Interlinguistics

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Interlinguistics, also known as cosmoglottics, [a] is the science of planned languages that has existed for more than a century. [1] Formalised by Otto Jespersen in 1931 as the science of interlanguages, in more recent times, the field has been more focused with language planning, the collection of strategies to deliberately influence the structure and function of a living language. In this framework, interlanguages become a subset of planned languages, i.e. extreme cases of language planning. [2]

Contents

Interlinguistics first appeared as a branch of studies devoted to the establishment of norms for auxiliary languages, but over its century-long history it has been understood by different authors more and more broadly as an interdisciplinary branch of science which includes various aspects of communication, language planning and standardization, multilingualism and globalisation, language policy, translation, sociolinguistics, intercultural communication, the history of language creation and literature written in constructed languages (international auxiliary languages (auxlangs) as well as constructed languages : conlangs), fictional artistic languages (artlangs), lingua francas, pidgins, creoles and constructed languages in the internet and other topics were added. [3]

Etymology and history

Otto Jespersen is commonly regarded as the founder of the field of interlinguistics. Otto Jespersen.jpg
Otto Jespersen is commonly regarded as the founder of the field of interlinguistics.

The hybrid term was first coined in French (as Interlinguistique) by the Belgian Esperantist Jules Meysmans. [4]

The main historical periods of interlinguistics are:

At the Institute of Linguistics of AMU there is the extramural Interlinguistic studies program. Over the course of three years these studies provide the students with a basic knowledge of general linguistics, interlinguistics, international and intercultural communication with a focus on the linguistics, culture and movement of the internationally dispersed and naturally functioning planned language Esperanto. Every third year the Interlinguistic Studies program also organizes an international interlinguistic symposium. [6]

At the University of Amsterdam there is also a chair of interlinguistics and Esperanto.

Field of studies

The field of interlinguistics is concerned with international planned languages [7] [also called 'constructed languages', 'auxiliary languages', or 'artificial languages'] as Esperanto, and with the relationship between planned languages [8] and language planning. Increasingly, undergraduate courses in planned languages are expanding to embrace not only the history of languages planned for international use, but also the field of imaginary and fictional languages. [9] Interlinguistics is also concerned with investigating how ethnic and international planned languages work as lingua franca and with the possibilities of optimizing interlinguistic communication.

The term Interlinguistics can be interpreted in at least two ways:

  1. Study of interlinguae, i.e., of interlanguages that serve for interlinguistic communication - not to be confused with the interim languages of language learners, which also came to be called "interlanguages" by some authors.
  2. Study of phenomena that can be observed inter linguae 'between languages'.

Among these interpretations, the first one is by far the most well established, while Mario Wandruszka had only the second one in mind. [10]

The term appears first to have been used in French (interlinguistique) by Jules Meysmans in 1911 in a text concerning international auxiliary languages. [11] It became more widely accepted subsequent to an address by the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen to the 2nd International Congress of Linguists in 1931. According to Jespersen, interlinguistics is "that branch of the science of language which deals with the structure and basic ideas of all languages with the view to the establishing of a norm for interlanguages, i.e. auxiliary languages destined for oral and written use between people who cannot make themselves understood by means of their mother tongues". [12] According to this definition, investigations that are useful for optimizing interlinguistic communication are central to the discipline, and the purpose may be to develop a new language intended for international use or for use within a multilingual country or union. Research of this kind has been undertaken by the International Delegation, which developed Ido (1907), and by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA), which developed Interlingua (1951).

Valter Tauli considered interlinguistics as a subdiscipline of language planning. [13] The principles recommended by him for language planning applied to the guided development of national languages are also, and more liberally so, applicable to constructed interlanguages. It is noteworthy that these principles have close counterparts among Grice's conversational maxims. These maxims describe how effective communication in conversation is achieved, and in order to function well, a language must be such that it allows respecting these maxims, which languages not always do. [14]

Most publications in the field of interlinguistics are, however, not so constructive, but rather descriptive, comparative, historic, sociolinguistic, or concerned with translation by humans or machines. As for Esperanto, which is the most widely used constructed interlanguage, there is a relatively abundant literature about the language itself and its philology (see Esperantology).

Only a few of the many constructed languages have been applied practically to any noteworthy extent. The most prosperous were Volapük (1879, Johann Martin Schleyer), Esperanto (1887 Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof), Latino sine flexione (1903, Giuseppe Peano), Ido (1907, Louis Couturat), Occidental-Interlingue (1922, Edgar de Wahl) and Interlingua (1951, IALA and Alexander Gode), with Esperanto being the one gathering the most significant community of active speakers at present. [15] Here, the Bliss symbols (1949, Charles K. Bliss) [16] deserve also to be mentioned. These were intended for international communication, but have found their field of application elsewhere, namely as an aid for persons who lack an adequate ability of using ordinary language, because of motorical or cognitive handicaps.

Kinds of interlanguages

The following table lists only one representative for each type explicitly.

Spoken language onlySpoken and written languageWritten language onlyGestural languageMultimedial language
Spontaneous Russenorsk and others Tok Pisin and other stabilized pidgins Classical Chinese (used interlinguistically) Plains Indian Sign Language [17] Silbo gomero and other whistled languages
Constructed Damin (not interlinguistic) Esperanto and others Bliss symbols and other pasigraphies Gestuno (for the deaf) Solresol

Among constructed languages, it is usual to distinguish between a priori languages and a posteriori languages. The latter are based on one or, more often, several source languages, while this is not evident for a priori languages, e.g., the philosophical languages of the 17th century, Solresol and the logical languages of the 20th century, such as Loglan and Lojban. Spontaneously arisen Interlanguages are necessarily a posteriori or iconic (using imaging or imitating signs).

Bibliography

See also

References and Notes

Notes

  1. ↑ Sergey N. Kuznetsov makes an opposition between cosmoglottics, the science about universal planned language, and interlinguistics, the science about international languages and communication.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interlingua</span> Constructed language

Interlingua is an international auxiliary language (IAL) developed between 1937 and 1951 by the American International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). It is a constructed language of the "naturalistic" variety, whose vocabulary, grammar, and other characteristics are derived from natural languages. Interlingua literature maintains that (written) Interlingua is comprehensible to the billions of people who speak Romance languages, though it is actively spoken by only a few hundred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. L. Zamenhof</span> Creator of Esperanto (1859–1917)

L. L. Zamenhof was the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural language</span> Language as naturally spoken by humans

In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that occurs naturally in a human community by a process of use, repetition, and change. It can take different forms, typically either a spoken language or a sign language. Natural languages are distinguished from constructed and formal languages such as those used to program computers or to study logic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otto Jespersen</span> Danish linguist (1860–1943)

Jens Otto Harry Jespersen was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. Steven Mithen described him as "one of the greatest language scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interlingue</span> International auxiliary language created 1922

Interlingue, originally Occidental ( ), is an international auxiliary language created in 1922 and renamed in 1949. Its creator, Edgar de Wahl, sought to achieve maximal grammatical regularity and natural character. The vocabulary is based on pre-existing words from various languages and a derivational system which uses recognized prefixes and suffixes.

An international auxiliary language is a language meant for communication between people from different nations, who do not share a common first language. An auxiliary language is primarily a foreign language and often a constructed language. The concept is related to but separate from the idea of a lingua franca that people must use to communicate. The study of international auxiliary languages is interlinguistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgar de Wahl</span> Estonian educator, inventor of Interlingue

Edgar von Wahl was a Baltic German mathematics and physics teacher who lived in Tallinn, Estonia. He also used the pseudonym Julian Prorók, and is best known as the creator of Interlingue, an international auxiliary language that was known as Occidental throughout his life.

Esperanto and Interlingua are two planned languages with different approaches to the problem of providing an International auxiliary language (IAL). Esperanto has many more speakers; the number of speakers is c. 100,000-2,000,000. On the other hand, the number of speakers is c. 1,500 for Interlingua, but speakers of the language claim to be able to communicate easily with the c. 1 billion speakers of Romance languages, whereas Esperanto speakers can only communicate among each other.

Herbert Newhard Shenton was a professor of Sociology at Columbia University and later at Syracuse University in New York. He was executive secretary of the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA) from 1924 until his death in 1937. The interlinguistic work of IALA culminated in the publication of the Interlingua–English Dictionary and Interlingua Grammar in 1951. Through these historic works, IALA first presented Interlingua to the general public.

William Edward Collinson was a British linguist and, from 1914 to 1954, Chair of German at the University of Liverpool. Like Edward Sapir and Otto Jespersen, he collaborated with Alice Vanderbilt Morris to develop the research program of the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). From 1936 to 1939, he was Research Director of IALA. Under Collinson's guidance, methods of compiling international word material were tested at Liverpool. In 1939 IALA moved from Liverpool to New York and E. Clark Stillman succeeded Collinson as Research Director. Alexander Gode, editor of the first English-Interlingua dictionary published in 1951, remained in contact with Collinson which had collected much of linguistic material in the University of Liverpool.

The Interlingua–English Dictionary (IED), developed by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA) under the direction of Alexander Gode and published by Storm Publishers in 1951, is the world's first Interlingua dictionary. Its full title is Interlingua: A Dictionary of the International Language.

Novial was created as an international auxiliary language by Danish linguist Otto Jespersen, who introduced it to the world in 1928. Jespersen had previously been a co-author of Ido, which started to take form around 1907. Both languages base their vocabularies primarily on prominent Germanic and Romance languages, but differ grammatically in several important respects. Novial is more analytic in its grammar than Ido, and, in Jespersen's view, more natural.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constructed language</span> Consciously devised language

A constructed language is a language whose phonology, grammar, orthography, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction. A constructed language may also be referred to as an artificial, planned or invented language, or a fictional language. Planned languages are languages that have been purposefully designed; they are the result of deliberate, controlling intervention and are thus of a form of language planning.

Esperantology, or Esperantic studies, is a special Esperanto linguistics whose subjects are word construction, word assembly, word introduction and transcription of umbrella terms and proper names. Esperantology principles of word construction are exemplary of the principles of necessity and sufficiency which postulate a balance between conciseness and clarity of the word. Regarding word roots, esperantology sets these principles:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan-Romance language</span> Constructed language representing Romance languages

A pan-Romance language or Romance interlanguage is a codified linguistic variety which synthesizes the variation of the Romance languages and is representative of these as a whole. It can be seen as a standard language proposal for the whole language family but is generally considered a zonal constructed language because it's the result of intense codification. Zonal languages are, according to interlinguist Detlev Blanke, constructed languages which "arise by choosing or mixing linguistic elements in a language group".

Interlingue and Interlingua are constructed international auxiliary languages.

The constructed language Interlingue, originally known as Occidental, has a history spanning a century since its original publication by its creator Edgar de Wahl in 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alphonse Matejka</span> Swiss interlinguist (1902-1999)

Alphonse Matejka was a Swiss exports specialist and proponent of international auxiliary language. Born in St. Gallen to a Czech father and Swiss mother, he worked in the textiles and watchmaking industries, and lived much of his life in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Matejka is best known for his work in the international language movement; first supporting Ido, and later Occidental, he led numerous organisations in the fields, and authored several books teaching these languages. Matejka also helped to found the Center for Documentation and Study about the International Language.

Weltdeutsch was a proposal for a German-based zonal international auxiliary language by chemist and interlinguist Wilhelm Ostwald. Published in 1916 in Ostwald's Monistic Sunday Sermons, Weltdeutsch was a reflection of the advance of German nationalism during the First World War – Ostwald had long been a pacifist, being aligned with the German Monistic League founded by Ernst Haeckel.

Jules Meysmans was a Belgian stenographer and linguist, best known for coining the term interlinguistics. Meysmans invented his own shorthand system, one of several adaptations he made of existing systems. The founder of an institute for stenography, he was active in the international auxiliary language movement, supporting various projects throughout his life, including Volapük, Esperanto, Idiom Neutral, and Occidental.

References

  1. ↑ Federico Gobbo, Interlinguistics and Esperanto Studies in the new millennium, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication, 27 March 2015.
  2. ↑ Federico Gobbo, Interlinguistics in the 21st century: planned languages as a tool to learn linguistics by doing, University of Amsterdam, 24 March 2017.
  3. ↑ Věra Barandovská-Frank, "The Concept of Interlinguistics as an Object of Study" pp. 7–8 (abstract), 4th Interlinguistic Symposium 21–22 September 2017, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
  4. ↑ (eo) «Biografio de Jules Meysmans », Informilo por interlingvistoj, 2015, p. 14 (ISSN 1385-2191, online (PDF) archive)
  5. ↑ Federico Gobbo, Interlinguistics in the 21st century: new opportunities, new challenges, in : Information for Interlinguists, vol. 2, no. 5 (3/2018), p. 9 | ISSN 2521-7461 (PDF)
  6. ↑ Ilona Koutny, Interlinguistic Symposium, p. 212, JKI-12-2017[1] (pdf Archived 2021-01-09 at the Wayback Machine ).
  7. ↑ Planned languages are created by an intentional intellectual effort, usually with the aim of facilitating interlinguistic communication, but there are also interlanguages that have arisen spontaneously. These are called pidgin languages .
  8. ↑ The phenomenon of planned languages offers important insights into general linguistics and into planning language use at the international level.
  9. ↑ Yevgeniya Amis, ESF convenes symposium on Esperanto and Interlinguistics, Esperantic Studies Foundation,
  10. ↑ Mario Wandruszka: Interlinguistik: Umrisse einer neuen Sprachwissenschaft. ('Interlinguistics: Contours of a New Linguistic Discipline') Piper Verlag, 1982, ISBN   3-492-00314-1
  11. ↑ Jules Meysmans (1911-12): Une science nouvelle. In: Lingua Internationale (Bruxelles). 1, Nr. 8, 14-16.
  12. ↑ Herbert N. Shenton, Edward Sapir, Otto Jespersen (eds.): International Communication: A Symposium on the Language Problem. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London 1931.
  13. ↑ Valter Tauli (1968): Introduction to a theory of language planning. Uppsala: Almquist & Wiksells, S. 167.
  14. ↑ Hartmut Traunmüller: Conversational Maxims and Principles of Language Planning Archived 2010-10-31 at the Wayback Machine PERILUS XII, pp 25-47, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, 1991.
  15. ↑ Fians, Guilherme (2021). Esperanto Revolutionaries and Geeks: Language Politics, Digital Media and the Making of an International Community. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-84230-7. ISBN   978-3-030-84229-1. S2CID   245721938.
  16. ↑ Charles K. Bliss: International semantography: a non-alphabetical symbol writing readable in all languages Institute of Semantography, Sidney 1949
  17. ↑ William Tomkins: Universal Indian Sign Language of the Plains Indians of North America, San Diego, California, 1927.


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