Amerysk is a planned language--- an invented or made-up language. This page will tell you a little more about planned languages, why people speak planned languages, and why Amerysk in particular.
What is a planned language?
In
my book collection I have a book called 'Esperanto: Language, Literature and Community'
by Pierre Janton, which tells a little bit about the history of planned languages.
['Planned language' is considered more politically correct that 'artificial language'
in Esperantist circles.]
There have been many planned languages created. Esperanto,
invented in 1887, is best known and has about 2 million speakers today. There are
daily shortwave radio broadcasts in Esperanto from Poland and China. Before that
there was Volapük, best remembered today by a common Esperanto phrase which translates
to 'it's Volapük to me'--- the Esperanto version of 'it's Greek to me'.
'Lord
of the Rings' author J. R. R. Tolkien created the Elvish language for use in his
fictional world of Middle Earth. There have been other planned languages with origins
in fiction, such as the Klingon language from the Star Trek series.
Amerysk,
called Amerykan in English, is composed of Saxon and Scandinavian words. It was
brought forth by Paal-Eirik Filssunu beginning in 1979. I must point out that Filssunu's
perspectives are not universal in Asatru/Heathenism and he, like so many Asatru folk,
has been the subject of negative comments. However, you don't have to swear allegiance
to Filssunu to take an interest in the Amerysk language!
Why learn a planned language?
Many
planned languages such as Volapük, Esperanto, Interlingua, Ido and others were devised
as a way to help people from different countries and cultures communicate with one
another. Why not just use a natural language like English instead? The main reason
is that planned languages are much easier to learn. A natural language has such things
as irregular verbs and confusing idioms, while planned languages are far simpler
this regard. A study estimated that you can learn Esperanto in about one-tenth the
time it would take to learn English or French. In my own experience I got a copy
of 'Teach Yourself Esperanto' in college and studied it a couple of weeks. After
that point I was able to write to foreign pen-pals in the language--- with the help
of a dictionary of course.
Another issue some bring out in favor of a planned
language is its neutrality. Many people around the world resent having to learn English
for international communication. Frenchmen would much rather that others learn French.
A planned language gives advantage to no one country and so some people favor this
approach.
Planned languages are used in books and movies to give an air of
realism to a science fiction or fantasy story. Fans of such fiction often enjoy learning
words from these fictional languages. Some people even become fluent in Elvish or
Klingon. You may make fun, but the language skills used are real and such a person
might use the experience to learn more practical languages.
Some authors like
Tolkien have created languages specifically for their fiction. Other authors have
made use of planned languages that already exist. Harry Harrison has used Esperanto
and it was also used in the English translations of the Perry Rhodan series. In the
movie Gattaca, there were some loudspeaker announcements made in Esperanto (though
it was so quiet that the words were hard to make out.) Besides Esperanto, I believe
that Volupük, which has a quite alien sound, has a good deal of potential for use
in fiction, if only as a source of strange names for characters and places.
Amerysk
speakers who write fiction might also make use of Amerysk words and phrases in
fantasy and science fiction works.
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