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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
Basic English
Language information:
Basic English—also known as “Basic”—is a constructed simplified form of the English language for international use.
It was devised and
described
in
the
book Basic English:
A
General
Introduction
with Rules and Grammar (1930) by the British linguist, philosopher and writer Charles Kay Ogden
(1889–1957). Ogden claimed it would take
seven years to learn English, seven
months
to learn Esperanto and only seven weeks to learn Basic English. Basic English is used by many individuals and organizations that write for international
readerships with large percentages of people for whom English is a foreign language
and for native English speakers whose insufficient formal education and reading
proficiency prevents them from following
complex
written language.
However, not all Basic English writers adhere strictly to Ogden’s rules.
Basic English relies on a small number of words and phrases as well as on simplified
grammar. There is a basic vocabulary of 850 words. Basic English provides little
room
for
creativity,
though in many cases “un-” may
precede adjectives to denote the opposite quality where this is not or rarely
done in “real” English.
[Click
here for
more information.]
Genealogy:
Indo-European > Germanic > Western > Anglo-Scots > English > (Artificially) Simplified
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