FrankEsterhill JournalofUniversalLanguage3 March2002,17-33 Interlanguageand20thCentury ScientificCommunication FrankEsterhill InterlinguaInstitute Abstract Attheoutsetofthe20thcentury,itwastakenforgrantedthatthetrue testofanyauxiliarylanguagewouldbeitsadoptionforuseinthe sciences.Interlingua,theproductoftheInternationalAuxiliary LanguageAssociation[IALA],foundedin1924,emergedfromthe increasinglynaturalisticlinguisticmodelsofthelate19thandearly 20thcenturies(especiallythoseofLiptay,Lott,andPeano), acknowledgingthefactthatitwasthesurvivingelementsoftheLatin languagethathadlenttothemoderntonguesoftheEuropeanlittoral theircharacterofinternationalityandconsequentlydistancingitself fromthecomplicatedschematismofVolapu짲k,Esperanto,andtheir manyimitators.Forarelativelylongperiodoftime,aquarterofa century,theInterlinguaofIALAseemedtomeettheexpectationsof itsbuildersthatitwouldfunctionasavehicleofscientific communication:morethantwodozenmedicaljournalsprintedabstracts inInterlinguaandelevenworldmedicalcongressesissuedsummaries inInterlingua.Then,suddenly,atthestartofthe1980sscientificwork inInterlinguacametoanabruptend(translationsinthe Multilingual 18 Interlanguageand20thCenturyScientificCommunication CompendiumofPlantDiseases fortheU.S.DepartmentofAgriculture andabstractsinthe NewYorkStateJournalofMedicine beingthe finalscientificprojects)fromwhichtherehasbeennorecovery. 1.Introduction Universallanguagebecameafashionablesubjectonlywiththe declineofLatinasthecommonidiomofthesciencesinthe17th century.InEnglandalone,FrancisLodwick,CaveBeck,George Dalgarno,and,especially,BishopJohnWilkinspublishedtheir universalistschemesinaperiodwhichlastedslightlyovertwenty years,butthesubjectfelloutoffavoralmostimmediatelyandthe projectslanguishedinbenignneglectformorethanacentury.Thenin thesecondhalfofthe19thcenturyseveral"international"languages wereinventedbyaseriesofamateurs(Pirro,Sudre,Schleyer, Zamenhof,Sotos-Ochando,Lauda,Liptay,Lott,Peanoandamultitude ofothers),eachattractingitsownoftenexquisitelysmallbutdevoted coterieoffollowers.Animpartialstudentofthesubjectcaneasily traceintheevolutionoftheseaposteriori systemstheontogenesisof anewLatinity(Ruhrig1980:2-3),culminatinginthe20th centuryinthe registrationoftheinternationalvocabularybytheInternational AuxiliaryLanguageAssociation[IALA]underthedirectionofE.Clark StillmanandAlexanderGodeinthe Interlingua-EnglishDictionary (1951). 1.1.PreliminaryOrganizationalSteps Atthestartofthe20thcentury,LouisCouturat,professorof philosophy(andsuccessortoHenriBergson)attheCollègedeFrance, broughtrenewedintellectualrespectabilitytothetopicwiththe discoveryofunpublishedmanuscriptsofLeibniz(1901,1903a), discussing, interalia,Descartesonthesubject.1 Couturat'slater FrankEsterhill 19 historicalstudies(1903b,1907)helpedtopopularizethesubjectby bringingittotheattentionofamuchwideraudience.Alongwithhis colleague,Le´opoldLeau,hespearheadedtheDe´le´gationpourl'adoption d'unelangueauxiliaireinternationelle(theformerastreasurer,thelatter assecretarygeneral),whosesmallComite´,insteadofrecommendingan extantproject,proposedasareformcandidateitsownlanguage,Ido, in1908.TheproponentsofIdorecognizedfromthestartthatthe ultimatetestofany"constructed"languagewouldbeitsusefulnessfor scientificcommunication,yetsuchsuccessalwayseludedthem. 1.2. FoundationoftheInternationalAuxiliaryLanguage Association Asearlyas1902,theNobelLaureate,WilhelmOstwald,atthe UniversityofLeipzig,hadinterestedhisstudent,theyoungchemist, Dr.FrederickGardnerCottrell,intheideaofanauxiliarylanguage. AftertheFirstWorldWar,Cottrell,ChairmanoftheCommitteeon InternationalAuxiliaryLanguage(from1919to1936)ofthe InternationalResearchCouncil,persuadedtwowealthyandprominent NewYorkers,AliceVanderbiltMorrisandDaveHennenMorris,to foundtheInternationalAuxiliaryLanguageAssociation[IALA]in 1924,withanillustriousteamofprominentacademicsandbusiness leaders.2 Replacingthedilettantismwhichhadprecededitwithanew professionalism,IALA,foradozenyears,sponsoredlinguisticresearch (undertheaegisofEdwardSapir,OttoJespersen,andWilliamE. Collinson,togetherwithAlbertDebrunner,EdgarvonWahl,Giuseppe Peano,JosephVendryes,andothers)andorganizedmeetingsdedicated tothetaskofeffectingconciliationbetweenthealreadyexisting 1 DescartesinhislettertoMarinMersenne,November20,1629,wasrespondingto aplacardinLatinwithsixpropositions. 2 AliceVanderbiltMorrisremainedIALA'sHonorarySecretary(anditssustaining force)untilherdeathonAugust15,1950. 20 Interlanguageand20thCenturyScientificCommunication auxiliarylanguagesystems(Falk1999:40-58,Esterhill2000:1-9). Then,in1937,realizingthatallofthepreviouslyelaborated interlanguageswerefundamentallyflawedandthatcompromisewas impossible,IALAabandonedallhopefortheexistingauxiliariesand embarkeduponitsownindependentwork.Eveninthepreliminary documents--Cottrell's ReportofProgress (1923)andIALA's Outlineof Program fromthefollowingyear--IALA,althoughsuggestingthatit couldproceedbymodifyinganexistinginterlanguage,hadalready signalledthatadifferentapproachmightbenecessarywhenitresolved toseekasolutiontotheproblemeither"bytheadoptionofoneofthe existingsyntheticlanguages,asforexampleEsperanto,Ido,ormodern Latin,orbythecreationofanewlanguagebasedinsofarasmay befounddesirableuponthese(Cottrell1923:14)...."3 Inits Outlineof Program (1924),IALAsomewhatconfusinglyassertedthat"[t]he Associationhasnointentionofdevelopingorpromotinganynew language(1924:13)...."afterithadalreadybeenstated,echoingthe wordsofCottrell'sreportfromthepreviousyear,that"[t]heIALA thereforestandsfortheadoptionormodificationofasyntheticor classicallanguage,orthecreationofanewlanguage(1924:6)...."In fact,IALAdidnotinitiallyundertakeanyindependentworkto formulateanewlanguagebutinsteaddevoteditsentirefirstdecadeto thehopelesstaskofattemptingtoeffectreconciliationamongtherival auxiliariestheninexistence.4 Strangely,thepre-eminentlinguistswithin IALAfailedtoprovidemuchconstructiveguidanceovertheyears. EdwardSapir,enthusiasticaboutthesubjectfromthestart(1925), whileremainingaffiliatedwithIALAformostofthe1930s,serving abriefstintasDirectorofResearchfromSeptember,1930totheend 3 TheMemorial(inCottrell'sreport)wasrevisedthefollowingyeartostatethatan auxiliarylanguageshouldbeestablishedbytheadoptionormodificationofa syntheticoraclassicallanguageorbythecreationofanewlanguage(Cottrell1923; revised1924). 4 ThiswasIALA'sintentuntil1936.Cf.APlanforObtainingAgreementonan AuxiliaryWorld-Language (1936). FrankEsterhill 21 ofJuly,1931andauthoringmonographs(1930,1932)whose publicationwasinpartfundedbyIALA,seemstohaveplayedno pivotalroleinthatorganization(Esterhill2000:7,note6).Otto Jespersen,authorofNovial,althoughvocalinhiscriticismof EsperantoinhiscorrespondencefromDenmark,didnotactively championhisowncreation.Heremained,untilhisdeathin1943, peripheraltoIALAwhichhadalwaysbeenheadquarteredinNew York.Finally,WilliamE.Collinson(IALA'sDirectoroftheTechnical StaffattheUniversityofLiverpool),astridentEsperantistwhohad provokedmuchcriticism,wasquietlysweptaside,andcontrolover IALA'sworkwastransferredintothehandsofhiscompetentassistant, E.ClarkStillman,whenthedictionaryworkwasbegun. WithagrantfromRockefellerFoundationinJanuary1937,IALA beganthesecond(andfinal)stageofitsresearch,theregistrationof theinternationalvocabulary,underStillmanattheUniversityof Liverpool.Stillmanhadalreadyelaboratedthethree-yearprogramof researchandexperimentationwhichwouldeventuateinthegrammar andnuclearvocabularyofthelanguagewhichIALAwould recommend.HewasnamedSecretaryoftheCommitteeforAgreement inthefollowingyear(1938)andtheTechnicalStaffatLiverpoolwas placed"underhisimmediatedirection(InternationalAuxiliary LanguageAssociation1939:8)." Itwasoriginallyanticipatedthattheentireprojectwouldrequire onlythreeyearstocompletethedeterminationofIALA'slanguageand toreadyitscore: ThiscorewillconsistofaGrammarandaVocabularyofabout 2000ofthemostfrequentroot-wordsrequiredforordinary usage,togetherwithnucleiofanumberofvocabulariesin certainspecialistfields.Throughouttheperiod,astaffof linguisticworkers,expertinbothethnicandconstructed languages,willbeworkingatLiverpoolUniversityunderthe immediatedirectionoftheAssistantDirectorofTechnical 22 Interlanguageand20thCenturyScientificCommunication Research,Mr.E.ClarkStillman(InternationalAuxiliary LanguageAssociation1939:10). 5 1.3.FormulationoftheInterlanguage UpontheoutbreakofwarinEuropein1939,IALA'sfilesand recordsweresafelytransferredtoNewYorkwhereStillmanassembled anewteamtocontinuethework.Heenlistedthesupportofanable assistant,AlexanderGode,whoassumedthedirectionofIALAwhen StillmanresignedinMarch,1943inordertogoonwarduty.IALA atthatpointhadfirmlycommittedtotheInternationalVocabulary6 but wasstilldebatingthequestionastowhetheritshouldbeschematized, and,ifso,towhatextent. Gode(1942),summingupthestatusofIALA'sworktothatpoint, wrote(Romannumeralsinsquarebracketsreferringtothenumbered 5 Collinson,innameatleast,remainedDirectoroftheTechnicalStaffatLiverpool, butsincehewasnotperceivedasanimpartial,non-sectarian,orneutralparty,he appearstohaveprovokedseverecriticism.AttheMarch21,1939meetingofthe CommitteeforAgreement,hefinallyaskedthatinhisfuturecollaborationinthe workofCA[CommitteeforAgreement]hemightbeexemptedfromalllinguistic workotherthanpurelyobjectivestudies.In1941,Collinsonwaspromotedupto DirectoroftheResearchStaff(part-time,onwarleave),eventhoughthewarhad, from1939on,severedmostconnectionsbetweenhimandIALA.Heretainedhis title(andhissalary)untilhisspecialarrangementwithIALAwasterminatedin1942. YearslaterheconfessedtoanAmericanEsperantist,IvyKellermanReed (1958:1388),thathehadbeenunawareofIALA'sdictionaryworkwhichhadbeen begunatLiverpool.