An exploratory study of the idea of an auxiliary universal language

Abstract

We live in an increasingly interconnected world where the growing movements of ideas, goods, information, money and people across national boundaries and technological advancements have led to the urgent need to have a common secondary language to partake in the global community. This study intends to extend the literature on the idea of an Auxiliary Universal Language (AUL), to explore the features of an AUL, and to discuss the rationale and feasibility of language planning of an AUL. It is in addition my intention to try to find answers for how it can actually be planned through international planning. To explore the idea of an AUL and answer the research questions I used two resources. First, after re-examining the literature and extending the literature on Language Policy and Planning I present a tentative model for language planning of an AUL. Second, to strengthen the conclusions from the first resource I conducted two sets of interviews to find out how my research participants who were thirteen graduate students in School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Carleton University could contribute to this exploratory study.