Spocanian
Encyclopedia
Spocanian is a constructed language, created by the Dutch
linguist Rolandt Tweehuysen. Unlike such invented languages as Esperanto
, Spocanian was never intended to be used for international communication; instead, it serves as the language of Spocania, a fictional island group in the Atlantic Ocean
, southwest of Ireland
.
Spocania and Spocanian are typical examples of early geofiction, predating the Internet
. Tweehuysen started working on them when he was still a boy, in 1962. Over the years, they have attracted much press, radio and television attention in the Netherlands. Two travel books about the country have been published. To date, Spocania is one of the most elaborated fictional cultures ever published.
In its fictional setting, Spocanian is a member of the Atlantic language family. As a constructed language, it can be classified as highly naturalistic a priori language
: apart from loan words from European languages, the basic vocabulary and the grammar are unique. Grammar itself is full of "bizarre characteristics":
With a dictionary of over 25,000 entries, Spocanian is one of the most elaborated artistic languages ever created.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
linguist Rolandt Tweehuysen. Unlike such invented languages as Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
, Spocanian was never intended to be used for international communication; instead, it serves as the language of Spocania, a fictional island group in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, southwest of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
Spocania and Spocanian are typical examples of early geofiction, predating the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Tweehuysen started working on them when he was still a boy, in 1962. Over the years, they have attracted much press, radio and television attention in the Netherlands. Two travel books about the country have been published. To date, Spocania is one of the most elaborated fictional cultures ever published.
In its fictional setting, Spocanian is a member of the Atlantic language family. As a constructed language, it can be classified as highly naturalistic a priori language
A priori (languages)
An a priori language is any constructed language whose vocabulary is not based on existing languages, unlike a posteriori constructed languages. Examples of a priori languages include Ro, Solresol, Mirad, Klingon, and Na'vi...
: apart from loan words from European languages, the basic vocabulary and the grammar are unique. Grammar itself is full of "bizarre characteristics":
With a dictionary of over 25,000 entries, Spocanian is one of the most elaborated artistic languages ever created.
External links
- Grammatica van het Spokaans
- Site over Spokanië
- Interview met Rolandt Tweehuysen (Onze Taal, mei 1998)