International Fleet Common (also known as I.F. Common, Common, or Standard) was the official language of the International Fleet, Hegemony,[1] and later the Free People of Earth.[2] It was adapted from American English with minor changes.[1]
History[]
Creation[]
After the founding of the International Fleet and the Hegemony in 87 BX, a common language was needed to unify humanity against the Formics. The leadership of the Hegemony decided to make small changes to American English and create a language from it, calling it International Fleet Common.[3]
As time went on, some countries adopted Common so readily that their own languages faded into obscurity. For example, by 34 BX, Finland had mostly ceased using Finnish and simply used Common instead.[4]
Starways Congress Era[]
The language was used almost universally until Starways Congress was founded, when it was renamed to Starcommon and made the official language of the Hundred Worlds.[5]
Differences between Common and American English[]
There were several differences between American English and International Fleet Common, including:
- There were no "ughs" and "ighs" in its spelling.[6]
- There was some special vocabulary and no subjunctive.[6]
- 'Whom' was abolished from the language.[6]
- The word 'of' was changed to simply 'v'.[6]
- The letters 'ph' were replaced with 'f'.
- Several Slang terms were added to the language.[2]