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Is there a name of a group of languages that try to remove instead of adding things? Examples:

  • Newspeak: reduces words (e.g. bad will be ungood (prefix "un" meaning not), eliminate expression that are not "good" (more here
  • the Sij: according to author it has 10 word (or at least morpheme).

So in other words makes a language that (one or more):

  • is less complex
  • has less word
  • has less tenses
  • just "less" of something

I have only found term "Micro (artistic) language" in the wiki but it was deleted. Here is the last version that mention it. I am not sure if such term is even used.

1 Answer 1

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These languages could be called minimalist conlangs. This term has been applied to languages like Toki Pona quite regularly, as a Google search will bear out. The term has also been used to describe a number of languages on the CBB, such as Sint and Nomadic.

The same word can be applied to parts of a language, e.g. Davush on CBB refers to their Shiruitoan language as having a minimalist phonology.

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