Zonal auxiliary language

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Zonal auxiliary languages, or zonal constructed languages, are constructed languages made to facilitate communication between speakers of a certain group of closely related languages. They form a subgroup of the international auxiliary languages but are intended to serve a limited linguistic or geographic area, rather than the whole world like Esperanto and Volapük. Although most zonal auxiliary languages are based on European language families, they should not be confused with "Euroclones", a somewhat derogatory term for languages intended for global use but based (almost) exclusively on European material. Since universal acceptance is not the goal for zonal auxiliary languages, the traditional claims of neutrality and universalism, typical for IALs, do not apply. Although they may share the same internationalist commitments of the latter, zonal auxiliary languages have also been proposed as a defense against the effects of the growing hegemony of English on other cultures or as a means to promote a sense of ethnicity or community in a manner similar to revitalized languages, such as Modern Hebrew and Cornish. [1] Related concepts are koiné language, a dialect that naturally emerges as a means of communication among speakers of divergent dialects of a language, and Dachsprache, a dialect that serves as a standard language for other, sometimes mutually unintelligible, dialects. The difference is that a zonal language is typically a mixture of several natural languages and is aimed to serve as an auxiliary for the speakers of different but related languages of the same family. [2]

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Most zonal constructed languages were developed during the period of romantic nationalism at the end of the 19th century, but some were created later. Most older zonal constructed languages are now known only to specialists. A modern example is Interslavic, which has become the most successful example of all zonal constructed languages. [3]

Pan-Slavic languages

Most numerous among the zonal auxiliary languages are, by far, Pan-Slavic languages. The oldest known example is Ruski jezik (1665) by the Croatian priest Juraj Križanić, who is often regarded as the first recorded Pan-Slavist. Other notable examples of early Pan-Slavic language projects are Universalis Lingua Slavica by Ján Herkeľ (1826), Uzajemni Pravopis Slavjanski by the Slovene Matija Majar (1865), Neuslawisch by the Czech Ignac Hošek (1907) and Slavina by the Czech Josef Konečný (1912). Until the beginning of the 20th century, all projects were characterized by a heavily naturalistic grammar, based directly or indirectly on Old Church Slavonic. Their authors were motivated by the belief that all Slavic languages were dialects of one single Slavic language rather than separate languages. They deplored the fact that these dialects had diverged beyond mutual comprehensibility, and the language they envisioned was intended to reverse this process. Their long-term objective was that it would replace the individual Slavic languages. [4]

Naturalistic projects have been created later as well. Notable examples are Mežduslavjanski jezik, an unpublished project from the years 1954–1958 by a team of Czech interlinguists; Slovianski, a collaborative project started in 2006; and Novosloviensky, based on Old Church Slavonic and published in 2010 by the Czech Vojtěch Merunka. [5] In 2011, Slovianski and Novosloviensky merged into one common project under the name Interslavic (Medžuslovjansky), also incorporating material from older naturalistic projects. [6]

Most naturalistic projects are so similar that they can easily be considered versions of the same language. During the 20th century, however, a few schematic projects have emerged as well, such as Slovanština (Edmund Kolkop, 1912), Neposlava (Vsevolod Cheshikhin, 1915), Slavski jezik (Bohumil Holý, 1920) and Slovio (Mark Hučko, 1999). [7] These projects aim at radical simplification of the grammar, often combining Slavic vocabulary with Esperanto grammar.

Pan-Germanic languages

Languages for Pan-Germanic use have been created as well. Examples include Tutonish, a Pan-Germanic project by Elias Molee (1902), which was intended to be an auxiliary language at first but to eventually supplant all other Germanic languages; Euronord, an effort by A.J. Pilgrim (1965); and Folkspraak, a heterogeneous project consisting of various dialects, started in 1995.[ citation needed ]

Pan-Romance languages

Many international auxiliary languages intended for global use consist exclusively or predominantly of Latin and/or Romance material, like Latino sine flexione, Neolatino by André Schild (1947), Internacional by João Evangelista Campos Lima (1948), Interlingua (IALA), Latino Moderne by David Th. Stark (1996), Interlingue, and Lingua Franca Nova, which makes it hard to distinguish them from Pan-Romance languages. Some languages, however, have been presented explicitly as languages for use among (or with) Romance speakers, for example Romanid, Romanova by David Crandall and Robert W. Hubert (2000), Interlingua Romanica by Richard Sorfleet and Josu Lavin (2001), Romance Neolatino by a group of linguists led by Jordi Cassany Bates (2012) and Latino Interromanico by Raymund Zacharias and Thiago Sanctus (2017).

Other zonal constructed languages

Apart from these Indo-European examples, there have also been attempts on other language families:

Some linguists, such as Alan Reed Libert, also list languages for use by speakers of unrelated languages in a particular geographical area among the zonal languages. [8] For example:

See also

Related Research Articles

Dialect refers to two distinctly different types of linguistic relationships.

<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 hundreds of millions of people who speak Romance languages, though it is actively spoken by only a few hundred.

<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 without conscious planning or premeditation. It can take different forms, namely 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.

A naturalistic planned language is a constructed language specifically devised to reproduce the commonalities in morphology and vocabulary from a group of closely related languages, usually with the idea that such a language will be easier to use passively – in many cases, without prior study – by speakers of one or more languages in the group.

An international auxiliary language is a language meant for communication between people from all 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.

A lingua franca, also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups of people who do not share a native language or dialect, particularly when it is a third language that is distinct from both of the speakers' native languages.

Europanto is a macaronic language concept with a fluid vocabulary from European languages of the user's choice or need. It was conceived in 1996 by Diego Marani based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many European languages. Marani used it in response to the perceived dominance of the English language; it is an emulation of the effect that non-native speakers struggling to learn a language typically add words and phrases from their native language to express their meanings clearly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutual intelligibility</span> Closeness of linguistic varieties

In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an important criterion for distinguishing languages from dialects, although sociolinguistic factors are often also used.

Interlinguistics, also known as cosmoglottics, as the science of planned languages has existed for more than a century. 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.

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.

A modern language is any human language that is currently in use as a native language. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication and dead classical languages such as Latin and Classical Chinese, which are studied for their cultural and linguistic value. SIL Ethnologue defines a living language as "one that has at least one speaker for whom it is their first language".

A language barrier is a figurative phrase used primarily to refer to linguistic barriers to communication, i.e. the difficulties in communication experienced by people or groups originally speaking different languages, or even dialects in some cases.

Ido and Interlingua are two constructed languages created in the 20th century, Ido circa 1910 and Interlingua circa 1940. Both have had some measure of success, but Interlingua has enjoyed greater diffusion and acceptance by public and private institutions—it is taught in many high schools and universities, for example. Ido was developed by a small committee from Reformed Esperanto, whereas Interlingua was developed from scratch by an American organization, the IALA.

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

A constructed language is a language whose phonology, grammar, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan-Slavic language</span> Type of constructed language

A pan-Slavic language is a zonal auxiliary language for communication among the Slavic peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan-Germanic language</span>

A pan-Germanic language is a zonal auxiliary language designed for communication amongst speakers of Germanic languages. Many of them are very similar and overlap in their approach but they are mutually inconsistent in their orthography, phonology, and vocabulary.

<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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interslavic</span> Pan-Slavic language

Interslavic is a pan-Slavic auxiliary language. Its purpose is to facilitate communication between speakers of various Slavic languages, as well as to allow people who do not speak a Slavic language to communicate with Slavic speakers by being mutually intelligible with most, if not all, Slavic languages. For Slavs and non-Slavs, it can be used for educational purposes as well.

Interlingue and Interlingua are constructed international auxiliary languages.

References

  1. ↑ Yoo, Christopher S. (2021). "What Is the Relationship Between Language and Thought?: Linguistic Relativity and its Implications for Copyright". Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law. Faculty Scholarship of Penn Law: 46–48. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  2. ↑ Knežević, Nenad (2018). "Constructed languages in the whirlwind of the digital revolution". Језик, књижевност и технологија (Jezik, književnost i tehnologija) / Language, Literature and Technology: Proceedings from the Sixth International Conference at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, 19–20 May 2017. Алфа БК универзитет (Alfa BK univerzitet): 11. ISBN   978-86-6461-023-0 . Retrieved 5 June 2022– via ResearchGate.
  3. ↑ Chhiong-Ek Lu (2021), p. 113.
  4. ↑ Anna-Maria Meyer (2014). Wiederbelebung einer Utopie. Probleme und Perspektiven slavischer Plansprachen im Zeitalter des Internets (Bamberger Beiträge zur Linguistik 6) (in German). Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press. p. 86. ISBN   978-3-86309-233-7.
  5. ↑ "neoslavonic language tutorial". Neoslavonic.org. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "A Short History of Interslavic". Steen.free.fr. 12 May 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  7. ↑ Meyer, p. 158.
  8. ↑ Alan Reed Libert (2018). "Artificial languages". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.11. ISBN   978-0-19-938465-5 . Retrieved 4 August 2021.

Literature

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