

A number of frequently used words consist of single letter roots e.g.:

However the above roots are never used alone, they will always have an additional letter or letters to make them into a noun, adjective, verb or adverb e.g.:

5.3    Algilez Vocabulary

The Algilez Vocabulary has a separate web page and based on MS Excel.  It consists of a Algilez word list categorised by Roget reference number.  The wordlist can be copied from the web page onto any spread sheet and then re-sorted into alphabetical order of English or Algilez words as required.8

8    Why use a classification system?