Interlinguistics

Interlinguistics is the study of various aspects of linguistic communication. It is concerned with investigating how ethnic and auxiliary languages (lingua franca) work in such situations and with the possibilities of optimizing interlinguistic communication, for instance by use of international auxiliary languages, such as Esperanto or Interlingua. These are languages that 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. The term was first coined in French (Interlinguistique) by the Belgian Esperantist Jules Meysmans.[1]

The main historical periods of Interlinguistics are : first, the pioneer era (1879 - 1911), when its basis was put forth; secondly, the foundational era (1911 - 1951), when the interlinguistics wars took place to decide the most appropriate form of an auxiliary language; thirdly, the school era (1951-1990), when independent Interlinguistics schools formed in different countries, mainly Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland, each with particular attention to Esperanto; lastly, the current era of language policy (1990 - today), during which interlinguistics is more tightly integrated with other disciplines, mainly linguistics and various social and political sciences, particularly via the topics of globalism, linguistic justice, management of multilingualism, and new forms of mobility.[2]

Field of studies

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.[3]

The term appears first to have been used in French (interlinguistique) by Jules Meysmans in 1911 in a text concerning international auxiliary languages.[4] 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”.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]

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 only one still gathering a considerable community of active speakers today. Here, the Bliss symbols (1949, Charles K. Bliss)[8] 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 only Spoken and written language Written language only Gestural language Multimedial language
SpontaneousRussenorsk and othersTok Pisin and other stabilized pidginsClassical Chinese (used interlinguistically)Plains Indian Sign Language[9]Silbo gomero and other whistled languages
ConstructedDamin (not interlinguistic)Esperanto and othersBliss symbols and other pasigraphiesGestuno (for the deaf)Solresol

Among constructed languages, it is usual to distinguish between a priori languages and a posteri 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

  • Gode, Alexander, Interlingua: A Dictionary of the International Language. New York: Storm Publishers, 1951.
  • Interlinguistic Standardization, Historia de Interlingua, 2001, revised 2006.
  • Jespersen, Otto, Interlinguistics, International Communication, 1931.
  • Schubert, Klaus (Ed.): Interlinguistics. Aspects of the Science of Planned Languages. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1989.
  • Кузнецов, С.Н. (1987). Теоретические основы интерлингвистики. Москва: Издательство Университета дружбы народов. [Kuznetsov, S.N. (1987). Theoretical Foundations of Interlinguistics. Moscow: University of peoples friendship]
  • David J. Peterson. (2015), The art of language invention: From horse-lords to dark elves, the words behind the world-building, New York: Penguin.292 p

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ (eo) «Biografio de Jules Meysmans », Informilo por interlingvistoj, 2015, p. 14 (ISSN 1385-2191, online (PDF) archive)
  2. ↑ 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)
  3. ↑ Mario Wandruszka: Interlinguistik: Umrisse einer neuen Sprachwissenschaft. (’Interlinguistics: Contours of a New Linguistic Discipline’) Piper Verlag, 1982, ISBN 3-492-00314-1
  4. ↑ Jules Meysmans (1911-12): Une science nouvelle. In: Lingua Internationale (Bruxelles). 1, Nr. 8, 14-16.
  5. ↑ Herbert N. Shenton, Edward Sapir, Otto Jespersen (eds.): International Communication: A Symposium on the Language Problem. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London 1931.
  6. ↑ Valter Tauli (1968): Introduction to a theory of language planning. Uppsala: Almquist & Wiksells, S. 167.
  7. ↑ Hartmut Traunmüller: Conversational Maxims and Principles of Language Planning PERILUS XII, pp 25-47, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, 1991.
  8. ↑ Charles K. Bliss: International semantography: a non-alphabetical symbol writing readable in all languages Institute of Semantography, Sidney 1949
  9. ↑ William Tomkins: Universal Indian Sign Language of the Plains Indians of North America, San Diego, California, 1927.
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