Lingua sistemfrater (English: Language of Brotherhood), also referred to as Frater**,** is an a posteriori international auxiliary language created by Vietnamese translator Phạm Xuân Thái in 1957 as Frater (Lingua sistemfrater): The simplest International Language Ever Constructed. The language uses a largely Greco-Latin lexicon, and an Asian-influenced grammar. Frater was one of the (comparatively rare) international languages created in Asia, and had a vocabulary of more than 6,000 words.

Phonology and Orthography

Frater used an orthography of eighteen letter from the Latin script: five vowels: a, e, i, o, u, and thirteen consonants: b, d, f, g, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, and t. These letters were enunciated as their pronunciations in the International Phonetic Alphabet, with the following exceptions: The stress is placed on the last syllable of the word; there are no silent letters.

Grammar

Article

There is no indefinite article or definite article.

Personal Pronouns

Possessives are formed by adding the preposition ot before the pronoun. Unlike English that distinguishes three genders for the third-person singular pronoun, the pronoun was invariable.

Nouns

The noun in Frater is invariable. Plurals can be formed by adding -multi (many) to the end of the noun: mensa (table) - mensamulti (tables)

Adjectives

The adjective in Frater is invariable and is always placed after the noun; except for cardinal numbers.

Numbers

The cardinal numbers in Frater: 1 - uni 2 - bi 3 - tri 4 - kuadri 5 - kuinti 6 - ses 7 - sep 8 - okta 9 - nona 10 - deka 11 - dekauni 12 - dekabi 13 - dekatri 20 - bideka 24 - bidekakuadri 30 - trideka 40 - kuadrideka 85 - oktadekakuinti 100 - senti 367 - trisenti-sesdeka-sep 600 - sessenti 1000 - mil 1000000 - milion Ordinal numbers are formed by placing the cardinal number after the noun.

Verbs

The verb in Frater is invariable in person and in number. The passive voice is formed by adding the auxiliary verb es before the infinitive: Ilis es trauma (they are wounded).

Syntax

The syntax in Frater is: Subject - Verb - Object. Questions are formed by placing the verb before the subject. Interrogative words include: antropkia (who), kia (what), plaskia (where), temkia (when), prokia (why), kak (how), and multikia (how much; how many).

Example

The Lord's Prayer

For comparison the Lord's Prayer is provided in Frater, Glosa (a later auxiliary language with isolating grammar and Greco-Latin vocabulary), Latin and English.

Sources