Universal Languages: Difference between revisions

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We propose that the world would be better off with ~ 15 Universal Languages.
== Justification ==
In the future, regional unity and pride will be seen as desirable, in order not to lose indigenous cultures and languages.  Esperanto is a fine idea, but it scrubs through many of the important differences of regions and cultures.  A slightly finer grain of distinction yields approximately 15 world languages, as seen below.  Within each zone, the Universal Language is taught and mandatory, but no one group or culture claims it as there own.  Each Universal Language is a kind of abstraction, an easy to learn language for everyone in the zone, but an artificial creation unlike natural languages.  It is a kind of neutral meeting ground, a no-man's land.  Nevertheless, for outsiders, learning a Universal Language is a gateway into grammar and vocabulary for each zone.
In the future, regional unity and pride will be seen as desirable, in order not to lose indigenous cultures and languages.  Esperanto is a fine idea, but it scrubs through many of the important differences of regions and cultures.  A slightly finer grain of distinction yields approximately 15 world languages, as seen below.  Within each zone, the Universal Language is taught and mandatory, but no one group or culture claims it as there own.  Each Universal Language is a kind of abstraction, an easy to learn language for everyone in the zone, but an artificial creation unlike natural languages.  It is a kind of neutral meeting ground, a no-man's land.  Nevertheless, for outsiders, learning a Universal Language is a gateway into grammar and vocabulary for each zone.


While implementation will take time, there can be several phases to helping promote region cooperation and ''esprit de corps''.  1) the language is taught in school electively.  Concordantly, "World English" and other attempts to make individual, natural languages which belong to a particular people group become the ''lingua franca'' of any region must stop.  2) Ph.D's and scientific journals must be written in a Universal Language.  Parallel versions in the regional language and the Universal Language are published side by side.  3) Public education and progressively public signage are written in the Universal Language.  Nothing local or indigenous is ever replaced, but anything with international reach or goals must be communicated in a Universal Language.  4) Finally, the unique writing system of each region (where it isn't already being deployed) is introduced, replacing the reign of Latin or other writing systems.
While implementation will take time, there can be several phases to helping promote region cooperation and ''esprit de corps''.  1) the language is taught in school electively.  Concordantly, "World English" and other attempts to make individual, natural languages which belong to a particular people group become the ''lingua franca'' of any region must stop.  2) Ph.D's and scientific journals must be written in a Universal Language.  Parallel versions in the regional language and the Universal Language are published side by side.  3) Public education and progressively public signage are written in the Universal Language.  Nothing local or indigenous is ever replaced, but anything with international reach or goals must be communicated in a Universal Language.  4) Finally, the unique writing system of each region (where it isn't already being deployed) is introduced, replacing the reign of Latin or other writing systems.


== Map ==
[[File:Aquatiki map.png|1000px]]
[[File:Aquatiki map.png|1000px]]


{| {{Table/bluetable}}
The effects of European colonization as evident as [[Intralingua]] (Romance, in blue) and [[Folksprak]] (Germanic, in red) are spread across the globe.  The dark green of [[Interslavic]] sprawls across into Asia, but, of course, the population is actually quite thin.  The bright green of [[Jalpi]] (Turkic) interweaves through Central Asia, as does the dark green-grey of [[Samboka]] (Finno-Ugric).  Returning to Europe, we see the [[Balkan]] sprachbund has its own language, as does the disputed region of the Caucasus, i.e. [[User:Aquatiki/Caucas|Caucas]]. 
 
Moving towards India, we see the former Persian Empire, in the form of [[User:Aquatiki/Zens|Zens]].  Perhaps a greater degree of unity would be possible in the future, but for now, we divide the Indian sub-continent into [[User:Aquatiki/Neo-Sanskrit|Neo-Sanskrit]] and [[User:Aquatiki/Dravindian|Dravindian]].  Continuing east, we see that Maritime Southeast Asia, and [[User:Aquatiki/MSEAL|Mainland Southeast Asia]] each have their own language, as does the Sinosphere ([[Dan'a'yo|CJKV]]).
 
Looking to Africa, the Middle East is united around [[Middle Semitic]], extending across the north.  The Horn of Africa has long been seen as a sprachbund, here called [[User:Aquatiki/SEDES|SEDES]].  An effort exists already to unite West Africa linguistically, called [[Guosa]].  Swahili is largely a Bantu-unifier, but like using English, it is not neutral.  We propose the creation of [[User:Aquatiki/Kintu|Kintu]].
 
Unlikely candidates are the Native American languages, the Qinghai sprachbund, the Celtic languages, and others.  Papua New Guinea seems to have naturally created a creole to meet this exact kind of problem, in the form of [[Tok Pisin]].
 
== Table ==
{| {{Table/bluetable}}  
|+ Universal Languages
|+ Universal Languages
! Name
! Name
Line 37: Line 50:
| The eastern region of Africa is dominated by Swahili at present, but it is not a neutral language. An auxiliary language was created for Pan-African purposes.
| The eastern region of Africa is dominated by Swahili at present, but it is not a neutral language. An auxiliary language was created for Pan-African purposes.
|-
|-
! [[Indo-Malaysian]]
! [[User:Aquatiki/Indo-Malaysian|Indo-Malaysian]]
| [[w:Maritime Southeast Asia|East Indies]]
| [[w:Maritime Southeast Asia|East Indies]]
| 380
| 380
Line 53: Line 66:
|-
|-
! [[Middle Semitic]]
! [[Middle Semitic]]
| [Semitisphere
| [[w:Arab world|Semitisphere]]
| 290
| 290
| The Arabics and Israeli are all designed languages, so why not design a compromise? The Syriac script is also a middle ground, and a helpful linguistic blend to incorporate.
| The Arabics and Israeli are all designed languages, so why not design a compromise? The Syriac script is also a middle ground, and a helpful linguistic blend to incorporate.
Line 83: Line 96:
|-
|-
! [[Balkan]]
! [[Balkan]]
| [[w:Balkans]]
| [[w:Balkans|Balkans]]
| 60
| 60
| Through a long history of living together, an indisputable sprachbund exists in the area. Greek letters make a neutral writing system.
| Through a long history of living together, an indisputable sprachbund exists in the area. Greek letters make a neutral writing system.
Line 95: Line 108:
| [[w:Caucasia|Caucasia]]
| [[w:Caucasia|Caucasia]]
| 23
| 23
| Maybe not a sprachbund, but needs unifying
| May not a meet the definition of a sprachbund, but can be unified
|}
 
 
{{Also|Universal Language/Swadesh}}
 
== WALS ==
{| class="wikitable"
!
! colspan="5" | Europe
! colspan="2" | India
! colspan="3" | East Asia
! colspan="4" | Africa
! colspan="3" | Central Asia
|-
! !! {{Rune|[[Folksprak|ᚠᛋ]]}} !! [[Intralingua|IL]] !! [[Interslavic|слов]] !! [[Balkan| Βαλκ]] !! [[Samboka|Sam]] !! [[User:Aquatiki/Dravindian|Drav]] !! [[User:Aquatiki/Neo-Sanskrit|NSS]] !! [[Dan'a'yo|単]] !! [[User:Aquatiki/Indo-Malaysian|IM]] !! <small>[[User:Aquatiki/MSEAL|MSEAL]]</small> !! [[Guosa|Guo]] !! [[User:Aquatiki/Kintu|K]] !! <small>[[User:Aquatiki/SEDES|SEDES]]</small> !! [[Middle Semitic|MS]] !! [[User:Aquatiki/Zens|Zens]] !! [[Jalpi]] !! [[User:Aquatiki/Caucas|კავ]]
|-
! <abbr title="Arm vs Hand, # of words WALS 129A">arm</abbr>
| {{Yes|2}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{No|1}} || {{Yes|2}} ||  {{Yes|2}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{No|1}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{Yes|2}} || || {{No|1}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{No|1}} || {{Yes|2}} ||
|-
! <abbr title="Word Order (predominant) WALS 81A">WO</abbr>
| {{Some|V2}} || {{Yes|SVO}} || {{Yes|SVO}} || {{Yes|SVO}} || || {{Some|VSO}} || {{No|SOV}} || {{No|SOV}} || {{Yes|SVO}} || {{Some|VSO}} || {{Some|VSO}} || || {{Yes|SVO}} || {{No|SOV}} || {{Yes|SVO}} || {{No|SOV}} || {{No|SOV}}
|-
! <abbr title="Evidentiality (marked on verb) WALS 7">Ev.</abbr>
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}
|-
! <abbr title="Number of grammatical cases">Ca.</abbr>
| {{Some|pro}} || {{Some|pro}} || {{Yes|6}} || {{Yes|4}} || {{Yes|16}} || {{Yes|8}} || {{Yes|4}} || {{No|0}} || {{No|0}} || {{No|0}} || {{No|0}} || {{No|0}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{No}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{Yes|7}} ||
|-
! <abbr title="Relative clause word order - post, ante, correlative">RC</abbr>
| {{Yes|p}} || {{Yes|p}} || {{Yes|p}} || {{Yes|p}} || {{No|a}} || {{No|p}} || {{Some|c}} || {{No|a}} || {{Yes|p}} || {{Yes|p}} || {{Yes|p}} || {{Yes|p}} || {{Yes|p}} || {{Yes|p}} || {{Yes|p}} || {{No|a}} || {{No|a}}
|-
! <abbr title="Gender, number of">G</abbr>
| {{No|0}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{Yes|3}} || {{Yes|3}}  || {{No|0}} || {{Yes|3}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{No|0}} || || {{No|0}} || || {{Some|10}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{Yes|2}} || {{No|0}} || {{No|0}} || {{No|0}}
|-
! <abbr title="Tone or Pitch Accent">TPA</abbr>
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Some|PA}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} ||
|-
! <abbr title="Definite Article WALS 37">DA</abbr>
| {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || || {{No}} || || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} ||
|-
! <abbr title="Indefinite Article WALS 38">IA</abbr>
| {{Some}} || {{Some}} || {{No}} || {{Some}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Some}} || {{Some}} || {{Some}} || || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Some}} || {{Some}} || {{Some}} ||
|-
! <abbr title="Clusivity">Clu</abbr>
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}}  || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}}
|-
! <abbr title="Typological grouping - Isolating, Fusional, Agglutinating">Typ</abbr>
| {{No|F}} || {{No|F}} || {{No|F}} || {{No|F}} || {{Some|A}} || {{No|F}} || {{Some|A}} || {{Yes|I}} || {{Some|A}} || {{Yes|I}} || || {{Some|A}} || {{No|F}} || {{No|F}} || {{Some|A}} || {{Some|A}} || {{Some|A}}
|-
! <abbr title="Perfective/Imperfective mod is a verbal affix/conjugation">PI</abbr>
| || {{Some}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Some}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} ||{{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Some}}
|-
! <abbr title="Reduplication (full or partial) is a productive part of the grammar WALS 27">Red</abbr>
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} ||  {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} ||
|-
! <abbr title="Vowels, number of, counting nasal, length, etc.">Vow</abbr>
| {{Some|7}} || {{Yes|5}} || {{No|6}} || {{Yes|5}}  || {{No|6}} || {{Yes|5}} || {{Some|8}} || {{Yes|5}} || {{No|6}} || {{No|6}} || {{Some|7}} || {{Yes|5}} || {{Yes|5}} || {{Yes|5}} || {{No|6}} || {{Some|8}} || {{No|6}}
|-
! <abbr title="Gemination of consonants, beyond marginally">Gem</abbr>
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! <abbr title="Stress for the clause/utterance is defined by Left/Right edge.  No means weight-based">Str</abbr>
| || {{Yes|R}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Some|L}} || {{Yes|R}} || {{No}} || {{Yes|R}} || {{Yes|R}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes|R}} || {{Yes|R}} || {{No}} || {{No}}
|-
! <abbr title="Morphosyntactic Alignment">MSA</abbr>
| {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Some|Spl}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{Some|Tri}} || {{Yes|NA}} || {{No|Erg}}
|-
! <abbr title="Tu-Vous Distinction or more politeness">TV</abbr>
| || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Some|++}} || {{Some|++}} || {{Yes|**}} || {{Some|++}} || {{Yes|**}} || || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! <abbr title="Possessive Affixes attach to nouns">PA</abbr>
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}}
|-
! <abbr title="Polar Question Particle - no means verb form">PQP</abbr>
| {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}}
|-
! <abbr title="Future is a verbal affix">Fut</abbr>
| {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Some|++}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! <abbr title="Negation Particle - VA is for verbal affix; auxiliary verb">NP</abbr>
| {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Some|aux}} || {{No|VA}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || || {{No|VA}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{No|VA}} || {{No|VA}} || {{Yes}}
|}
|}


Really unlikely candidates are the Native American languages, the Qinghai sprachbund, the Celtic languages, and others.  Papua New Guinea seems to have naturally created a creole to meet this exact kind of problem, in the form of [[Tok Pisin]]
Additionally, only the languages of India have '''breathy consonants''', only IM and MSEAL have '''obligatory subjects''', and only Caucas has '''labialized velars'''.  Only East Asian languages have '''classifiers'''.


[[Category:Universal Languages]]
[[Category:Universal Languages]]
{{Aquatiki}}

Latest revision as of 14:50, 9 July 2022

We propose that the world would be better off with ~ 15 Universal Languages.

Justification

In the future, regional unity and pride will be seen as desirable, in order not to lose indigenous cultures and languages. Esperanto is a fine idea, but it scrubs through many of the important differences of regions and cultures. A slightly finer grain of distinction yields approximately 15 world languages, as seen below. Within each zone, the Universal Language is taught and mandatory, but no one group or culture claims it as there own. Each Universal Language is a kind of abstraction, an easy to learn language for everyone in the zone, but an artificial creation unlike natural languages. It is a kind of neutral meeting ground, a no-man's land. Nevertheless, for outsiders, learning a Universal Language is a gateway into grammar and vocabulary for each zone.

While implementation will take time, there can be several phases to helping promote region cooperation and esprit de corps. 1) the language is taught in school electively. Concordantly, "World English" and other attempts to make individual, natural languages which belong to a particular people group become the lingua franca of any region must stop. 2) Ph.D's and scientific journals must be written in a Universal Language. Parallel versions in the regional language and the Universal Language are published side by side. 3) Public education and progressively public signage are written in the Universal Language. Nothing local or indigenous is ever replaced, but anything with international reach or goals must be communicated in a Universal Language. 4) Finally, the unique writing system of each region (where it isn't already being deployed) is introduced, replacing the reign of Latin or other writing systems.

Map

Aquatiki map.png

The effects of European colonization as evident as Intralingua (Romance, in blue) and Folksprak (Germanic, in red) are spread across the globe. The dark green of Interslavic sprawls across into Asia, but, of course, the population is actually quite thin. The bright green of Jalpi (Turkic) interweaves through Central Asia, as does the dark green-grey of Samboka (Finno-Ugric). Returning to Europe, we see the Balkan sprachbund has its own language, as does the disputed region of the Caucasus, i.e. Caucas.

Moving towards India, we see the former Persian Empire, in the form of Zens. Perhaps a greater degree of unity would be possible in the future, but for now, we divide the Indian sub-continent into Neo-Sanskrit and Dravindian. Continuing east, we see that Maritime Southeast Asia, and Mainland Southeast Asia each have their own language, as does the Sinosphere (CJKV).

Looking to Africa, the Middle East is united around Middle Semitic, extending across the north. The Horn of Africa has long been seen as a sprachbund, here called SEDES. An effort exists already to unite West Africa linguistically, called Guosa. Swahili is largely a Bantu-unifier, but like using English, it is not neutral. We propose the creation of Kintu.

Unlikely candidates are the Native American languages, the Qinghai sprachbund, the Celtic languages, and others. Papua New Guinea seems to have naturally created a creole to meet this exact kind of problem, in the form of Tok Pisin.

Table

Universal Languages
Name Region Pop. Description
Dan'a'yo Sinosphere 1500 Take the phonology of Old Korean, a writing-system of Japanese, and the syntax of Middle Chinese, and you've got a simplified, logical language equally comprehensible to all the relevant parties.
Neo-Sanskrit Hindi Belt 1400 Harkening back to the good 'ol day, we have created language understandable to any Indo-Aryan speaker. It will be written in a script from which hundreds are descended today.
Intralingua Latinsphere 800 Fully utilizing the Latin alphabet, Interlingua is an immediately understandable to Romance language speakers, and English speakers find it even easier than Spanish.
Folksprak Germania 500 By returning English to its Germanic roots, the U.S.A.'s hidden divisions become clear and a new era of communication becomes possible, across Northern Europe, and the world.
Kintu Bantusphere 450 The eastern region of Africa is dominated by Swahili at present, but it is not a neutral language. An auxiliary language was created for Pan-African purposes.
Indo-Malaysian East Indies 380 The region already has a great deal of mutual intelligibility; all that is needed is a regulation and standardization of vocabulary and a neutral grammar to be setup.
Guosa West Africa 340 Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone,Togo.
Interslavic Slavisphere 300 There have long been attempts to unify the Slavic people under one language, as they once were under Old Church Slavonic. Southern Slavic languages are grouped separately (see "Balkan" below).
Middle Semitic Semitisphere 290 The Arabics and Israeli are all designed languages, so why not design a compromise? The Syriac script is also a middle ground, and a helpful linguistic blend to incorporate.
MSEAL SE Asia 233 The areal effects of this region are generally recognized, but it will take a great deal of research into the hundreds of barely-documented languages in the region. Perhaps a "Pan-MSEA" movement will arise in the future ...
Dravindian South India 230 Despite having been in proximity with the Indo-Aryan languages for 2,000 year, these languages still maintain a separate identity and require their own regional language, often going back to Proto-Dravidian for words and grammar.
Zens Greater Persia 175 The Iranian languages will be extremely difficult to unite, given that some are Nominative-Accusative, and some are (Split) Ergative. This will not be easy. The vocabulary and phonology will be very nice, though.
Jalpi Pan-Turkey 170 The Turkic people have had a desire to unite for over a century and a half.
SEDES Horn of Africa 117 Ethiopia and Eritrea form a long-recognized sprachbund, stretching to include Somalia and Djibouti. Around 90 languages already have much in common.
Balkan Balkans 60 Through a long history of living together, an indisputable sprachbund exists in the area. Greek letters make a neutral writing system.
Samboka Samoyed 26 These languages have split enormously and have very complicated grammars.
Caucas Caucasia 23 May not a meet the definition of a sprachbund, but can be unified


See also article on Universal Language/Swadesh

WALS

Europe India East Asia Africa Central Asia
ᚠᛋ IL слов Βαλκ Sam Drav NSS 単 IM MSEAL Guo K SEDES MS Zens Jalpi კავ
arm 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2
WO V2 SVO SVO SVO VSO SOV SOV SVO VSO VSO SVO SOV SVO SOV SOV
Ev. No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No No Yes No No
Ca. pro pro 6 4 16 8 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 No 2 7
RC p p p p a p c a p p p p p p p a a
G 0 2 3 3 0 3 2 0 0 10 2 2 0 0 0
TPA No No No No No No No PA No Yes Yes Yes No No No No
DA Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
IA Some Some No Some No No No Some Some Some No No Some Some Some
Clu No No No No No Yes No No Yes No No No No No No No No
Typ F F F F A F A I A I A F F A A A
PI Some Yes Yes No Yes Yes Some No No No No No No Yes No Some
Red No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
Vow 7 5 6 5 6 5 8 5 6 6 7 5 5 5 6 8 6
Gem No No Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes Yes No No Yes
Str R No No L R No R R No No No No R R No No
MSA NA NA NA NA NA NA Spl NA NA NA NA NA NA NA Tri NA Erg
TV Yes Yes Yes Yes ++ ++ ** ++ ** No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
PA No No No No Yes No No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No
PQP Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Fut No Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No No ++ Yes
NP Yes Yes Yes Yes aux VA Yes Yes Yes Yes VA Yes Yes VA VA Yes

Additionally, only the languages of India have breathy consonants, only IM and MSEAL have obligatory subjects, and only Caucas has labialized velars. Only East Asian languages have classifiers.

This is a tag to help User:Aquatiki backup all his files
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