|
|
Gesellschaft für Interlinguistik e. V.
|
|
Interlinguistics Language Policy
Planned Languages
Esperanto Studies These are the subjects of the “Gesellschaft für Interlinguistik e.V.” (GIL) / Society for Interlinguistics. Our Focus:International
linguistic communication puts a steadily growing number of questions on the agenda,
not only in What aspects are connected with the
international communication problem? These
are, among other things, political, economic, linguistic, intercultural, and
legal. The international
position of a language is, as a rule, a result of political and economic
power structures. What are the consequences of a hegemonic position occupied by a single or by few languages for global processes in fields such as politics, culture, education, and science? Languages
are of equal value. Do they have equal rights, however? Why are languages
“dying out”? What is language imperialism? What
are the chances of optimizing international communication? English
is considered to be a ‘lingua franca’ on our planet. How
successfully, effectively and democratically do we communicate by means of
English? Who is at an advantage, and who is not? Are there other models, such
as the use of a politically neutral language, for example, Latin or a modern
international language? What
are international planned languages? The
deliberate development of languages and language planning are well-known
phenomena. The creation of a planned language is a special form of language
planning. First ideas of a lingua universalis can be attributed to Leibniz
and Descartes. The number of attempts to construct an international language
has reached 1,000 meanwhile. Only very few of them played a role in practice
or are applied today. To what extent have experiences with planned languages
thrown new light on linguophilosophical, linguistic, and other problems and
questions? Why have some language projects been able to maintain their hold
whereas others have not? What
experience has been gained with Esperanto? Esperanto
has become the most successful planned language so far. Its theory and
practical application has been well described scientifically. What are the
expressive means Esperanto has at its disposal? What are the characteristics
of its speech community? What practical role will it be able to play in the
future? What can it achieve, how is it developing? What is asserted, what is
fact? Some of these questions are
underestimated or answered insufficiently. Prejudices can often be found
instead of knowledge. Do you want to learn more? Here are some key terms and their dominant understanding within the Society for Interlinguistics: Interlinguistics is the study of international linguistic
communication from all its aspects (including the roles, structures, ways of development
and application of ethnic and planned languages as means of international
communication). Planned
languages are
language systems which have been consciously designed according to definite
criteria by individuals or groups of individuals mainly for the purpose of
making international communication easier. (The term is being used
increasingly for what is also known as ‘artificial language’,
‘international [artificial] auxiliary language’, or
‘universal language’.) Esperanto has been the most successful case
so far of a language project which has managed to effect its transition to a
fully-fledged language and which has found a sufficiently diverse and
productive speech community. Esperanto
studies (a sub-branch of interlinguistics)
investigate the sources, structure, evolution, communicative performance and
the speech community of Esperanto, the planned language established by L. L.
Zamenhof in 1887. The activities of the Society for Interlinguistics include: -
publishing a newsletter “Interlinguistische
Informationen” (Information on Interlinguistics), which is mainly
centred on bibliographical work -
organizing annual scientific conferences and publishing conference
papers -
encouraging its members to give lectures and to publish
inside and outside the Society and to work together with institutions
and colleagues interested in interlinguistic topics. |
(The sites of GIL: Ulrich Becker,
revised Helmut Krone)