Universal

Introduction

The language Universal was designed by G I Muravkin and L I Vasilevskij. It is mentioned on p. 197 of E Drezen's Historio de la mondolingvo: Tri jarcentoj de serchado (Leipzig, 1931), but all that is reported there is that the project is called Universal (though that had not been its name before the publication; during its development the authors had been referring to it as ML, from mondolingvo), that it was designed in 1925 (a year chosen at random) by Herlen Vamu (a pseudonym forged by GIM from the initial syllables of the authors' first names and the surnames) and that it is «an etymologically reformed Esperanto» (which it is not, although it certainly owes some things to Esperanto). According to LIV, no information on the language has been published anywhere else.

The verb

Verbs and adjectives are a single class in Universal. They have two forms: an attributive (adjective-like) one and a predicative (verb-like) one.

• Attributive form is marked by the suffix -a: mega urbo `big city', penda lampo `hanging lamp'.

The same tag a acts as a preposition: podo a tablo `leg of a table', luso a deno `light of day, daylight'.

• Predicative form is marked by the suffix -u: urbo megu `(the) city is big', lampo pendu `(the) lamp is hanging'.

The same tag u acts as a copula when the complement is a noun phrase: formiko u insekto `(the) ant is an insect'.

Tense/Mood

Tense marking is optional. The marker e indicates past tense when prefixed (ebela `formerly beautiful', e6efo `ex-boss') and future tense when suffixed and stressed (sanéa `healthy in the future', urbéo `city-to-be'). The imperative is marked by the prefix 3 ([email protected] `give!', [email protected] `let there be light').

Sample verb: donu

Present	donu
Past	edonu
Future	donúe
Imperative	3@donu!

Verbs:

• donu 'to give',
• nodu 'to receive',
• ponu 'to put',
• nopu 'to take'.