Dil

Dil or Dil Oma ("Language of Man") is a Volapukido (a language based on Volapük) that was published in 1893 by Julius Fieweger. The following article is drawn entirely from the corresponding chapter in Histoire de la Langue Universelle (pp. 181-187) by Louis Couturat.

The general word order is: subject, verb, direct object, indirect object. Adjectives, adverbs, genitives, and numbers follow their nouns, and prepositions govern the nominative. Questions are formed using the frontal particle li.

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Phonologically Dil is like Revised Volapük, but with the following differences: The three umlaut vowels are omitted, H and X are omitted, and Z has the value of [z] rather than [ts]. And the stress falls on the final syllable.

Nouns and Adjectives

There are no definite or indefinite articles, and nouns are gender-neutral by default, taking the suffixes -ec and -ev to become male or female respectively. The declension paradigm is as follows, using the example of om (man).

	Singular	Plural
Nom.	om	omez
Acc.	omi	omiz
Gen.	oma	omaz
Dat.	omo	omoz

Adjectives are invariant in gender and number. The comparative and superlative are formed with the suffixes -ur and -un, e.g. gut (good), gutur (better), gutun (best).

Pronouns

The personal pronouns are as follows:

	Singular	Plural
1P	eb	ebz
2P	el	elz
3P n.	em	emz
3P m.	emec	(emecez)
3P f.	emev	(emevez)

There is no pronoun "one", and the proscribed alternative is to use the passive, like in Latin.

Possessive adjectives are formed by the suffix -e, e.g. ebe (my, mine) and emze (their, theirs). And like in Volapük, the genitive can also be used, e.g. eba and emaz.

The principle demonstrative and indefinite pronouns are: id (this), ed (that), kid (such), did (the same), ded (the one), ik (someone), ek (nobody), an (none), kik (each one), ez (something), nez (nothing), iz (all), jak (a bit), jok (a lot). And there are two interrogative pronouns, ki and ke, the former masculine and feminine, and the latter neutral.

All pronouns decline in the same way as nouns.

Verbs

Verbs are formed by suffixing personal pronouns, just like in Volapük, and are negated using the adverb ne. The main tenses are expressed by changing the vowel of the suffixed pronoun, as shown in the following table using lob (hire/let).

Dil	English
lobeb	I hire
lobab	I hired
lobob	I will hire
lobib	I had hired
lobub	I will have hired

Verbal adjectives and infinitives are formed in a similar manner using the suffixes -en and -ed respectively, as per the following examples: loben (to hire), loban (to have hired), lobon (to be going to hire), lobed (hiring), lobad (having hired), lobod (going to hire).

There is a subjunctive mood, which is produced by suffixing the relevant personal pronoun to the present infinitive, e.g. lobeneb. This form also serves as the conditional - like in German - with the present taking the past and the past taking the pluperfect, e.g. lobenab (I would hire) and lobenib (I would have hired).

Like in Revised Volapük, there is an imperative and an optative form, produced by suffixing -ed and -ez respectively onto the indicative, e.g. lobeled, lobelzed, lobebzed, lobelez, lobelzez, lobebzez.

Passive forms are produced by infixing -i- between the root and the suffix(es), e.g. lobien (to be hired), lobiad (hired), lobiam (it was hired).

Reflexivity and reciprocation are conveyed using the suffixes -i and -u respectively, e.g. lobebi (I hire myself) and lobemzu (they hire each other).

Finally, certain auxiliaries are expressed by means of infixes directly after the root, as per the following table.

Dil infix	English meaning
aj	may, permitted to
ej	should, ought to
ij	want to
oj	can, able to
uj	must, have to

Numbers

To come.

Lexicon

To come.

Critique by Louis Couturat

To come.