1 ICD 5 co SU>G 30 A Short History of the Inter- national Language Movement A SHORT HISTORY OF THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE MOVEMENT BY ALBERT LEON GUERARD S' Q i 'j ' cD BONI AND LIVERIGHT PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Printed in Great Britain (All Rights Reserved) A THERINA GVERARD Mfatis suce XI Mignonnefee aux yeux d'aurore, Donne-moi ta petite main. Tu ne saurais comprendre encore chemin. Quel rive eclaire mon cuirasse Tu Vapprendras : sous leur A Veclat brutal et trompeur, de race Orgueil de caste, orgueil Les hommes sont ivres de peur. Malgre le fracas des armures, cru saisir Seul, dans la nuit, j'ai Un bruissement dans les ramures, Frisson d'espoir et de desir. Chassant la peur, chassant la haine, Tu souriras sur les sommets, Aube de justice sereine, Que mes yeux ne verront jamais ! la Qu'importe ? J'ai transmis flamme. ma Qu'importe ? J'ai vecu /oi. Chair de ma chair, fteur de mon dme, Prends done ce livre : il est pour toi. SAN FRANCISCO. 16 AoOt. 1921. CONTENTS PAGE FOREWORD : THE PROBLEM 9 PART I NATURAL LANGUAGES I. FRENCH 17 II. ENGLISH 34 III. AN ANGLO-FRENCH CONDOMINIUM . 45 IV. LATIN 57 PAET II ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGES I. THE ARTIFICIAL ELEMENT IN LANGUAGE 71 " " II. PHILOSOPHICAL LANGUAGES . 82 III. VOLAPUK 96 IV. ESPERANTO: INCEPTION AND STRUCTURE OF THE LANGUAGE .... 107 V. HISTORY OF THE ESPERANTO MOVEMENT . 116 VI. THE NEO-ROMANIC GROUP : IDIOM NEU- TRAL, PANROMAN, ETC. 133 VII. THE DELEGATION FOR THE ADOPTION OF AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE IDO . 145 VIII. LATINO SINE FLEXIONE. ACADEMIA PRO INTERLINGUA. THE ANGLO-LATIN GROUP 161 7 8 CONTENTS PART III TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW CHAPTER PAQK I. UNPARTISAN EFFORTS AND THE CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS 177 II. ANTICIPATIONS 194 APPENDICES I. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES : 1. GENERAL 211 2. ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGES AND PHILO- LOGY 213 II. A TENTATIVE LIST OF ARTIFICIAL LAN- GUAGE PROJECTS .... 216 III. A CRITICAL COMPARISON OF ESPERANTO, IDO, INTERLINGUA, AND EOMANAL . 220 INDEX 261 FOREWORD: THE PROBLEM THE world, in this third decade of the twentieth century, offers a tragic contrast. On the one hand, material obstacles between the remotest parts of the earth are fast crumbling down. On the other, there have never been deeper chasms between race and race, or between nation and nation. Science is universal in its principles and in its results, in its international in its cosmopolitan personnel, " activities. It would be ludicrous to speak of French " " astronomy or American mathematics." The appli- cations of science to industry have radically transformed the conditions of life. The world is larger to-day than it more was a hundred years ago, and infinitely complex ; but it is also infinitely more cohesive. The heart of Asia, Africa, South America, can now be reached in a railroad car is flashed from continent to ; intelligence continent in less time than, a century ago, news could be carried by the swiftest messenger to a neighbouring city. Thus the interdependence or solidarity of nations has become an actual fact rather than an ideal. Railroads, steamships, telegraphs, wireless stations, have made the whole world immediately sensitive to everything that happens anywhere on its surface : they have created a universal consciousness the inevitable forerunner of a universal conscience. These considerations are commonplace enough : we trust that their natural consequences will seem no less obvious. We should work in the sense of this evolution, 9 10 FOKEWOKD: THE PROBLEM and, by helping it, help ourselves. Reverse the current we cannot, and would not if we could. Instead of straining our futile efforts against the stream, why not consciously add our forces to the forces of nature, and steer instead of drifting ? Organization, for the preven- tion of waste and is the order of the and conflict, day ; organization, to be fully efficient, must be worldwide in its scope. The organization of the world is the task now before us. The scientific organization of the world, international research foundations bureaux through and ; the economic organization of the world, through the increased efficiency of transportation and finance, through the proper adjustment of labour laws and custom tariffs the of the ; sanitary organization world, for the out of diseases the stamping contagious ; judicial organization of the world, for substituting law to violence as between and between people and people, man man ; the religious organization of the world, through its evangelization in the true spirit of Christ and the abolition of sectarian strife : multiform aspects of the same cause, all bound together and helping one another. An immense and glorious task indeed, the like of which was never offered to men before. But, whilst this great task of organizing the world lies before us, what do we see ? The leaders of European culture at last from the throes of war devasta- escaping ; tion on an scale a holocaust of millions unexampled ; ; and, worse than bloodshed or arson, a sowing broadcast of hatred lasting and bitter, of which our children and their children after them will taste the fruit : all that in the name of civilization. Whilst Christianity, science, industry, democracy, social reform, are making the world increasingly one, a wrong conception of national honour and of national culture tears it apart. And if we look closely into the causes of the conflict, we find that they were not strictly national or racial, but linguis- FOREWORD: THE PROBLEM 11 " " tic. The German culture that Germany was attempting to impose was German-speaking culture. The root of the evil, in Alsace-Lorraine, in Slesvig, in Poland, in Macedonia, was linguistic. In spite of notable exceptions, language is everywhere taken as the surest sign of a common culture. Whatever your race or nationality may be, if you speak the same language, you have a bond of union, a means of approach. To speak different languages is the one impassable frontier. What is the use of living under the same flag ? If we cannot communicate, we are strangers. What if science and industry are accumulating their wonderful in- ventions ? You may multiply printing presses, mail service, telegraph, telephone : if the people do not speak the same language, these agencies are but a mockery. A common language is the one great in- vention that is needed to crown all the others and give them their full value. We do not wish to imply that the possession of a common medium will immediately make war impossible. There have been long and bitter wars between sections of the same country, as in the United States, or between countries which spoke the same language, like Austria and Prussia. But it is a fact that a war between two English-speaking nations, or between two German- speaking nations, would more and more be considered in the light of a civil strife. And civil strife, although not unthinkable, is universally condemned as a crime. Convince the nations that all wars are civil wars, and much will have been achieved for the cause of permanent peace. But this cannot be done until the nations have been made to realize their common interests, their common culture, by means of a common language. Such a language, this must be made plain at the outset, is not meant to supersede the existing national tongues, 12 FOREWOKD: THE PROBLEM any more than the League of Nations is meant to absorb the existing national States. Its ambition is to serve as a mere auxiliary : it will in no wise compete with French, English, German, or even Albanian in their own domains ; it will not even interfere with the cultural study of foreign literatures. Artists and patriots, there- fore, need entertain no fear. An auxiliary language has for its purpose, not to suppress diversity, but to promote co-operation. Another word of caution before we proceed. We do not wish to assert that the organization of the world depends altogether upon the adoption of an international language. By the intensive study of many modern languages, almost the same results could be attained. At present, an idea has to pay toll at every linguistic frontier but the most of ; rigid policy protection never absolutely prevents the international exchange of merchandise or the diffusion of thought. Our present method is cumbrous, that is all : it is not unworkable. We shall progress, even with the curse of Babel still upon us. We would have progressed even if the printing press and the steam engine had never been invented. No single discovery is absolutely indispensable to the development of civilization. But should we deny our- selves the use of a wonderful instrument, simply because we could exist without it ? Had this spirit prevailed, mankind would not even have taken the trouble of chipping flint. The international language problem is not a fad and not a Utopian dream : it is a fact. British and American officers during the Great War had to face it every day : at times it was pressed upon their attention with tragic insistence. Men who speak different languages have business with one another this cannot be helped. When half a dozen Europeans, who may have been born within a hundred miles of each other, are gathered FOKEWORD: THE PROBLEM 13 together, the difficulty arises. How shall we meet the situation ? Shall we have to learn ten languages beside our own, or five, or two, or one ? And on what basis will the favoured tongues be selected ? It is the various solutions proposed to this problem that we shall examine in this little book. PART I NATURAL LANGUAGES CHAPTER I FRENCH " " A TOUT seigneur tout lionneur : French deserves that its claims should be examined first, for they rest upon a tradition of seven hundred years.