Englisheg

Englisheg is a term used in linguistics and speculative fiction to denote a hypothetical English-based constructed language conceived as a thought experiment for studying language contact, simplification, and creolization. It is not a natural language, and there is no widely recognized real-world variety by that name.

The name Englisheg follows a practice of pairing English with a fictional suffix in conlang discourse; there is no canonical etymology beyond its function as a project label.

Conceived as a teaching and research aid, Englisheg is typically described as having a deliberately regularized grammar and limited inflection. Commonly assumed features include strict subject–verb–object word order; minimal or regular verb conjugation, with tense or aspect indicated by separate particles rather than inflection; reduced noun morphology; definite and indefinite articles with stable use; a gender-neutral pronoun system; and a core vocabulary largely drawn from English with simplified spelling and predictable affixation rules. Phonology is usually simplified to avoid complex consonant clusters and to support easy pronunciation.

In scholarly and fictional contexts, Englisheg serves to illustrate how an English-based system might evolve under contact or be engineered for pedagogical clarity. It is not used by real communities as a living language.

See also: constructed language, pidgin, creole, English-based creole, language contact.