基本英语

英語
基本英語 國際英語 英國英語 蘇格蘭英語 威爾士英語 英格蘭英語 愛爾蘭英語 中歐斯特英語 澳大利亚英语 新西兰英語 加拿大英語 紐芬蘭英語 美国英语 非洲裔美国人白话英语 夏威夷英語 高地英語 百慕大英語 牙買加英語 中式英语 港式英語 印度英語 馬來西亞英語 马来西亚式英语 菲律賓英語 新加坡英语 新加坡式英語 利比里亚英語 马拉维英語 南非英语

基本英语（英語：Basic English）是一種人工語言，它基於英語的一種簡化版本而產生，由查尔斯·凯·奥格登創造。在他於1930年所出版的《基本英语——规则和语法的一般约定》一書中有詳細的介紹。

奥格登说：「学习英语要7年，学习世界语要7个月，而学习基本英语只要7星期。」其認為，商業公司因此會將艱澀難懂但需要全球使用的文書寫成基本英語；而语言学校也會為了讓學生短期內學會簡單的英語，而教授基本英语。

奥格登不使用重复意义的单词，而且需要所有国家都适用这些单词。他利用大规模的测试和调整来得到这些词汇。在语法方面，他也做了简化，但是保留了英语通常的用法。

在第二次世界大战後，这种简化开始蕴含「推进世界和平」的理念。但是由于缺乏规划，发展出了不同地方使用的简化版本。今天还存在的基本英语有850个单词作为初学英语者的单词词汇广传世界，特别是在亚洲最流行。^[1]

语法规则

奥格登基本英语的语法规则是为了让人们只用850个单词就可以解决一般交流：

1. 在单词词尾加-s作为复数，那些加-es和-ies的保留；
2. 四个词缀：-er可以变成300多个名词，-ing和-ed变成形容词；
3. 使用-ly变成副词；
4. 对于数量，使用more和most，保留-er和-est；
5. 形容词的反义词是加前缀un-, im-
6. 问句使用相反的词序，加上do；
7. 人称和代名词使用和一般英语相同；
8. 可以使用两个名词组合成新词，比如milkman和wordend；还可以是名词加方位，例如sundown；
9. 单位、數字、貨幣、月份、日子、年份、钟点同一般英语形式；
10. 使用专业和科技词汇。一些特殊词汇不属于基本英语，词性、复数等变化不遵守这个规范。

历史

1944年，温斯顿·丘吉尔在哈佛大学的一个演讲裡，起初支持用基本英语作为世界语言，但是由于一个故事他放弃了，就是那句“blood, toil, tears and sweat”（鮮血、辛勞、眼淚和汗水）写成基本英语就是“blood, hard work, eyewash and body water”（血液、努力、淚液和体液）^[2]。喬治·奧威爾的作品《一九八四》中可能有对基本英语的模仿。书后对“新话”的注解可以认为暗含着对构造语言的批评，而且那在这本书的著作期间（1948年）呼声很高。

奥威尔的新话实际上更像是专为机器或网络设计的语言，不知晓网络的人士看不懂的。与之相比，奥格登的基本英语任何一个懂英语的人都能读懂，但它只能用作第二語言。

单词表

基本英语有850个核心词汇。

动作 - 100 个单词

come, get, give, go, keep, let, make, put, seem, take, be, do, have, say, see, send, may, will, about, across, after, against, among, at, before, between, by, down, from, in, off, on, over, through, to, under, up, with, as, for, of, till, than, a, the, all, any, every, no, other, some, such, that, this, I, he, you, who, and, because, but, or, if, though, while, how, when, where, why, again, ever, far, forward, here, near, now, out, still, then, there, together, well, almost, enough, even, little, much, not, only, quite, so, very, tomorrow, yesterday, north, south, east, west, please, yes.

事物 - 400 个常用单词

account, act, addition, adjustment, advertisement, agreement, air, amount, amusement, animal, answer, apparatus, approval, argument, art, attack, attempt, attention, attraction, authority, back, balance, base, behaviour, belief, birth, bit, bite, blood, blow, body, brass, bread, breath, brother, building, burn, burst, business, butter, canvas, care, cause, chalk, chance, change, cloth, coal, colour, comfort, committee, company, comparison, competition, condition, connection, control, cook, copper, copy, cork, cotton, cough, country, cover, crack, credit, crime, crush, cry, current, curve, damage, danger, daughter, day, death, debt, decision, degree, design, desire, destruction, detail, development, digestion, direction, discovery, discussion, disease, disgust, distance, distribution, division, doubt, drink, driving, dust, earth, edge, education, effect, end, error, event, example, exchange, existence, expansion, experience, expert, fact, fall, family, father, fear, feeling, fiction, field, fight, fire, flame, flight, flower, fold, food, force, form, friend, front, fruit, glass, gold, government, grain, grass, grip, group, growth, guide, harbour, harmony, hate, hearing, heat, help, history, hole, hope, hour, humour, ice, idea, impulse, increase, industry, ink, insect, instrument, insurance, interest, invention, iron, jelly, join, journey, judge, jump, kick, kiss, knowledge, land, language, laugh, law, lead, learning, leather, letter, level, lift, light, limit, linen, liquid, list, look, loss, love, machine, man, manager, mark, market, mass, meal, measure, meat, meeting, memory, metal, middle, milk, mind, mine, minute, mist, money, month, morning, mother, motion, mountain, move, music, name, nation, need, news, night, noise, note, number, observation, offer, oil, operation, opinion, order, organization, ornament, owner, page, pain, paint, paper, part, paste, payment, peace, person, place, plant, play, pleasure, point, poison, polish, porter, position, powder, power, price, print, process, produce, profit, property, prose, protest, pull, punishment, purpose, push, quality, question, rain, range, rate, ray, reaction, reading, reason, record, regret, relation, religion, representative, request, respect, rest, reward, rhythm, rice, river, road, roll, room, rub, rule, run, salt, sand, scale, science, sea, seat, secretary, selection, self, sense, servant, sex, shade, shake, shame, shock, side, sign, silk, silver, sister, size, sky, sleep, slip, slope, smash, smell, smile, smoke, sneeze, snow, soap, society, son, song, sort, sound, soup, space, stage, start, statement, steam, steel, step, stitch, stone, stop, story, stretch, structure, substance, sugar, suggestion, summer, support, surprise, swim, system, talk, taste, tax, teaching, tendency, test, theory, thing, thought, thunder, time, tin, top, touch, trade, transport, trick, trouble, turn, twist, unit, use, value, verse, vessel, view, voice, walk, war, wash, waste, water, wave, wax, way, weather, week, weight, wind, wine, winter, woman, wood, wool, word, work, wound, writing, year.

事物 - 200个可用图表示的单词

angle, ant, apple, arch, arm, army, baby, bag, ball, band, basin, basket, bath, bed, bee, bell, berry, bird, blade, board, boat, bone, book, boot, bottle, box, boy, brain, brake, branch, brick, bridge, brush, bucket, bulb, button, cake, camera, card, cart, carriage, cat, chain, cheese, chest, chin, church, circle, clock, cloud, coat, collar, comb, cord, cow, cup, curtain, cushion, dog, door, drain, drawer, dress, drop, ear, egg, engine, eye, face, farm, feather, finger, fish, flag, floor, fly, foot, fork, fowl, frame, garden, girl, glove, goat, gun, hair, hammer, hand, hat, head, heart, hook, horn, horse, hospital, house, island, jewel, kettle, key, knee, knife, knot, leaf, leg, library, line, lip, lock, map, match, monkey, moon, mouth, muscle, nail, neck, needle, nerve, net, nose, nut, office, orange, oven, parcel, pen, pencil, picture, pig, pin, pipe, plane, plate, plough, pocket, pot, potato, prison, pump, rail, rat, receipt, ring, rod, roof, root, sail, school, scissors, screw, seed, sheep, shelf, ship, shirt, shoe, skin, skirt, snake, sock, spade, sponge, spoon, spring, square, stamp, star, station, stem, stick, stocking, stomach, store, street, sun, table, tail, thread, throat, thumb, ticket, toe, tongue, tooth, town, train, tray, tree, trousers, umbrella, wall, watch, wheel, whip, whistle, window, wing, wire, worm.

状态 - 100个常用单词

able, acid, angry, automatic, beautiful, black, boiling, bright, broken, brown, cheap, chemical, chief, clean, clear, common, complex, conscious, cut, deep, dependent, early, elastic, electric, equal, fat, fertile, first, fixed, flat, free, frequent, full, general, good, great, grey, hanging, happy, hard, healthy, high, hollow, important, kind, like, living, long, male, married, material, medical, military, natural, necessary, new, normal, open, parallel, past, physical, political, poor, possible, present, private, probable, quick, quiet, ready, red, regular, responsible, right, round, same, second, separate, serious, sharp, smooth, sticky, stiff, straight, strong, sudden, sweet, tall, thick, tight, tired, true, violent, waiting, warm, wet, wide, wise, yellow, young.

状态 - 50 个有反义词的单词

awake, bad, bent, bitter, blue, certain, cold, complete, cruel, dark, dead, dear, delicate, different, dirty, dry, false, feeble, female, foolish, future, green, ill, last, late, left, loose, loud, low, mixed, narrow, old, opposite, public, rough, sad, safe, secret, short, shut, simple, slow, small, soft, solid, special, strange, thin, white, wrong.

参见

• 可讀性
• 簡單英語
• 慢速英語
• 受控詞表
• 海事用語

参考文献

1. Edmond H Weiss The Elements of International English Style, pp. 17-18, M. E. Sharpe, 2005 ISBN 978-0-7656-1572-5（英文）
2. 来自于时代教育副刊名言集 （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）

外部链接

• World English Organization（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
• Basic-English Institute（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） - Dedicated to the expansion of Ogden's Basic English.
• 查尔斯·凯·奥格登. Basic English: 一般规则介绍. [2005-07-11]. （原始内容于2005-03-09）. 
• 查尔斯·凯·奥格登. . 剑桥：The Orthological Institute. 1937 [2005-07-11]. （原始内容存档于2011-08-05）. 
• Wiktionary:Basic_English_template (uses Basic English word list as a basis for studying equivalent basic words in other languages)
• - 為英語學習者而設的新聞電台