expression with what versatility of expression safeguards style against monotony, we can take advantage of this fact.

Different roots of international technical terms may have the same semantic content. Hence the problem of choosing word-material is not as difficult as it might seem. We are not forced to undertake a statistical word-count of internationally current roots. Part of our essential word-list offers the beginner a choice of two words. For purposes of self-expression the beginner will naturally choose the one to which he (or she) associates most readily, or can most easily pronounce. For purposes of reading, or communication with others who associate more readily to the alternative form, a cursory study of the word-list will usually suffice.

In this context it is fitting to forestall the intelligible criticism that a page of Interglossa does not look easier than a page of Novial. Anyone who has had a good secondary school education in Britain or America can guess his or her way through a passage of Novial (or other interlanguage of the same type) without the preliminary precaution of consulting a grammar or dictionary. This fact gives anyone who has not thought much about interlinguistic problems an unduly favourable impression of the ease with which it is possible to master Novial. It would not be difficult to construct a highly latinized strip of English through which an otherwise well-educated Frenchman with no knowledge of our language could also guess his way. English of this type would certainly¹ be more difficult to learn thoroughly than is Ogden's Basic.

To an English reader Novial looks more easy than it is for two reasons. It takes over the grammatical pattern common to Aryan languages (with the semantic inconsistencies inherent in it), and it has a large hybrid stock-in-trade of words from the two major sources of our own. One has less formal grammar to learn than one would have if one set out to learn French or German; but, having traversed the first few milestones, one has still to grapple with the semantic difficulties inherent in the pattern of the Aryan group. One has to go on piling up a word-list without information concerning which words are most essential. The fact that Novial looks so easy to read is a feature of high publicity value. It does not signify that it is also easy to master the art of self-expression in Novial.

To cut down the difficulties by judicious word-economy we