Interlinguistics
Encyclopedia
Interlinguistics is the study of various aspects of linguistic communication between people who cannot make themselves understood by means of their different first language
s. 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 language
s, such as Esperanto
. 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
.
Among these interpretations, the first one is by far the most well established, while Mario Wandruszka had only the second one in mind
The term appears first to have been used in French (interlinguistique) by Jules Meysmans in 1911 in a text concerning international auxiliary language
s. 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”. 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
. 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.
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
(esperantologio).
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 considirable community of active speakers today. Here, the Bliss symbols (1949, Charles K. Bliss
) 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.
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 language
s 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).
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...
s. It is concerned with investigating how ethnic and auxiliary languages (lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
) work in such situations and with the possibilities of optimizing interlinguistic communication, for instance by use of international auxiliary language
International auxiliary language
An international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
s, such as Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
. 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
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
.
Field of studies
The term Interlinguistics can be interpreted in at least two ways:- Study of interlinguae, i.e., of interlanguages that serve for interlinguistic communication - not to be confused with the interim languageInterlanguageAn interlanguage is an emerging linguistic system that has been developed by a learner of a second language who has not become fully proficient yet but is approximating the target language: preserving some features of their first language , or overgeneralizing target language rules in speaking or...
s of language learners, which also came to be called ”interlanguages” by some authors. - 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
The term appears first to have been used in French (interlinguistique) by Jules Meysmans in 1911 in a text concerning international auxiliary language
International auxiliary language
An international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
s. It became more widely accepted subsequent to an address by the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen
Otto Jespersen
Jens Otto Harry Jespersen or Otto Jespersen was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language.He was born in Randers in northern Jutland and attended Copenhagen University, earning degrees in English, French, and Latin...
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”. 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
Ido
Ido is a constructed language created with the goal of becoming a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds as a language easier to learn than ethnic languages...
(1907), and by the International Auxiliary Language Association
International Auxiliary Language Association
The International Auxiliary Language Association was founded in 1924 to "promote widespread study, discussion and publicity of all questions involved in the establishment of an auxiliary language, together with research and experiment that may hasten such establishment in an intelligent manner and...
(IALA
IALA
IALA can stand for:*International Association for Learning Alternatives*International Association of Lighthouse Authorities *International Auxiliary Language Association...
), which developed Interlingua
Interlingua
Interlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
(1951).
Valter Tauli considered interlinguistics as a subdiscipline of language planning
Language planning
Language planning is a deliberate effort to influence the function, structure, or acquisition of languages or language variety within a speech community. It is often associated with government planning, but is also used by a variety of non-governmental organizations, such as grass-roots...
. The principles recommended by him for language planning
Language planning
Language planning is a deliberate effort to influence the function, structure, or acquisition of languages or language variety within a speech community. It is often associated with government planning, but is also used by a variety of non-governmental organizations, such as grass-roots...
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.
Most publications in the field of interlinguistics are, however, not so constructive, but rather descriptive
Descriptive linguistics
In the study of language, description, or descriptive linguistics, is the work of objectively analyzing and describing how language is spoken by a group of people in a speech community...
, comparative
Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness....
, historic, sociolinguistic
Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society...
, or concerned with translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
by humans or machines. As for Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
, which is the most widely used constructed interlanguage, there is a relatively abundant literature about the language itself and its philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
(esperantologio).
Only a few of the many constructed languages have been applied practically to any noteworthy extent. The most prosperous were Volapük
Volapük
Volapük is a constructed language, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Roman Catholic priest in Baden, Germany. Schleyer felt that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. Volapük conventions took place in 1884 , 1887 and 1889 . The first two conventions used...
(1879, Johann Martin Schleyer
Johann Martin Schleyer
Martin Schleyer was a German Catholic priest who invented the constructed language Volapük. His official name was "Martin Schleyer"; he added the name "Johann" unofficially....
), Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
(1887 Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof), Latino sine flexione
Latino sine Flexione
Latino sine flexione , or Peano’s Interlingua , is an international auxiliary language invented by the Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano in 1903. It is a simplified version of Latin, and retains its vocabulary...
(1903, Giuseppe Peano
Giuseppe Peano
Giuseppe Peano was an Italian mathematician, whose work was of philosophical value. The author of over 200 books and papers, he was a founder of mathematical logic and set theory, to which he contributed much notation. The standard axiomatization of the natural numbers is named the Peano axioms in...
), Ido
Ido
Ido is a constructed language created with the goal of becoming a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds as a language easier to learn than ethnic languages...
(1907, Louis Couturat
Louis Couturat
Louis Couturat was a French logician, mathematician, philosopher, and linguist.-Life:Born in Ris-Orangis, Essonne, France, he was educated in philosophy and mathematics at the École Normale Supérieure...
), Occidental-Interlingue (1922, Edgar de Wahl
Edgar de Wahl
Edgar von Wahl or Edgar de Wahl was a teacher and creator of the language Occidental...
) and Interlingua
Interlingua
Interlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
(1951, IALA
IALA
IALA can stand for:*International Association for Learning Alternatives*International Association of Lighthouse Authorities *International Auxiliary Language Association...
and Alexander Gode
Alexander Gode
Alexander Gottfried Friedrich Gode-von Aesch or simply Alexander Gode was a German-American linguist, translator and the driving force behind the creation of the auxiliary language Interlingua.-Biography:Born to a German father and a Swiss mother, Gode studied at the University of Vienna and the...
), with Esperanto being the only one still gathering a considirable community of active speakers today. Here, the Bliss symbols (1949, Charles K. Bliss
Charles K. Bliss
Charles K. Bliss was a chemical engineer and semiotician, inventor of Blissymbolics. He was born in Austria, and got the Australian citizenship.-Early life:...
) 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spontaneous | Russenorsk and others | Tok Pisin Tok Pisin Tok Pisin is a creole spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an official language of Papua New Guinea and the most widely used language in that country... and other stabilized pidgins |
Chinese Writing (used interlinguistically) | Plains Indian Sign Language Plains Indian Sign Language The Plains Indian sign languages are various manually coded languages used, or formerly used, by various Native Americans of the Great Plains of the United States of America and Canada... |
|
| Constructed | Damin Damin Damin was a ceremonial language register used by the advanced initiated men of the Lardil and the Yangkaal tribes in Aboriginal Australia. Both inhabit islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Lardil on Mornington Island, the largest island of the Wesley Group, and the Yangkaal and Forsyth Islands... (not interlinguistic) |
Esperanto Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887... and others |
Bliss symbols and other pasigraphies Pasigraphy A pasigraphy is a writing system where each written symbol represents a concept rather than a word or sound or series of sounds in a spoken language. The aim is to be intelligible to persons of all languages... |
Gestuno (for the deaf) | Solresol Solresol Solresol is an artificial language devised by François Sudre, beginning in 1827. He published his major book on it, Langue musicale universelle, in 1866, though he had already been publicizing it for some years... |
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 language
Philosophical language
A philosophical language is any constructed language that is constructed from first principles, like a logical language, but may entail a strong claim of absolute perfection or transcendent or even mystical truth rather than satisfaction of pragmatic goals...
s of the 17th century, Solresol
Solresol
Solresol is an artificial language devised by François Sudre, beginning in 1827. He published his major book on it, Langue musicale universelle, in 1866, though he had already been publicizing it for some years...
and the logical languages of the 20th century, such as Loglan
Loglan
Loglan is a constructed language originally designed for linguistic research, particularly for investigating the Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis. The language was developed beginning in 1955 by Dr James Cooke Brown with the goal of making a language so different from natural languages that people learning...
and Lojban
Lojban
See also discussed by Arthur Protin, Bob LeChevalier, Carl Burke, Doug Landauer, Guy Steele, Jack Waugh, Jeff Prothero, Jim Carter, and Robert Chassell, as well as , the concepts which "average English speakers won't recognize" because most of them "have no exact English counterpart".Like most...
. Spontaneously arisen Interlanguages are necessarily a posteriori or iconic (using imaging or imitating signs).