Multilingualism is not entirely compatible with
the need for global communication. Even an expert
polyglot can master no more than a tiny fraction
of the thousands of languages and dialects on
offer. An International Auxiliary Language would
eliminate the necessity for learning more than
two languages - one's mother tongue and the IAL -
thereby sustaining minority languages, since the
current imperative to learn only major languages
in order to reach the largest amount of
information and the maximum number of people
would be absent. An IAL would therefore enhance
linguistic diversity. Moreover, minority
languages - indeed, all languages - would be
empowered and encouraged to contribute to the
co-evolving IAL. If all world languages
contribute to the IAL, aggrandizement of major
languages at the expense of minor should slowly
come to a halt, and even reverse as the IAL
co-evolves.
Even an expert polyglot can master no more than a
tiny fraction of the thousands of languages and
dialects. Moreover, the realities of
multilingualism have often proven inimical to
linguistic diversity: presented with alternative
languages, most people have naturally chosen the
most popular, so as to access the greatest amount
of knowledge and maximize commercial and
educational possibilities for themselves and
their children. As a result, over half the
world's population has come to speak one of
fifteen major languages and many minority ethnic
tongues are close to extinction.
Linguists have long recognized this trend, and
some have responded by attempting to preserve
threatened languages via state subsidy.
Unfortunately, this approach has had poor
results. This may be due in part to problems of
dual linguistic loyalty: many people retain an
intense attachment to their own ethnic origins,
and might therefore welcome the preservation of
their indigenous languages -- but not to the
extent of being cut them off from linguistic
access to the wider world and modern
civilization. The World Language Process (WLP)
may help to ameliorate this problem by promoting
facilitated co-evolution of the International
Auxiliary Language (IAL).
This process would likely involve a scaffolding
of English/WE. Co-evolution of the IAL would be
facilitated (and perhaps accelerated) by tools
including the Internet, the One Laptop Per Child
program (OLPC), and corpus linguistic analysis of
the emergent IAL. The process could also be
facilitated by application of scientifically
formulated linguistic principles. If successful,
the WLP would protect multilingualism and
minority languages by gradually removing the
necessity to learn more than two languages - the
mother tongue and this IAL.
If this paradigm is valid, minority ethnic
tongues might be revivified, not through subsidy
and perceived weakness, but rather through
indigenous pride, given that international
contact could now take place through a neutral
IAL, rather than through linguistic subservience
to a major language and its culture. Moreover,
minority languages - indeed, all languages -
would be empowered and encouraged to contribute
to the co-evolving IAL. If all world languages
can contribute to the IAL, aggrandizement of
major languages at the expense of minor should
slowly come to a halt, and even reverse as the
IAL co-evolves.
The apparent failure of constructed languages
such as Esperanto suggests that facilitated
co-evolution using a scaffolding of living
languages is a more plausible process. .
Moreover, the historic development of certain
pidgins suggests a linguistically proven process
by which evolution of an IAL might occur. The
historic process of jargon -> pidgin ->
vernacular implies that a successful IAL may
evolve gradually, from simplicity to complexity,
mirroring childhood linguistic development.
The World Language Process seeks to replicate and
facilitate this proven process on the global
scale, exploiting current demand for inner-circle
English and World Englishes. (WE). The
influential status of English/WE are clear, as
are the theoretical economic and cultural
benefits of learning the language currently
functioning as the de facto language for global
communication. For this reason, in one WLP
paradigm, co-evolution could proceed with
surprising rapidity with English/WE as the
primary "scaffold" of a "global pidgin IAL"
becoming a more complex IAL.
NGO Coalition for an International Auxiliary Language
Email: language@webpal.org
Title of Presentation:
Implementation and Dissemination
of an International Auxiliary Language: Essential Factors
Summary:
Rapid global changes may make mass use of an IAL highly desirable or
necessary, and "traditional" teaching methods are inadequate to the task.
Fortunately, as will be demonstrated, new electronic technologies, new
pedagogical methodologies, and an expanded
understanding of language itselfhave now appeared
so that a solution is possible. As for a
technically satisfactory language, broad
agreement exists within the IAL movement that
certain features should be incorporated,
including: 1) words from many different
languages; 2) the simplest possible grammatical
rules, with no exceptions; 3) no synonyms; 4) no
linguistic genders 5) a regular orthography, with
no extra or silent letters; 6) a universal
script. The details, however, will still have to
be worked out in broad consensus with expert
committees having delegated international
authority.
Proposal: :
The concept of an International Auxiliary
Language, centuries old, is perhaps best known
because of Esperanto. However, even after 120
years
Esperanto has achieved neither widespread popular
acceptance nor the support of international
governmental agreements needed to promote its
expansion.
A major appeal of Esperanto has been its declaration of neutrality and
non-identification with any race, nation, class,
creed or political movement. As a result, this
constructed language has been able to appeal to
universalist goals of global communication and well-being, of peace and
unity. These goals are laudable and important, but social and technological
events unimaginable at time of the inception of Esperanto, over a century
ago, have now appeared and some kind of facilitated co-evolution of one or
more natural languages seems more plausible at this stage. In any event,
implementation of an IAL will require a pro-active approach in order to
ensure global acceptance and mutual intelligibility.
Rapid global changes may make mass use of an IAL highly desirable or
necessary, and "traditional" teaching methods are inadequate to the task.
Fortunately, as will be demonstrated, new electronic technologies, new
pedagogical methodologies, and an expanded
understanding of language itselfhave now appeared
so that a solution is possible.
As for a technically satisfactory language, broad agreement exists within
the IAL movement that certain features should be
incorporated, including: 1) words from many
different languages; 2) the simplest possible
grammatical rules, with no exceptions; 3) no
synonyms; 4) no linguistic genders 5) a regular
orthography, with no extra or silent letters; 6)
a universal script. The details, however, will
still have to be worked out in broad consensus
with expert committees having delegated
international authority.
The need for a single universal script might be questioned. After all, the
basic phonology of an inaugural IAL (5 vowels, 19
- 22 consonants, say) would be contained within
the great majority of existing orthographies.
This would allow IAL words to be transliterated
and pronounced correctly by most peoples.
However, there would still be a visual problem:
for instance, even perfectly trans-literable
airport signs would be of limited use to those
faced with an unfamiliar script. Ergo, a single
global script is arguably going to be necessary
too - and one that is compatible with both
cursive handwriting and modern technology.
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Presenters
Dr. Steven Bett
Founder of the Phonology Forum
SSS director and editor
stbett@yahoo.com
Dr. Bett has moderated international discussion
groups on writing systems, phonology, and graphic
design since retiring as a professor of mass
communications. He edits the journal for the UK
based spelling society which has been promoting
the study of the orthographic depth and literacy
for nearly 100 years. Members of this
organization believe that greater regularity in
graphic representation can accelerate literacy.
Dr. Bett is associated with the forthcoming PBS
series titled CHILDREN OF THE CODE.
Program Title: :Advances in the representation of meaning and sound and
implications for design of a universal auxiliary language
Summary:
In progress
Proposal:
In Progress
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Presenters
Antony Alexander
Long time linguistic theorist for the WLP.
Presenter at The Cardiff 2005
Language and Global Communications Conference
Wales, United Kingdom
Email: aita@langx.org
Title of Presentation:
An International Auxiliary Language (IAL) Hierarchy as Guarantor
of Freedom of Expression
Summary (revised 13/12/07):
Childhood language acquisition, as reflected in
regional IAL developments from jargons through
pidgins to vernaculars, constitutes a yet-untried
model for a global IAL. Moreover, the fear that
an elementary IAL would curtail the range of
human thought and expression, as per the
"Newspeak" or "strong" Sapir-Whorf hypothesis,
might be annulled by the gradual incorporation of
speech registers as found in major languages, in
addition to the safeguard of the IAL's auxiliary
status: http://langx.org
Proposal (revised 13/12/07):
The normal process of language acquisition,
whether in childhood or adulthood, follows a path
through speech sounds, simple words and grammar
to more complex constructions, and finally to an
ability to use language creatively. Historic
regional international auxiliary language (IAL)
developments have been shown to follow a similar
pattern, which has been termed the jargon ->
pidgin -> vernacular progression (JPVP).
Following this established precedent, the World
Language Process proposes a congruent process on
a larger scale and in modern times - there being
no inherent reason why a latter-day reprise
should not inaugurate and foster a thriving
global IAL around the planet. Indeed, it might be
argued that previous attempts to formulate a
global IAL have faltered inasmuch as they have
failed to follow the JPVP route. Esperanto, for
instance, is "regular and rational" compared to
existing languages but noticeably lacks the
simple pidgin-type "entry level" version that
might have made its fairly complex synthetic
grammar more palatable, especially to peoples
from certain countries. Conversely there are very
basic IALs which lack the internal capacity to
develop according to the JPVP model.
This situation has perhaps arisen through a
misconception that language is a mundane
phenomenon entirely within the political
province: putative IALs have therefore been
constructed as "improved" versions of existing
languages, with a view to official acceptance and
promotion. However, the real advantages of the
constructed IAL concept have not necessarily
revealed themselves in such a beauty parade,
given that an incipient language is a process of
development rather than a finished product.
A scientific approach would therefore evaluate
comparisons with existing languages according to
the unique diachronicity and function of an IAL.
In this context, other languages would be
potential sources of material rather than rivals.
The use of speech registers a good example -
major languages employing a number of registers
from acrolect to basilect, at least some of which
are familiar to most speakers. Thus, IAL learners
might use several registers - the higher
mesolects being increasingly provisional - while
keeping all general public utterances and
writings within the basilect, as a sign of good
international manners. Correspondingly, the
Official IAL might start at the basilect level in
the hierarchy and then gradually move upwards, as
I have explained at http://langx.org
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Presenters
T. Peter Park
Life-long private student of languages and
linguistics
MA (1965) and PhD (1970)
in Modern European History
from the University of Virginia
active member of the IAL list
and a number of other e-mail discussion lists
Email: tpeterpark@erols.com
Title of Presentation:
Proto-World Languages and
Pidgins/Creoles as IAL Models.
Summary:
Historical reconstructive linguistics, the
Platonic sound-symbolism hypothesis, and
researches into pidgin & creole languages may
offer promising clues to constructing a workable
International Auxiliary Language (IAL).
Proposal:
Historically, IALs have been either à posteriori
(based on existing natural languages) or à priori
(arbitrarily invented words/morphemes and
grammars constructed on purely logical
principles). The better-known à posteriori IALs
like Esperanto have mostly been based on the
principal European languages-a feature
increasingly considered culturally parochial and
politically unacceptable. Some late 20th century
IALs like Loglan and Lojban have tried to correct
this by using lexical input from major
non-Western languages like Chinese, Hindi,
Japanese, and Arabic, and grammar based on
predicate logic but somewhat resembling Chinese.
However, a promising new basis for an IAL is also
suggested by researches into the earliest human
language(s), natural linguistic sound-symbolism,
and pidgins/creoles. Most existing languages -
but more especially creole vernaculars
intuitively developed from pidgins - have been
shown to use this psychological sound-symbolism
suggesting qualities of emotion, intensity, size,
texture, contrast etc. - as recommended for
Greek 2400 years ago by Plato in the dialogue
Cratylus.
Three dogmas dominated 19th and 20th century
linguistics. First, the world's languages were
regarded as belonging to many unrelated families,
with no possibility of reconstructing the
original proto-language. Secondly, the words of
human languages were considered completely
arbitrary outside a few imitative words like
"splash" or "bow-wow". Finally, pidgins and
creoles were seen as crude, makeshift "baby-talk"
versions of European languages like English or
French.
However, these dogmas have been increasingly
challenged. Trombetti (1905), Swadesh (1971),
Ruhlen (1994) et al have amassed evidence for the
descent of all languages from a "Proto-World"
language spoken 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, and
have reconstructed a "Proto-World" vocabulary.
Jespersen (1921) and Swadesh (1971) extended and
confirmed Plato's Cratylus suggestion of a
natural sound-symbolism. Bickerton (1981, 1983,
1990) has shown creoles to have consistent,
logical, well-developed though simple structures,
somewhat resembling Chinese, similar throughout
the world and possibly suggestive of the
structures of early human languages.
A viable IAL would incorporate these insights.
Its core vocabulary might be based on
reconstructed "Proto-World," incorporating
natural sound-symbolism. It might have a
Chinese-like structure similar to the creoles,
and also a simple phonology resembling Japanese
or Spanish.
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Presenters
