International Auxiliary Research Articles

Constructed Languages

Linguistic research focuses primarily on the thousands of naturally occurring languages, but there are also languages that have been consciously created by individuals. There are four main types of these constructed languages. First, so-called philosophical languages were created in the seventeenth century as a way to better capture the reality of the world. Second, many international auxiliary languages were constructed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a way to solve practical problems of international communication. Third, many languages have been created in recent decades for the purposes of fiction (e.g., novels, film, television), especially in the realms of science fiction and fantasy, or simply as an enjoyable hobby. Fourth, it is now common to construct languages for use in psycholinguistic experiments. Each of these types of constructed languages presents interesting research questions and deserves increased attention from linguists.

Signaling effects and the role of culture: movies in international auxiliary channels

Purpose Given the high uncertainty in the quality perception of experiential products, manufacturers use signals to influence consumers’ decisions. In the movie industry, literature shows that performance of the main channel (e.g. cinema) strongly influences the performance of auxiliary channels (e.g. DVDs). The success of a movie in the home country is also to be resonated by its good performance in host countries. However, the cultural contingency of these success-breeds-success (SBS) effects has not been examined. This paper aims to test the influence of cultural values on the SBS effects across channels and countries. Design/methodology/approach Borrowing concepts from the signaling literature and analyzing DVD sales data from six international markets using a multilevel mixed-effects model, the study finds that culture plays a significant role to influence both SBS effects. Findings In countries with low power distance, short-term orientation and high indulgence, consumers who purchase from auxiliary channels are more likely to be influenced by the box office performance of movies. Meanwhile, cultural distance between the home and host nations significantly decreases the cross-national SBS effect. Research limitations/implications The findings are likely to be generalized to online auxiliary channels of movies, but empirical testing is required to ensure that no major adaptation is required in the process. Future research can also extend the framework of this paper to include more countries into the analysis and investigate cultural variables beyond Hofstede’s dimensions. Practical implications This paper suggests that the SBS effects may vary across nations. When managers plan for the sequential distributions of experiential products, the cultural values of target markets should be considered to decrease the uncertainty in sales prediction. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature by investigating the international auxiliary channels of movies and incorporating cultural values into the framework of sequential distributions. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to test the links between the main and auxiliary channels from an international marketing perspective.

Beyond center and periphery: Plurality with inclusivity

AbstractThis article considers the extraordinary contributions of Larry E. Smith to English Linguistics and Language Pedagogy over a career spanning more than 40 years. The discussion initially shares personal reflections on Larry as an exceptional colleague, mentor, and friend in the community of world Englishes (WE) scholars. In helping establish this field of study and co‐founding the journal World Englishes, Larry had a profound impact on innumerable researchers around the world. He further provided the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) with invaluable leadership, marked by great integrity and a remarkable commitment to plurality and inclusion. The discussion next examines Larry's influential scholarship, focusing in particular on his paradigm of English as an International Auxiliary Language (EIAL), which recognized the broader social reality of English use around the world. The final section considers the legacy of Larry's work for future research, especially in light of critiques of the WE paradigm as marginalizing, arguing that it is necessary to critically address center‐periphery dynamics and tensions between extant English‐using speech communities. The article explores these center – periphery relationships, and revisits Kachru's (1990) Three Circles paradigm, which in fact recognizes plurality while simultaneously calling attention to those dynamics and tensions.

English as an International Auxiliary Language

English as an International Auxiliary Language

A Survey of Interjections in International Auxiliary Languages

In this paper, I examine various aspects of interjections in international auxiliary languages. Many authors of works on such languages give little or no attention to interjections, apparently thinking that it is not necessary or important to say much about them. The main matter to be discussed is how interjections were created; in some cases they were derived by means of a suffix from words of other classes, in others, zero-derived from other words. In some languages, they are marked in a particular way, distinguishing them from words of other parts of speech. Most works on international auxiliary languages provide very little, if any, information on how interjections are to be used; we will see some instructions which have been given. I will also bring up some of the ideas that language designers have about interjections.

A Survey of Interjections in International Auxiliary Languages

A Survey of Interjections in International Auxiliary Languages

The Representation of Uralic Languages in Artificial International Auxiliary Languages

Artificial international auxiliary languages, particularly the major ones such as Esperanto and Interlingua, have taken relatively few words or grammatical features from Uralic languages (or from other non-Indo-European languages). In this paper I will examine some auxiliary languages which have used one or more Uralic languages as sources. Among these languages are Angos, Ardano, Budinos, Eura, Kweda, Lingwa de Planeta, Neo Patwa, Uusisuom/Lapsi, and Veltparl. In general Uralic items make up only a small part of the language as a whole.

André Martinet (1908–1999)

André Martinet holds an important position in the history of linguistics in the twentieth century. For more than six decades he decisively influenced the development of linguistics in France and in the world. He is one of the spokespersons for French linguistic structuralism, the structuralisme fonctionnel. The article focuses on a description and critical appreciation of the interlinguistic part of Martinet’s work. The issue of auxiliary languages and hence interlinguistics had interested Martinet greatly from his youth and provoked him to examine the matter actively. From 1946 onwards he worked in New York as a professor at Columbia University and a research director of the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). From 1934 he was in contact with the Danish linguist and interlinguist Otto Jespersen (1860–1943). Martinet, who went back to Paris in 1955 to work as a professor at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sorbonne), increasingly developed into an expert in planned languages; for his whole life, he was committed to the world-wide use of a foreign language that can be learned equally easily by members of all ethnic groups; Esperanto, functioning since 1887, seemed a good option to him.

The Representation of Korean and Other Altaic Languages in Artificial International Auxiliary Languages

Korean and other Altaic languages are generally not well represented in artificial international auxiliary languages: the best known such languages (such as Esperanto and Ido) have borrowed almost nothing from them, instead almost exclusively using Indo-European languages as sources. In this paper I will present some auxiliary languages which have taken words and/or parts of their grammar from Altaic languages, looking at which items have been borrowed and in some cases what percentage of the vocabulary they account for. The languages discussed (most of which were created relatively recently) include Ardano, Dousha, Dunia, Konya, Kosmo, Kumiko, Lingwa de Planeta, Neo Patwa, NOXILO, Olingo, Pan-kel, Sambahsa-mundialect, Sona, and Unish. In the cases of most of these languages only a small proportion of the total vocabulary comes from Altaic languages. Further, some of the words said to have been taken from an Altaic language originally came from an Indo-European language. In addition, I will compare the proportion of Korean items to those taken from the other languages of the Altaic family. Overall Korean has been drawn upon less than Japanese, but (not surprisingly) more than Mongolian, Azerbaijani, and Uzbek. Most conclusions are tentative because the vocabularies of most of the auxiliary languages examined have not been fully developed and because often information about sources of words is not given.

Is English a Killer Language or an International Auxiliary? Its Use and Function in a Globalised World

<strong><strong></strong></strong><p align="LEFT">I<span style="font-family: DejaVuSerifCondensed; font-size: small;">n the Introduction to this article, I deal with the importance of speaking one’s </span>own language as a way to assert one’s identity. Then I pass on to the evolution of the English language from its start as Old English, spoken by only a few thousand Angles and Saxons.</p><p align="LEFT"><span style="font-family: DejaVuSerifCondensed; font-size: small;">I remark how, at fi rst, it was contaminated by thousands of </span>Latin, French and Scandinavian words, of which contemporary English still bears many clear traces, but nobody has ever thought that English was ever in danger of disappearing. By contrast, in the long run, it became the mother tongue of the speakers in comparatively newly founded countries, such as the USA, Australia, and New Zealand, and owing to the spread of the British Empire, it has dramatically increased its appeal becoming the most spoken and infl uential language in the world. Thus, according to some linguists, it has led several languages virtually to the verge of disappearance. Therefore, I argue whether English has really vampirised them, or has simply contributed to make people understand each other, sometimes even in the same country where lots of diff erent tongues are spoken (e.g. Nigeria).</p><p align="LEFT">It is self-evident that English has gradually been taking the role of a common unifying factor in our globalised world. In this view, I envisage a scenario where English may even become the offi cial l anguage o f the E U with the c ontributions & coming, though in varying doses, from all the speakers of the other EU languages.</p>

The Case of Correlatives: A Comparison between Natural and Planned Languages

Since the publication of Volapük, the most important functional and deictic words present in grammar—interrogative, relative and demonstrative pronouns, and adjectives among others—have been described in planned grammars in a series or a table, namely “correlatives,” showing a considerable level of regularity. This article compares the degree of regularity in the correlatives series of International Auxiliary Languages (IALs) with the correlative series of natural languages of the world—e.g., with a special attention English, French, German, and Latin, i.e., the languages that influenced directly the most important IALs, from Volapük (1879) to IALA’s Interlingua (1951). Moreover, some examples in languages not belonging to the Standard Average European (SAE) sprachbund are presented for control. Finally, the correlatives of Klingon and Na’vi, two languages planned in recent times, not for auxiliary but for fictional purposes, are presented by contrast. The main result of this comparison is that, in the case of correlatives, some natural languages are surprisingly far more regular than their planned daughters, in spite of the fact that regularity was a major claim of the efforts in planning IALs during the late XIX and early XX centuries in Europe.

L'interlingua, langue de contacts

Interlingua (i.a.) is a planned language produced by the International Auxiliary Language Association, NY 1951. Its vocabulary has been extracted from the Western langages (mainly romance) and its grammar is very simple. Easily understood without previous study, it does not require any lengthy learning. Being nobody’s mother tongue it helps creating contact between people of various origins. Besides, as a somewhat common denominator of the ethnic languages used for its elaboration, it shows the structural features they partake and the contact they entertain.

The European Union’s Need for an International Auxiliary Language

In the last few years, debate has centered around European Union language policy. Many people, language specialists and laymen alike, argue that the European Union should adopt a common tongue for practical purposes, at institutional and educational levels, while respecting the cultural richness of other languages. Although English, or sometimes Latin, has been proposed, an International Auxiliary Language (IAL) would seem to accomplish this aim better. In this paper we will compare, structurally and sociolinguistically, three major IALs: Esperanto, Ido, and Interlingua, as candidates to serve as the common language of the EU, on account of their language vigour and vitality.

Marketing an International Auxiliary Language: Challenges to a New Artificial Language

This paper examines international auxiliary languages from the point of view that they are products competing in the world linguis-tic market place....

Interlanguage and 20th Century Scientific Communication

At the outset of the 20th century，it was taken for granted that the true test of any auxiliary language would be its adoption for use in the sciences. Interlingua，the product of the International Auxiliary Language Association [IALA]，founded in 1924，emerged from the increasingly naturalistic linguistic models of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (especially those of Liptay，Lott，and Peano)，acknowledging the fact that it was the survivmg elements of the Latin language that had lent to the modern tongues of the European littoral their character of internationality and consequently distancing itself from the complicated schematism of Volapük，Esperanto，and their many imitators. For a relatively long period of time，a quaπer of a century，the Interlingua of IALA seemed to meet the expectations of its builders that it would function as a vehicle of scientific communication :more than two dozen medical journals printed abstracts in Interlingua and eleven world medical congresses issued summaries in Interlingua. Then，suddenly，at the start of the 1980s scientific work in Interlingua came to an abrupt end (translations in the Multilingual Compendium 01 Plant Diseases for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and abstracts in the New York State Journal of Medicine being the final scientific projects) from which there has been no recovery

Language and Universalization

In this article, interpretation of Bahá’í writings regarding language, cultural diversity, and worldwide communication leads to the seemingly paradoxical position that the promotion of linguistic minority rights in must coincide with promotion of an International Auxiliary Language (IAL). Opposing trends toward increased globalization and growing nationalism are noted and their concurrence explained. The notion of “cultural justice” is expounded and the unregulated global spread of English today critically assessed in its light. By contrast, from the perspective of Bahá’í writ, IAL emerges as a language intended to facilitate worldwide communication without unduly impinging on humankind’s native linguistic traditions. Thus, Bahá’í writings appear to support a worldwide linguistic ecology better planned, more equitable, less prone to precipitous change, and more cognizant of the singular role of language in humanity‘s individual and collective identity.

Global vs. Local Language: An Ecolinguistic Reading of Bahá’í Writ

In this article, interpretation of Bahá’í writings regarding language, cultural diversity, and worldwide communication leads to the seemingly paradoxical position that the promotion of linguistic minority rights in must coincide with promotion of an International Auxiliary Language (IAL). Opposing trends toward increased globalization and growing nationalism are noted and their concurrence explained. The notion of “cultural justice” is expounded and the unregulated global spread of English today critically assessed in its light. By contrast, from the perspective of Bahá’í writ, IAL emerges as a language intended to facilitate worldwide communication without unduly impinging on humankind’s native linguistic traditions. Thus, Bahá’í writings appear to support a worldwide linguistic ecology better planned, more equitable, less prone to precipitous change, and more cognizant of the singular role of language in humanity‘s individual and collective identity.

Three Dictionaries of International Auxiliary Languages

Three Dictionaries of International Auxiliary Languages Cynthia L. Moore Introduction In 1887, Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof drafted a manual entitled An International Language: Introduction and Complete Manual [Mezhdunarodny Yazyk: Predislovie i Polny Uchebnik] under the pseudonym Doktoro Esperanto, or "Doctor Hope." This manual was a small dictionary that displayed the essence of Dr. Zamenhof's language: a vocabulary of some 900 words and a grammar of 16 rules (Large 1985, 72). The manual launched Esperanto, one of the most widely recognized International Auxiliary Languages (IALs). In this paper, I will compare the dictionaries of three IALs: Interlingua-English a Dictionary of the International Language, by the International Auxiliary Language Association (1951; reprint 1971); Novial Lexike, by Otto Jespersen (1930); and Glosa 6000, by Wendy Ashby and Ron Clark (1992), which is based on Interglossa, a language developed by Lancelot Hogben. I begin by discussing the developers ' reasons for creating their IALs. I then take up the organization of each dictionary, followed by a brief survey of the vocabulary. In the conclusion, I look at whether each dictionary satisfies the needs of IAL users. A synopsis of my comparison appears at the end of the paper (Table 1). In choosing the IALs and their dictionaries, I sought a range. Interlingua illustrates an IAL with staying power; Novial shows an IAL effort that, although carried out by an eminent linguist, could not stand the test of time; and Glosa demonstrates a recent IAL initiative . I do not attempt to analyze the three underlying IALs in this paper. Instead, I concentrate on the lexicographic issues relating to their dictionaries. 56Cynthia L Moore IALs, sometimes called "artificial languages," are "deliberately constructed for international use" (Jacob 1947, 144). The goal of IAL developers has been to create a cross-national language to supplement, but not supplant, national languages. Some developers, including Zamenhof, view their IAL as a path to world peace. Others profess more limited goals, such as avoiding time-consuming and costly translation at international conferences. In creating an IAL, the developers first decide which existing languages will supply roots (frequently Latin-based languages or Greek). Then they establish a set of rules for word formation and meaning. Finally, they arrange the words of the new language into a dictionary. Interlingua Background In 1924, Alice V. Morris and Dave Hennen Morris founded the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). They did so in the belief that an IAL is "one of the means for developing the international community" (IALA [1951] 1971, x-xi). The IALA's goals were "(1) to obtain agreement on one definite planned language system and to obtain official sanction for that language and (2) to secure the general acceptance of the sanctioned language which would include its teaching in the schools" (Jacob 1947, 144). The IALA identified five candidate languages: Esperanto, Esperanto II (developed by René de Saussure), Ido (another Esperanto derivative), Occidental (developed by Edgar de Wahl), and Latino sine Flexione (developed by Guiseppe Peano) (LALA xii).1 In 1930, the IALA organized a conference in Europe, convened by Jespersen, to allow linguists and IAL experts to exchange ideas (xii). Other conferences followed, as well as considerable research. After much study, the IALA chose not to select one of the candidate languages , but to broaden its focus. It decided to start from the basis that underlay all of the candidate languages, "namely the basis of the international vocabulary, or, in other terms, the words common to the greatest number of widely distributed cultural languages" (Jacob 1947, 147). From this principle emerged Interlingua. 1 In its General Report of 1945, the IALA includes Jespersen's Novial (1945, 16), but the Association does not mention it in the IED's introductory materials. Three Dictionaries of International Auxiliary Languages57 Once the IALA decided its course of action, it began the "systematic recording of the international vocabulary" (IALA [1951] 1971, xvii). In 1951, it presented its "international vocabulary" in InterlinguaEnglish a Dictionary of the International Language (IED) and reprinted it in 1971. To complement the dictionary, it published Interlingua a Grammar of the International Language in the same year. (The grammar was also reprinted in 1971.) The IED was the first stage of an active...

Whither the International Auxiliary Language?

For the first time in history, a world religion has promised that a day will come when there will be a universal auxiliary language taught to children in schools around the world. This article discusses the advantages of such a phenomenon and explores the reasons why this promise of an international auxiliary language is so vital for peace and harmony in the world. The author also considers two likely candidates-Esperanto and English-for the eventual choice as an international auxiliary language and the linguistic as well as non-linguistic problems associated with each particular choice. The Bahá’í principle of justice with regard to the choice of a world auxiliary language is also taken into consideration.

English as an International Auxiliary Language

English as an International Auxiliary Language