Latest Update: 25th February 2024
Hey there, fellow language lovers! You all know that when I'm not deep-diving into Danish translation subjects, I just love nerding out completely on all things language. And this is definitely one of those topics. Ever heard of Elefen? Does LFN ring a bell? They're both short for Lingua Franca Nova. Still not following? No problem. Cause here I'm going to introduce you to Lingua Franca Nova and some of its most interesting aspects 🌈🚀
So ... What on Earth is Lingua Franca Nova?
Lingua Franca Nova, known as either LFN or Elefen, is a (auxiliary) constructed language – originally by C. George Boeree of Shippensburg University, Pennsylvania back in 1965 – but was first presented officially to the internet in 1998 where it was further developed immensely by its speakers. It is often categorized as a Romance Creole language because it largely borrows from Romance languages such as Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian. Boeree was inspired by Sabir – or Mediterranean Lingua Franca – which was a type of proto-pidgin contact language used all over the Mediterranean Sea from the 11th to the 19th centuries.
Simplicity is Strength
If you've ever tried learning a Romance language before, you know that simplicity isn't their strong suit. Unlike e.g. Danish and other Scandinavian languages, the verbs truly have a life of their own. In French, they have 21 different verb forms – and let's not start on the tenses and moods.
LFN, on the other hand, is all about simplicity. While the vocabulary might be drawn from modern Romance languages, the grammar resembles that of other Creole languages such as Papiamento and Haitian Creole.
Grammar for Lingua Franca Nova
While I'm just giving you a short introduction here, you can actually find a very comprehensive grammatical guide on their website – and it's even available in most languages. I recommend you pick the guides in one of the major languages since e.g. the Danish guide is not very good – and it's mixed with Norwegian in certain places.
Sentence Structure in LFN
Elefen follows a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structure. This type of word order is the second most widely used in the world and accounts for approx. 42% of all languages – only overtaken by SOV. For LFN, it also means that modifiers, prepositional phrases, and subordinate clauses follow the elements they modify – creating what seems like a fluid and harmonious sentence flow, especially if you speak a European language beforehand.
Let's Look at the Nouns
If you've ever tried learning a Latin language, you know that the drama already starts here: they're notoriously known for their genders – masculine and feminine – as well as their many cases and irregularities. However, LFN will have none of the drama, and nouns in LFN are remarkably straightforward.
Nouns, thus, have no case, which means that their roles in a sentence are primarily determined by word order and prepositions. The plural form is created by adding either -s or -es. If you absolutely need to indicate gender, the noun can be followed by either mas (male) or fema (female).
LFN | ENGLISH | LFN | ENGLISH |
un cavalo | a horse | la cavalo mas | the male horse |
la cavalo | the horse | la cavalo fema | the female horse |
la cavalos | the horses | la tre cavalos grande | the three big horses |
As you get a tiny taste of in the table above, you can add determiners such as "esta" (this, these), "acel" (that, those), "alga" (some), "cada" (every, each), "multe" (many, much), and "poca" (few, little) and adjectives like "bon" (good) and "grande" (big) to elaborate on and enrich your sentences.
Personal Pronouns: More Important than You'd Think
While Lingua Franca Nova does like to simplify certain aspects compared to modern Latin languages, the lack of inflection/conjugation of verbs in person and number makes personal pronouns essential – in the exact same way as in Danish – or in the same way as French needs personal pronouns, while Spanish doesn't. In LFN, they are as follows: me — I, me
tu — you (singular)
el — she, her, he, him
lo — it
on – one nos — we, us
vos — you (plural)
los — they, them
pronoun | danish translation | english translation | french translation | portuguese translation |
me come | jeg spiser | I eat | je mange | eu como |
el come | han/hun spiser | he/she eats | il/elle mange | ele/ela come |
nos come | vi spiser | we eat | nous mangeons | nós comemos |
los come | de spiser | they eat | ils mangent | eles comem |
Verbs for Past. Present, and Future
Much like nouns, verbs in LFN remain unchanged, and, as in Danish, the verb does not reflect numbers. The verbs LFN on their own represent both the infinitive (base form) as well as the present tense. Any other tense isn't indicated by conjugating the verb but rather preceding particles. Let's take a look at the table here with the verb "come" (to eat):
tense mode | particle | example | english translation |
present | - | me come | I eat |
past | ia | me ia come | I ate |
future | va | me va come | I will eat |
conditional | ta | me ta come | I would eat |
Adverbs and auxiliary verbs, like "ja" (already) and "comensa" (begin to), add nuanced expressions to your sentences. LFN's verbs offer active and passive participles, with the former ending in "-nte" and the latter in "-da." These participles, when used with the verb "es" (to be), allow you to express progressive aspects and passive voice with ease.
Adjectives and Adverbs: That Little Extra
Adjectives in LFN are invariant and don't change to agree with nouns, which simplifies the language even further. The comparative form of adjectives is beautifully constructed with "plu" (more) or "min" (less), while the superlative is elegantly formed using "la plu" (the most) or "la min" (the least).
Glued Together by Prepositions and Conjunctions
LFN has a rich selection of prepositions like "a" (at, to), "de" (of, from), "ante" (before, in front of), "pos" (after, behind), and more, providing the building blocks for complex sentences. This is a common phenomenon in languages such as Danish and English that have less complicated grammar and rely more on word order vs. languages such as German, Spanish, and others, where many ideas or the role of certain words are expressed directly through grammar.
Its relationship with its Germanic Neighbors
As a Danish translation expert, this is – of course – something that interests me. However, the relationship between Lingua Franca Nova and Germanic languages is very much indirect. While LFN doesn't specifically draw from Germanic languages in its construction, the simplicity of its grammar means that speakers of Germanic languages might find it relatively easy to learn LFN compared to other Romance languages. Besides, Germanic languages (especially English) have borrowed words from Latin and Romance languages in the past, so many words in LFN might be recognizable, although not to the same extent that speakers of Latin languages will experience.
Lingua Franca Nova: the Latin Language Light
Lingua Franca Nova is a testament to the art of simplicity in language. Its straightforward grammar, combined with a touch of romance and innovation, creates a unique linguistic experience. Whether you're a conlanger or simply fascinated by the beauty of constructed languages, LFN offers a beautiful journey into the world of the Latin languages and effective communication.
if you already know a Romance language, it will most likely be a piece of cake to pick up LFN. We currently have approx. 950 million native speakers in the world – and that number is only bound to go up in the future as e.g. French is said to be the world's most spoken language by 2050. Do you think LFN has a chance of gaining more ground and becoming the "new Sabir"?
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