North American
| North American | |
| Proposed to be spoken in: | Canada, United States, Mexico |
| Timeline/Universe: | international auxiliary language |
| Total speakers: | Possibly at least one. |
| Genealogical classification: | A posteriori
|
| Basic word order: | SVO |
| Morphological type: | inflectional, prepositional |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | accusative |
| Created by: | |
| James Y. Grevor | 1966 |
North American is a proposed international auxiliary language based on French, English and Spanish.
Description
North American is a pastiche language written by joining together complete phrases and words from the three source langauges. It looks very much like a portamenteau of Franglais and Spanglish, but without the bad grammar. It is grammatically competent, each phrase being used correctly given the source grammar. Nor is it a pidgin or creole.
Spelling Convention
The most curious feature of North American is the spelling convention used to distinguish the appropriate pronunication of a word, should any ambiguity arise. French pronunciation is indicated by capitalization of the last letter of the word: poinT, quE, dE. English pronunciation is indicated by separating the first letter from the body of the word, while Spanish pronunciation is indicated by separating the last letter from the body of the word: a mbition (English); interio r (Spanish).
Text Sample
Tengo la costumbre de leer jusqu'au poinT où mes yeux deviennent fatigués. Llegado a este punto je pense au sujet de ce livre has projected en mi mundo interio r. Los pasajes in this manuscript qui traitent de la littérature son siempre los momentos relevés qui suivent mi lectura et reflètent mis opiniones y divagaciones. Stop thinking y escuche! Se oye la Quichotte. Sus palabras vienen de la cuisine!
I have the custom of reading to the point where my eyes become tired. Having reached this point I think about the subject of this book has projected in my consciousness. The passages in this manuscript which treat of literature are always the moments that have been preserved which follow my reading and reflect my opinions and divagations. Stop thinking and listen! You hear the Quichotte. Her words come from the kitchen.
Proposal
According to the author, only on the North American continent is there the possibility of developing "a single language for all its inhabitants. In a certain sense, this language, North American, already is the spoken vehicle of the area. ... French, English and Spanish, however, possess the perfect degrees of difference and resemblence to produce something that would consitute a continental trilingua."
Corpus
North American appears to exist solely in a book by the language's author.
Grevor, James Y. Donne Quichotte Retrato in North American; Variegation Publishing Co., 1966. The book is 59 pages, hard cover, and is listed with several online antiquarian bookmongers.
