An Historical Note: Interlingua S.Kayalar

1 An Historical Note: Interlingua S.Kayalar

2 An Historical Note: Interlingua S.Kayalar

3 An Historical Note: Interlingua S.Kayalar

4 An Historical Note: Interlingua S.Kayalar

5 An Historical Note: Interlingua S.Kayalar

Will Interlingua Smash the Language Barrier?

This universal language would destroy our modern Tower of Babel, a bottleneck for men seeking world peace.

By O. O. Binder

(published in Mechanix Illustrated, September, 1955)

SCIENTIA salta le barrieras de lingua. Now it reads — "Science leaps the bar- riers of language." Puzzling words? But look them over a moment — don’t they seem familiar, as if This is a sentence in Interlingua, the you almost knew the meaning? Well, you new universal language that is sweeping do! If you know Spanish, French or any the scientific world and holds promise of Romance language, you will have little catching on as a world language where all trouble reading it at first glance. prior tries failed. Enthusiastic scientists in most of the western world — Europe, But assume you’re the typical non-lin- North and South America — are now us- guist who knows only English, outside of ing it, plus groups in Israel, Japan, For- gesundeit, parlez-vous, and some choice mosa, Australia and India. Fifteen inter- swear-words in Kurdu you got from a national science journals are now pub- sailor. Look that phrase over again. lished regularly in Interlingua. Scientia — obviously 'science'. Salta Will Interlingua finally smash the Lan- will trouble you unless you know the guage Barrier? Will it penetrate the Babel Spanish or French root sauter — to leap. Curtain that has plagued humanity far Le barrieras — a noun, with the French longer and more unhappily than the Iron “the” becomes — the barriers. De — Curtain? Will our grandchildren learn In- French 'of'. Lingua — language. terlingua and be unable to understand En-

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glish, German, Russian, Siamese — any tongue of today? Le Discurso De Gettysburg It can happen — and should. Or at least, besides local languages, there Presentate al Dedication del Cemeterio Na- should be one universal speech known to tional de Gettysburg, le 19 de Novembre 1863 all, as a secondary tongue. per Abraham Lincoln The human race today is still a “bunch of foreigners” to one another. Too many peace-promoting ideas are lost interna- Octanta e septe annos retro nostre patres tionally when kicked around between dis- creava in iste continente un nove nation, con- cipite in libertate e dedicate al proposition que similar grammars, obscured in a semantic omne homines es create equal. fog. In world trade, businessmen must ei- ther learn half a dozen languages them- Nunc nos es implicate in un grande guerra civil a fin de probar si ille nation — o qualcun- selves or hire an expensive staff of trans- que nation — assi concipite e assi dedicate lators. pote longe durar. Nos es congregate in un grande campo de battalia de ille guerra. Nos Our modern Tower of Babel is a bottle- ha venite pro dedicar un portion de ille campo neck for human minds seeking common como ultime sito de reposo pro illes qui dava ground. Language groups may be as geo- lor vita a fin que iste nation poteva viver. II es graphically close as across a river, yet as integremente juste e appropriate que nos face far off as the moon in mutual understand- isto. ing. Hardly anyone can question the obvi- Sed in un senso plus vaste nos non pote ous benefits of one language, spoken by all dedicar, nos non pote consecrar, nos non pote the billions on our planet, so that anything sanctificar iste terra. Le homines valorose, said by anyone, anywhere, would be im- vive e morte, qui hic luctava, ha consecrate lo multo ultra nostre povre potentia de adder o mediately understood by everybody, every- detraher. Le mundo va a pena notar e non lon- where. ge memorar lo que nos hic dice, sed illo non pote unquam oblidar lo que illes ha hic facite. But finding an acceptable world lan- II incumbe, plus tosto, a nos, le vivos, esser de- guage is not easy. It has been tried before, dicate hic al labor non-terminate que illes qui some 300 times! hic luctava ha si nobilemente avantiate. II plus tosto incumbe a nos esser dedicate hic al Since the 1600’s at least, thinking grande labor que remane ante nos — que ab minds have tried to formulate a single lan- iste honorate mortos nos prende major devo- guage suitable to all. Many such lan- tion a ille causa pro le qual illes dava le ultime guages were laboriously worked out — plen mesura de devotion — que nos hic solem- Solresol, Lingualumina, Spokil, Volapuk, nemente resolve que iste mortos non va haber date lor vita in van, que iste nation, sub Deo, Ido, Occidental — only to become as dead va haber un nove nascentia de libertate, e que as Sanskrit. Esperanto, launched in 1887, le governamento del populo — per le populo e achieved the most success and still has ad- pro le populo — non va disparer del terra. herents in every corner of the globe. But it

7 An Historical Note: Interlingua S.Kayalar

has seemingly reached a stalemate, gain- What is the answer? ing little headway. The Interlingua pioneers found theirs Why did all such artificial lan- in a striking historical fact about human guages fall by the wayside? speech. All the Romance and Teutonic lan- guages of Europe today stem from a previ- This was the question the Interlingua ous mother tongue — Latin. This, in turn, founders asked themselves. Shrewdly, was an offshoot of an Indo-European they sensed that language is a personal tongue of antiquity that covered India, thing with every people. And by tradition, Persia, Greece and the Russias. All this our native tongue becomes a Sacred Cow embraces a gigantic mass of humans in that, despite its most glaring faults, we one language form, including half of Asia, hang onto stubbornly. A new streamlined all of Europe, the entire Americas, North language may be better but seems foreign, and South — well over half the world. to be mistrusted. This ready-made basic tongue of the For this reason, human nature being majority of mankind inspired Italian Pro- what it is, an even worse solution than in- fessor G. Peano, in 1903, to lay the vented languages was the suggestion to groundwork for Interlingua. Knowing it make the best existing language univer- senseless to revive the dead parent sal. Ah, but which is “best?” English is tongue, he ingeniously boiled down all its highly expressive — but with vile gram- modern derivatives to a speech structure mar and wild pronunciation. German is of the most common morphemes — root thorough, precise — but sounds hideous. meanings — that were on the “tip of the Spanish is melodious — but lacks a wide tongue” of some 1,500 million Occidentals. range of subtle meanings. And so on. All current languages have faults. None is However, Professor Peano did not sin- perfect. gle-handedly perfect Interlingua to what it is today. That long, hard job was carried But more significantly, any choice on by many devoted disciples. In 1924, In- would run head-on into national pride. terlingua got its real start when a far- Choosing French, for instance, would de- sighted conference of linguists, seeking an light 50 million Frenchmen but insult international language, chose Peano’s ba- 2,000 million others on Earth, for ignoring sic concept. The International Auxiliary their own “beautiful” and “superior” Language Association was formed to pro- tongue. A mass language strike would al- mote research and development on Inter- most certainly result, if any one language lingua. In 1953, the I ALA asked Science were declared official and rammed down Service — a non-profit organization famed people’s throats willy-nilly. for promoting science in the best public in- terests — to carry on with Interlingua. This is now being done from offices at 80 East 11th Street, New York City, under

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the able leadership of Alexander Gode, And the grammar! Ph.D., Chief of the Interlingua Division of Kids will cheer if Interlingua is ever Science Service. Incidentally, you may taught in schools. No confusing genders, write to Dr. Gode at that address for a free no complex case endings, no weird information kit on Interlingua. spellings, no fiendish exceptions to the In an illuminating interview, Dr. Gode rule. All fossil language customs are stated that Interlingua is not being pro- barred, notably the thee-thou anachro- moted as a possible world language. They nism which relates back to the days of no- believe it can serve as such some day, but bility and peasants, a concept defunct to- will not attempt to force it down the day. world’s gullet unless it is wanted. He be- A simplified grammar of just five pages lieves that its phenomenal success in the gives all the basic elements of Interlingua. science world points to its eventual Kids won’t cheer any louder than adults progress into other fields. over that. Why? Because it is a natural language, But here is perhaps the real stroke of not a manufactured one. It has existed in genius in Interlingua. It does use “unnec- basic form all along and has only been tai- essary” speech customs in certain in- lored to serve a practical purpose. And stances — like retaining different case that far from being rigidly set, Interlingua forms for “I, me, mine” and the other per- is a living, growing language, constantly sonal pronouns. Why? Because that uni- being changed and improved, following versal custom has been around for so only a few necessary basic rules. many centuries it is second-nature with us For example, pronunciation of any all. It is actually easier for us to use such word, old or new, is always according to mixed pronouns. Think how uncomfort- the majority of Romance-Teutonic speak- able we would be, saying: “Give it to I!” ers, or the Standard Average European. Just what is Interlingua? The special “th” sound, which occurs tongue-twistingly in English only, is At first glance it looks like Spanish or therefore not accepted since it is a minori- French or Italian. Or like a mixture of the ty form. three. Such Romance groups can read In- terlingua almost at a glance, only thinking Their dictionary of some 27,000 words it “funny Spanish” or “dialect French.” But need not be expanded, Dr. Gode says, for it it is also easy for an American or German forms the basis of Interlingua, from which to read at a second glance. Their eye soon all other added words can be easily de- meets roots that are English or German or rived by their simple system of word for- international already. mation. Any new word can be proposed for adoption from outside sources, at any time.

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Le articulo definite es “le” in omne across. The betting is good that it may be casos. the foundation for an evolving, living all- languages-in-one that may smash the Translation: “The definite article is ‘the’ Language Barrier some day. in all cases.” No, a world language will not insure a Le plural del substantivos se termina in future Utopia of human brotherhood. The “s” o “es”. sagacious Interlinguists, spearheaded by "The plurals of nouns (substantives) Dr. Gode, claim no exalted virtues other terminate in ’s’ or ‘es’." Really half-En- than having something of practical benefit glish, isn’t it? And actually a lot easier to in human communication. But as practical assimilate than Chaucerian English. Take things have a habit of doing, Interlingua a glance at this. may spread all by itself. Energia es necessari pro toto que oc- Dr. Gode said, very wisely I think, that curre in le mundo. Hodie carbon, petroleo, Interlingua cannot solve all world prob- aqua, e ligno nos da le grosso del fortia lems, only some. But that at least a world motor. Le calor e le lumine del sol — octo language would eliminate the tangle of minutas distante de nos in tempore de vi- multiple tongues which hinders the devel- age del radiation — es cosa vital. opment of a more peaceful and homoge- How many basic words do you know at nous human society. first glance? No less than 15, perhaps 20. A universal language, whether it be In- Try to guess at the meanings of other less terlingua or some other, can certainly help familiar words. As an experiment, work mankind toward the goal of becoming one out a rough translation, then compare it to big, happy family if every soul on earth in- this one. stantly understood this phrase, for in- “Energy is necessary for everything stance. . . that happens in the world. Today coal, oil, Salutationes ab un humano a omne water and wood give us our gross power. cohumanos in omne partes del mundo! The heat and light of the sun — eight min- You may not need the translation by utes away from us as measured by radia- now — tion’s travel time — is a matter of life.” “Greetings from one human being to all You can judge for yourself how simply my fellowmen around the world!” and smoothly Interlingua gets its message

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