Universal language
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A universal language is a hypothetical historical
or mythical language said to be spoken and understood by
all or most of the world's population; or, in some circles,
is said to be understood by all living things, beings, and
objects alike. In some conceptions, it may be the primary
language of all speakers, or the only existing language;
in others, it is a fluent secondary language used for communication
between groups speaking different primary languages. Some
mythological or religious traditions state that there was
once a single universal language among all people, or shared
by humans and supernatural
beings; this is not supported by historical evidence; however,
Sanskrit
is often referred to as akin to this universal language.
The idea of a universal language is at least as old as
the Biblical
story of Babel.
The biblical story of Babel's fall states that there was
once a time of a universal Adamic
language (now often associated with the Kabbalah) –
and then something happened, the confusion
of tongues, analogous to the
Fall of Man. In the Judeo-Christian
tradition there are various attitudes to regaining the supposed
golden
age, before Babel; these include optimism, pessimism,
and recourse to parody
and warnings on hubris,
depending on the wished interpretation of the story.
In other traditions, there is less interest in or a general
deflection of the question. For example in Islam
the Arabic
language is the language of the Qur'an,
and so universal for Muslims. The written classical Chinese
language was and is still read widely but pronounced
somewhat differently by readers in different areas of China,
in Vietnam,
Korea
and Japan
for centuries; it was a de
facto universal literary language for a broad-based
culture. In something of the same way Sanskrit
in India
was a literary language for many for whom it was not a mother
tongue.
Comparably, the Latin
language (qua Medieval
Latin) was in effect a universal language of literati
in the Middle
Ages, and the language of the Vulgate
Bible, in the area of Catholicism
which covered most of Western Europe
and parts of Northern and Central Europe also.
Seventeenth century
Recognizable strands in the contemporary ideas on universal
languages took form only in Early
Modern Europe. A lingua
franca or trade language was nothing very new; but
an international
auxiliary language was a natural wish in light of the
gradual decline of Latin. Literature in vernacular languages
became more prominent with the Renaissance.
Over the course of the 18th century, learned works largely
ceased to be written in Latin.
According to Colton Booth (Origin and Authority in Seventeenth-Century
England (1994) p.174) "The Renaissance had no single
view of Adamic language and its relation to human understanding."
The question was more exactly posed in the work of Francis
Bacon.
In the vast writings of Gottfried
Leibniz can be found many elements relating to a possible
universal language, specifically a constructed
language, a concept that gradually came to replace that
of a rationalized Latin as the natural basis for a projected
universal language. Leibniz conceived of a characteristica
universalis (also see mathesis
universalis), an "algebra" capable of expressing
all conceptual thought. This algebra would include rules
for symbolic manipulation, what he called a calculus
ratiocinator . His goal was to put reasoning
on a firmer basis by reducing much of it to a matter of
calculation that many could grasp. The characteristica
would build on an alphabet
of human thought.
Leibniz's work is bracketed by some earlier mathematical
ideas of René
Descartes, and the satirical attack of Voltaire
on Panglossianism.
Descartes's ambitions were far more modest than Leibniz's,
and also far more successful, as shown by his wedding of
algebra
and geometry
to yield what we now know as analytic
geometry. Decades of research on symbolic
artificial intelligence have not brought Leibniz's dream
of a characteristica any closer to fruition.
Other seventeenth-century proposals for a 'philosophical'
(i.e. universal) language include those by Francis
Lodwick, Thomas
Urquhart (possibly parodic), George
Dalgarno (Ars signorum, 1661), and John
Wilkins (An
Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language,
1668). The classification scheme in Roget's
Thesaurus
ultimately derives from Wilkins's Essay.
Early modern ideas about philosophical language were motivated
by various theological preoccupations, ones not necessarily
associated with Pentecost
(see below).
Eighteenth century
In the 18th century, some rationalist natural philosophers
sought to recover the Edenic
language. There were two general approaches. In one,
it was assumed that education inevitably took people away
from the innate state of goodness they possessed, and therefore
there was an attempt to see what language a human child
brought up in utter silence would speak. This was assumed
to be the Edenic tongue, or at least the lapsarian tongue.
However, the more common and vigorously attempted project
was to either discover the most ancient language (assuming
that it would be nearest to Edenic) or to compare all languages
and discover their common structures and thus to understand
what language God had built into humans. There were, therefore,
multiple attempts to relate esoteric languages to Hebrew
(e.g. Basque,
Erse,
and Irish),
as well as the beginnings of comparative
linguistics.
On the other hand, Voltaire's Candide
took aim at Leibniz as Dr.
Pangloss, with the choice of name clearly putting universal
language in his sights, but satirizing mainly the optimism
of the projector as much as the project. The argument takes
the universal language itself no more seriously than the
ideas of the speculative scientists and virtuosi
of Jonathan
Swift's Laputa.
For the like-minded of Voltaire's generation, universal
language was tarred as fool's
gold with the same brush as philology
with little intellectual
rigour, and universal mythography,
as futile and arid directions.
Nineteenth century
At the end of the nineteenth century there was a large
profusion of constructed languages intended as genuine spoken
language. Among these were Solresol,
Volapük,
and Esperanto,
with Esperanto becoming the most popular.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Founder
of the Bahá'í
Faith (Bahá'u'lláh)
called on the governments of the world to effect the establishment
of an international auxiliary language. Since then,
the international Bahá'í community has promoted
this goal, particularly through the United Nations, as a
means of facilitating "the transition to a global society".[1]
Twentieth century
Global media, the legacy of the British
Empire, the status of the United
Kingdom as an economic superpower
in the first half, and the United
States in the latter half of the twentieth century led
to the informal adoption of English
as the primary language of international business and the
default language in worldwide social communication. In origin
English developed as an interlanguage and is on the rise.
It is suspected by some, to become the official language
of the world within a few generations. The constructed language
movement gave rise to a more naturalistic approach, producing
such languages as Latino
Sine Flexione, Occidental,
and finally the auxiliary
language Interlingua.
Of these, only Interlingua has any backing today.[2].
Contemporary ideas
The early ideas of a universal language with complete conceptual
classification by categories is still debated on various
levels. Michel
Foucault believes such classifications to be subjective,
citing Borges'
fictional Celestial
Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge's Taxonomy as an illustrative
example.
A recent philosophical synthesis has also connected Leibniz's
interest in environmental engineering with Systems Ecology.
It has been proposed that a modern form of Leibniz's Characteristica
Universalis is the Energy
Systems Language of Systems Ecology, which has been
used to develop ecological-economic systems overviews of
landscapes, technologies, and Nations. One consequence of
this seems to be that Leibniz's Enlightenment project is
alive and being applied globally in the evaluation
of ecological sustainability.
Pentecost
A Bible-centered
discussion of the question would pick up on the glossolalia
(speaking with tongues) of the New
Testament Pentecost
story, where in the Book
of Acts [1].
- And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they
were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there
came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house"..."And there appeared unto
them cloven tongues like as of fire"..."they were all
filled with the Holy
Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues"..."devout
men, out of every nation under heaven"..."the multitude
came together, and were confounded, because that every
man heard them speak in his own language. And they were
all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold,
are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear
we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in
Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus,
and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the
parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews
and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak
in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were
all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another,
What meaneth this?" - Acts 2:1-13
In the story, Saint
Peter proceeds to explain this miracle as the fulfillment
of the prophecy by Joel.
A Christian interpretation views this event as the reconstitution
of the division brought about at the Tower
of Babel. The tower to reach heaven represents a Titan's
(futile) quest, but the descent and acceptance of
the Holy
Spirit upon the men at the Pentecost represents that
quest's fulfillment.
Enneagram
The enneagram
is the fundamental hieroglyph
of a universal language. P.
D. Ouspensky reports Gurdjieff
saying, "...there exist not one but three universal languages.
The first of them can be spoken and written while remaining
within the limits of one's own language...In the second
language, written language is the same for all..." e. g.
mathematics,
music.
"The third language is the same for all, both the written
and the spoken."[3]
References
- ^
'Making a commitment to a universal auxiliary language
and a common script' in the 1995 statement by the Bahá'í
International Community on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary
of the United Nations: http://statements.bahai.org/95-1001.htm#III
- ^
Gode,
Alexander, Interlingua:
A Dictionary of the International Language, New
York: Storm Publishers, 1951.
- ^
P. D. Ouspensky In
Search of the Miraculous, p. 96, Harcourt Brace
& Co., 1977 ISBN
0156445085; ist ed. 1949
External links
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_language
Published - December 2008
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