베이직 잉글리시

How to Basic English
Basic English, Simple English라고도 한다.

영국의 심리학자, 언어학자인 찰스 오그덴(Ogden)이 만든 인공어. 「A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar (1930)」에서 그 문법과 어휘를 소개하고 있다.

영어에 기초를 두고 있으나, 문법을 간략하게 하고 어휘를 최소한으로 제한해서 쉽게 배울 수 있는 언어를 목표로 해 만들어졌다. 기본 어휘는 850개 밖에 되지 않지만, 조합과 다의어를 통해 "보통 영어와 같은 표현을 할 수 있다."고 주장하고 있다. 오그덴은 보통 영어를 배우려면 7년, 에스페란토를 배우려면 7개월이 걸리지만 베이직 잉글리시는 7주면 완전히 배울 수 있다고 주장했다.

베이직은 흔히 쓰이는 '기초적인, 초보적인'이라는 의미 외에 British, American, Scientific, International, Commercial(영국의, 미국의, 과학적, 국제적, 상업적)의 머리자를 딴 것이다.

윈스턴 처칠은 1944년 하버드 대학에서 이 언어를 국제 공용어로 할 것을 제안했다. 요즘에도 이 언어(정확히는 이 표현)로 영어 공부를 시작하라는 책을 가끔 찾아볼 수 있다.

위키백과에도 이 언어의 판이 있다. (Simple English Wikipedia)
Simple English 문서를 작성할 때는 지나치게 기술적인 내용은 자제하도록 권장되고 있다. 비 영어권 사용자를 배려하기 위함이다.

비슷힌 이름인 Simplified English(혹은 Simplified Technical English)는 공학 분야에서 기술적인 내용이나 지시 사항을 모호함이 없이 전달하기 위해 일정한 규정에 따라 그 어휘와 문법 구조를 제한시킨 영어이다. Basic English처럼 개조된 언어(Controlled language)이지만 사용처는 다르다.

이하는 단어의 목록.

1 동작에 관한 것 - 100가지 말

come, get, give, go, keep, let, make, put, seem, take, be, do, have, say, see, send, may, will
about, across, after, against, among, at, before, between, by, down, from, in, off, on, over, through, to, under, up, with, as, for, of, till, than,
a, the, all, any, every, no, other, some, such, that, this, I, he, you, who,
and, because, but, or, if, though, while, how, when, where, why,
again, ever, far, forward, here, near, now, out, still, then, there, together, well
almost, enough, even, little, much, not, only, quite, so, very, tomorrow, yesterday
north, south, east, west, please, yes.

2 사물에 관한 것 - 400가지 일반적인 말

account, act, addition, adjustment, advertisement, agreement, air, amount, amusement, animal, answer, apparatus, approval, argument, art, attack, attempt, attention, attraction, authority, back, balance, base, behaviour, belief, birth, bit, bite, blood, blow, body, brass, bread, breath, brother, building, burn, burst, business, butter, canvas, care, cause, chalk, chance, change, cloth, coal, colour, comfort, committee, company, comparison, competition, condition, connection, control, cook, copper, copy, cork, cotton, cough, country, cover, crack, credit, crime, crush, cry, current, curve, damage, danger, daughter, day, death, debt, decision, degree, design, desire, destruction, detail, development, digestion, direction, discovery, discussion, disease, disgust, distance, distribution, division, doubt, drink, driving, dust, earth, edge, education, effect, end, error, event, example, exchange, existence, expansion, experience, expert, fact, fall, family, father, fear, feeling, fiction, field, fight, fire, flame, flight, flower, fold, food, force, form, friend, front, fruit, glass, gold, government, grain, grass, grip, group, growth, guide, harbour, harmony, hate, hearing, heat, help, history, hole, hope, hour, humour, ice, idea, impulse, increase, industry, ink, insect, instrument, insurance, interest, invention, iron, jelly, join, journey, judge, jump, kick, kiss, knowledge, land, language, laugh, law, lead, learning, leather, letter, level, lift, light, limit, linen, liquid, list, look, loss, love, machine, man, manager, mark, market, mass, meal, measure, meat, meeting, memory, metal, middle, milk, mind, mine, minute, mist, money, month, morning, mother, motion, mountain, move, music, name, nation, need, news, night, noise, note, number, observation, offer, oil, operation, opinion, order, organization, ornament, owner, page, pain, paint, paper, part, paste, payment, peace, person, place, plant, play, pleasure, point, poison, polish, porter, position, powder, power, price, print, process, produce, profit, property, prose, protest, pull, punishment, purpose, push, quality, question, rain, range, rate, ray, reaction, reading, reason, record, regret, relation, religion, representative, request, respect, rest, reward, rhythm, rice, river, road, roll, room, rub, rule, run, salt, sand, scale, science, sea, seat, secretary, selection, self, sense, servant, sex, shade, shake, shame, shock, side, sign, silk, silver, sister, size, sky, sleep, slip, slope, smash, smell, smile, smoke, sneeze, snow, soap, society, son, song, sort, sound, soup, space, stage, start, statement, steam, steel, step, stitch, stone, stop, story, stretch, structure, substance, sugar, suggestion, summer, support, surprise, swim, system, talk, taste, tax, teaching, tendency, test, theory, thing, thought, thunder, time, tin, top, touch, trade, transport, trick, trouble, turn, twist, unit, use, value, verse, vessel, view, voice, walk, war, wash, waste, water, wave, wax, way, weather, week, weight, wind, wine, winter, woman, wood, wool, word, work, wound, writing, year

3 사물에 관한 것 - 200 가지 시각에 호소하는 말

angle, ant, apple, arch, arm, army, baby, bag, ball, band, basin, basket, bath, bed, bee, bell, berry, bird, blade, board, boat, bone, book, boot, bottle, box, boy, brain, brake, branch, brick, bridge, brush, bucket, bulb, button, cake, camera, card, cart, carriage, cat, chain, cheese, chest, chin, church, circle, clock, cloud, coat, collar, comb, cord, cow, cup, curtain, cushion, dog, door, drain, drawer, dress, drop, ear, egg, engine, eye, face, farm, feather, finger, fish, flag, floor, fly, foot, fork, fowl, frame, garden, girl, glove, goat, gun, hair, hammer, hand, hat, head, heart, hook, horn, horse, hospital, house, island, jewel, kettle, key, knee, knife, knot, leaf, leg, library, line, lip, lock, map, match, monkey, moon, mouth, muscle, nail, neck, needle, nerve, net, nose, nut, office, orange, oven, parcel, pen, pencil, picture, pig, pin, pipe, plane, plate, plough, pocket, pot, potato, prison, pump, rail, rat, receipt, ring, rod, roof, root, sail, school, scissors, screw, seed, sheep, shelf, ship, shirt, shoe, skin, skirt, snake, sock, spade, sponge, spoon, spring, square, stamp, star, station, stem, stick, stocking, stomach, store, street, sun, table, tail, thread, throat, thumb, ticket, toe, tongue, tooth, town, train, tray, tree, trousers, umbrella, wall, watch, wheel, whip, whistle, window, wing, wire, worm.

4 상태에 관한 것 - 100가지 일반적인 말

able, acid, angry, automatic, beautiful, black, boiling, bright, broken, brown, cheap, chemical, chief, clean, clear, common, complex, conscious, cut, deep, dependent, early, elastic, electric, equal, fat, fertile, first, fixed, flat, free, frequent, full, general, good, great, grey, hanging, happy, hard, healthy, high, hollow, important, kind, like, living, long, male, married, material, medical, military, natural, necessary, new, normal, open, parallel, past, physical, political, poor, possible, present, private, probable, quick, quiet, ready, red, regular, responsible, right, round, same, second, separate, serious, sharp, smooth, sticky, stiff, straight, strong, sudden, sweet, tall, thick, tight, tired, true, violent, waiting, warm, wet, wide, wise, yellow, young.

5 상태에 관한 것 -　50가지 대립되는 말

awake, bad, bent, bitter, blue, certain, cold, complete, cruel, dark, dead, dear, delicate, different, dirty, dry, false, feeble, female, foolish, future, green, ill, last, late, left, loose, loud, low, mixed, narrow, old, opposite, public, rough, sad, safe, secret, short, shut, simple, slow, small, soft, solid, special, strange, thin, white, wrong.