Constructed Languages!

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet a young smart boy, Charles Zinn, a university student who knows 4 languages. Being a polyglot at such a young age is something remarkable. But something very unusual about his linguistics skills is that beside his native English, the other 3 languages that with different levels of fluency he can speak, Esperanto, Lojban and Toki-Pona, are languages that we know as “Planned languages” or “Constructed languages”.     

To meet my friend may be a signal of a new kind of polyglots that we may see more often in future. The reality is that the creation of a language from scratch is not as unusual as we may think. Humans, indeed, like very much to experience with new things, and the production and testing of a new languages, is not the exception. During our recent history, we have seen new languages coming from the work of people who have dedicated to this for different reasons

One of the earliest constructed languages we know about, if not the oldest one, is the so called “Lingua Ignota”, created during the 12^th century by St. Hildegard of Bingen, a Benedictine abbess who lived in what is today Germany, and recently canonized by Pope Benedict XVI.

Lingua Ignota Or “Unknown language” was apparently used as Mystical and Secret language. It is unknown why it was created. We do not know also if anyone else spoke the language or if there were any intentions of made it a Universal Language. Very few documents still exist describing this language and its vocabulary, In http://library.conlang.org/poetry/hildegard.html it can be read that Lingua Ignota used Latin as base of its grammar, and had also its own script called “Litterae Ignotae”, or “Unknown letters”

In 1879, appeared a new auxiliary language that caused a revolution: Volapük This language was created by a German catholic priest, Johann Martin Schleyer. Volapük is perhaps the oldest Auxiliary language still in use. It spread very quickly in West Europe, Russia and North America during the last 2 decades of the 19^th century, and at its peak there were more than 100,000 speakers of this language. 

Volapük base its vocabulary on languages such as German, Latin and English. It has 19 consonants in order to make it easy to pronounce, and many words had been simplified in a way that only remain a monosyllable one. Most of English or German speakers won’t be able to recognize the words that their languages contributed to this auxiliary one. Volapük has 4 cases and 6 pronouns with their plural forms. Verbs have 6 tenses. Nouns are not affected by gender. But because of complex inflexion system and that words are not easy recognizable for speakers of other languages, generally it is accepted that Volapük is not an easy language to learn.  

Some phrases in Volapük are:   

-Glidis = Hello!                                                                   -Vekömö = Welcome

-Spikol-li Volapüki= Do you speak Volapuk?              -Danö = Thank You

-Löfob oli = I Love You                                                     -Sanö = Cheers!

-Labolös Deli gudik = Have a nice day!

By 1890, there were periodical publications in Volapük, clubs alongside Europe, North America and South America where the fans of this language could meet and there were already 3 international conventions of Volapük. Today, there are only… 20 fluent speakers of this language. What happened? It is true that this language is quite difficult, and many of its speakers became fans of the following language in my list, but many sources I have read, they state that the decline of Volapük was owed to the rigid control that Schleyer wanted to exercise over its language, not accepting any suggestions on how to improve it.    

With such low population of speakers, it is not much what it can be done with it. Today, its speakers mainly communicate through the social media in the Internet where they held discussions about different topics in this language. But where there is an unusual high activity in this language is in Wikipedia. As per today, Wikipedia reports the existence of 120,485 articles in Volapük, almost as many articles that exist in Urdu, and more articles than languages like Hindi, Thai or Tagalog, languages that have millions of speakers. If anyone is interested in this language, you can visit http://xn--volapk-7ya.com

In 1887 appeared Esperanto. This language was created by the Polish-Jewish ophthalmologist Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof who called his creation “La Internacia Lingvo” (The international language). Esperanto, is a very regular language, its grammar has only 16 rules who apply without exception. Its vocabulary comes mostly from Romance languages, but there are many words from Germanic languages, Slavic languages and Greek. More information can be read in my article in  http://yuryjakymec.blogspot.ca/2016/12/esperanto_15.html in this same blog. Esperanto is one of the languages I use in this blog and regularly I write articles using this language. 

Some phrases in Esperanto are:

-Kiel vi fartas? = How are you?                          -Dankon = Thank you

-Mi Amas vin = I love you                                     -Bonvenon = Welcome

-Kio estas via nomo? = What is your name?  -Mi bedaŭras = I am sorry

-Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton? = Do you speak Esperanto?

Esperanto had a quick grow in number of speakers.  Many of the first Esperantists were also Volapük speakers who migrated to this language. The language became popular in different parts of the world, especially in Eastern Europe and in China although most of the countries in the world have Esperanto clubs. Today, the number of speakers is aprox 2 millions with diverse levels of fluency, making it the most popular Auxiliary language in the world. Esperanto is also the only auxiliary language that has Native speakers. There is an extensive literature in Esperanto based on both, translated works and literature works originally written in this language. Important Radio stations like China Radio international and Vatican Radio broadcast regularly programs in Esperanto. There is no need to approach any Esperanto organization or club to learn this language, as there are independent courses in this language, starting from the website doulingo.com in the Internet. As per today, Wikipedia reports the existence of 238,255 articles in Esperanto, and this language has more speakers than National languages such as Icelandic, Maltese and Irish Gaelic. 

Esperanto has been created with the purpose to be the Universal language to facilitate intercommunications among people without matter their cultural background. But among Esperantists, exist a non written tradition that states that Esperantists should support any Auxiliary language that best fits for the mission of being that Universal language. It is not surprising that sometimes Esperantists engage in projects of creating new languages or reforming Esperanto itself. There were many attempts to reform Esperanto.  

Perhaps the most known project of reform of this international language is Ido. This name comes from the Esperanto suffix –ido, that means: offspring of living creatures. Originally it was named “Esperantido” to signify that is the offspring of Esperanto.  Ido was created in 1907.  It was developed by linguistics and scientists who based their work in some recommendations that Zamenhof himself considered. It is important to note the contributions made by the French Louis de Beaufront and the linguistic Louis Couturat. Ido reforms consisted basically in suppress the diacritics existent in Esperanto and to restrict the use of accusative case. Adjectives do not depend on gender or number of the Noun they qualify. Its vocabulary was changed a little bit, although there is a strong French influence. During its beginning there were many Esperantists who migrated to Ido, but after the dead of Couturat in an accident and after the World war I, its number of speakers decreased. In the last years, there was an increase of Ido speakers due to the Internet. The number of speakers is unknown, but hardly is over 2000 in the whole world, mainly in Europe. In http://idolinguo.org.uk/ there is more information about this language, including about some regular publications.

Some Ido expressions are:

IDO                                                    Esperanto                             English

-Bona Matino                                  -Bonan Matenon                 -Good Morning

-Quale vu standas?                      -Kiel vi fartas?                      -How are you?

-Me nomesas….                             -Mia nomo estas….            -My name is….

-Ka vu prizas voyajar?                 -Ĉu vi ŝatas vojaĝi?            -Do you like to travel?

-Ube vu habitas?                           -Kie vi loĝas?                      -Where do you live?

-Me dankas                                     -Dankon                                -Thank you

-Me ne esas fatigita                       -Mi ne estas laca                -I am not tired

According to http://www.proel.org/index.php?pagina=mundo/artificial/interlingua , our next language appeared in 1903, invented by the Italian Mathematician Giuseppe Peano. But this language did not reach very far. Then, from 1937 to 1951, it went through a process of redesign under the support of the International Auxiliary Language Association, IALA, and under the lead of the German-American linguistic Alexander Gode. We are writing about Interlingua, perhaps the most natural of the Constructed languages proposed as Universal languages. In Wikipedia can be read about the development of this language. This language is based mostly in popular world languages like English, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, and with secondary contributions from Russian and German. Interlingua has been considered a kind of simplified Latin, and its pronunciation has been influenced mostly by English and Spanish (Vowels are like in Spanish). Grammar and vocabulary exist in the languages mentioned. Nouns do not have gender or cases. Plurals are formed adding “-s” or “-es”. Verbs take the same form for all persons. There are only 4 simple tenses and there is no subjunctive mode.

It is unknown the number of speakers of Interlingua, there are estimations that there are around 1500 speakers around the world, and although this language was developed in the US, most of its speakers live in South America, Eastern and Northern Europe. Today there are regular publications in Interlingua, including “Panorama” published by “Union Mundial pro Interlingua”. Its web page is www.interlingua.com . Wikipedia reports the existence of 20,000 articles in Interlingua. Not many people know that the Rockefeller Foundation gave its monetary support to the Interlingua project. 

Here are some expressions in Interlingua:

-Bon Matino = Good Morning                             -Gratias = Thank you

-Como sta vos? = How are You?                       -Aqua = Water

-Io te ama =  I love you                                          -Domo = House

-Amarea vos dansar con me? = Would you like to dance with me?

In 1955 appeared a language called “Loglan”. It was invented by James Cooke Brown. This language was created for research and to test some linguistic theories. In 1987, a group of researchers created the Logical Language Group, LLG, and based on this language, they continue developing another language, with the help of widely spoken languages such as English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, Russian and Arabic. Finally, in USA in 1997, the new language was presented: Lojban,

Lojban, is a carefully constructed language designed with the intention of eliminating much of the ambiguity that exists in human communication. Lojban is a compound of Loj + ban = Logji (logic) + bangu (Language).

Computer programming also has made its contributions in the preparation and testing of this language.

Lojban’s grammar is very simple although still complex in its own way. It has a unique structure and words are clearly differentiated depending on the role they play in the sentence. This language does not require the use of such details as the tense of the sentence if this is clear from context. Its neutrality as language was not only though as a cultural bridge, but also as a way to communicate with computers. There are propositions to use this language for artificial intelligence. There is also a group of words called “Attitudinals”, described as “spoken emoticons”, which allow the expression of emotions. More information in https://mw.lojban.org

Some expressions, from http://omniglot.com/language/phrases/lojban.htm in Lojban are:

-Hello: coi                                                                -Welcome: fi’i

-Where are you from: .i do xabju ma                 -Thanks: ki’e

-I love you: mi do prami                                        -Excuse me: u’u

-Birthday Greetings: .a’o gleki jbedetke’u

The number of speakers of Lojban is unknown. It is known that there are communities in USA, Canada, Russia and Sweden. There are annual meetings in the US that are known as Logfest. There are smaller communities in other countries. Speakers use this language mostly in chats and Internet groups.

About literature in this language, is still very young and not fully developed. There are texts already translated to lojban like “Alice’s adventures in Wonderland”, “The little Prince”, “Metamorphosis”. Wikipedia reports as today, the existence of 1197 articles in Lojban. 

In 2001 appeared Toki Pona, a constructed language designed by Canadian Translator, linguist and Toronto resident Sonja Elen Kisa (Although we live in the same city, I did not have the joy of meeting her yet). According to the page http://tokipona.wikia.com/wiki/toki_pona/en Toki Pona is a minimal language that focus on simple concepts and elements that are relatively universal among cultures.

Toki Pona means “Good Language”. It has 14 basic sounds and around 120 words. Most of the words have several meanings and context helps to determine which one is expressed. The words come from diverse languages such as English, Esperanto, Finnish, French, Mandarin and Tok Pisin.  There are aprox. One hundred fluent speakers of Toki Pona, however, there are more than 2500 people registered in different groups in the Internet learning and practicing this language.

Here are some expressions:

-Pona: Good, simple, repair, correct.                  -Moku: Eat, drink.

-Suli: Big, large, tall, high, long, important.          -Jan: man.

-Mi moku e kili: I eat Fruits.                                  -Mi toki tawa sina: I talk to you.

-Sina ken ala ken lape?: Can you sleep?         -Seli mute li lon: It’s very warm

Toki Pona has been also designed to be written in Latin script. But unlike other languages mentioned here, this language can be also written with other kinds of scripts. Exists also a Toki Pona Script based on modern ideograms. In the page http://omniglot.com/conscripts/tokipona.htm some samples can be seen. The official page of this language is http://tokipona.org/

Not all constructed languages were designed as alternative mean of communications between cultures. There are languages that were created for more artistic reasons such as being part of a TV series, a story, a best seller book. The most famous such case, and perhaps also the most famous constructed language that exist today, is Klingon. According to https://www.kli.org/ , the site of the “Klingon Language Institute”, this language was created to add realism to a race of fictional aliens featured in Star Trek films and series. This language appeared in 1979 as a set of short isolated phrases, created by Canadian Actor James Doohan, but the creation of the language is credited to American linguist Marc Okrand. Klingon has its own grammar, vocabulary and even its own set of slangs and dialects. It was created with the intention of appear as an alien language but still with a pronunciation possible for human actors. This language is supposed to be a space language, and some earthly concepts are hard to express. In 1985 was published “the Klingon dictionary”. Klingon belongs to a subcategory of Constructed languages called “Fictional languages”.  Today, the copyright of the official dictionary is owned by CBS Television Studios.

Some phrases from http://omniglot.com/language/phrases/klingon.php

-How are you?: blplv’a’?  (Literally: Are you Healthy?)

-What is your name: nuq’oH pongllj’e’?

-Good Night: maj ram (Literally: Good, it is night!)

-Good Bye: Qapla’! (Literally: Success!)

-I Love you: jih parmaq tlhih   (I got this last phrase from the application http://funtranslations.com/klingon . Answers may vary from one application to another). 

The number of fluent speakers of Klingon is not more than 30. But the number of people who have some knowledge can be between two to three hundred. Exist some publications in this language. A few texts are already translated to Klingon, like Hamlet, the Tao Te Ching.

There are many other constructed fictional languages, some more popular than others. J.R.R. Tolkien, popular British Writer and philologist, is credited to create fictional languages for his compositions. One of the most popular languages of his texts is Quenya. This language is used in his books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.  Quenya is the language of the Elves, a fictional race that inhabit the Middle Earth. This language has many characteristics and vocabulary that resemble Finnish language, and in lesser degree Greek and Latin. Tolkien started to work on Quenya in 1910.  Quenya can be written in different scripts, but the most used is Tengwar.  

There are a couple of works and poems in Quenya. However, there are no fluent speakers of this language. This is mostly owed to the fact that Tolkien never released enough words to make this language complete enough for conversation Some words in Quenya, used in later compositions, were created by fans.

Among the projects that exist for Auxiliary languages, not all of them are universal but there are some which are based in group of languages and intended for speakers of specific languages. One of such projects and that affect speakers of English is Folkspraak.

Folkspraak is an international auxiliary language that is currently in development. Is is based in Germanic languages, more specific in languages such as English, Dutch, German, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. Frisian and low German are also considered. This project is developed as a cooperative one and its collaborators meet in a Yahoo group. 

The language is not yet ready. There were some disagreements on how to get the final vocabulary and there are already more than one language in study, all of them considered as dialects.

I have just presented what is my Top 10 constructed languages. More languages are yet to come. In Esperanto, there is an expression with the word “lacerto” (Lizard) and is “Ne lacertu!” (Literally means “Do not lizard”). This slang expression in Esperanto means: in a meeting where Esperanto must be used, do not use a different constructed language.  New times for Languages!!!