AHC: The Imposition of an Artificial Language

[Beatriz]

Auxilary artificial languages like Esperanto and Ido are designed for global communication. In what circumstances could a state realistically impose it from the top down? The closest IRL equivalent is Modern Hebrew in Israel, and that required the specific centrality of Hebrew (ironically as a liturgical language) to the Jewish identity.

Perhaps a World Government covering most of the Earth in a timeline less dominated by Anglophone nations could impose such a language.

The first, and biggest problem is getting people to speak it, and getting enough supporters that learning an esoteric language becomes part of the program. The second is culture - Esperanto largely failed to catch in part because it had no "artificial culture", and to what extent local cultures, like naming customs get overridden in the process. People may not want names in a foreign language like "Unueco Bakeristo" imposed onto them.

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

His Excellency Saparmurat Niyazov forces everyone in Turkmenistan to speak a conlang devised by himself, where pretty much all words are anagrams of "turkmen". Nerkumt metrunk e runtmek! Kurtemn!

 

[Neoteros]

The early European Community could adopt Esperanto (it was fairly popular in the 1950s and 1960s, compared to today) as a neutral language of communication I guess, but it wouldn't be forced upon Europe at gunpoint; another option might be Interlingua, as it was designed by a committee of expert linguists to be easily understandable.

If you want violence, I guess some pan-Slavic polity more extensive than Yugoslavia (where Serbo-Croatian dominated) but excluding Russia (that'd be even more dominant) could try and resurrect Old Church Slavonic, stumbling upon an ATL version of Interslavic, maybe if this polity extends to the entirety of, or parts of, Albania, Greece and Romania, whoever's in charge could spin it as a truly "Orthodox" language.

 

[JonClark]

What if a major business championed a new language for its products. Imagine Microsoft or Apple (or Amazon) deciding that from a certain date forward they would streamline operations by conducting business (customer service, contracts, ) in somthing like Simlish

 

[marathag]

I recall that for made up languages, Klingonese has more speakers than some 'real' languages

 

[Nivek]

I recall that for made up languages, Klingonese has more speakers than some 'real' languages

like what 10K? 20K? that is one of techinal true but a white noise in the real stuff,like esperanto here, a historical white noise

 

[Gunnarnz]

The written form of Hangul is "artificial", specifically designed by King Sejong the Great to be easy to learn.

 

[David T]

Auxilary artificial languages like Esperanto and Ido are designed for global communication. In what circumstances could a state realistically impose it from the top down?

Stalin retains his youthful affection for Esperanto: " In his seven months at the famous Bailovka [prison] set amid the oilfields, Stalin dominated its power structures. He read, studied Esperanto, which he regarded as the language of the future..." https://books.google.com/books?id=Jrkl5e1joNMC&pg=PT304

 

[Legofan4]

What if a major business championed a new language for its products. Imagine Microsoft or Apple (or Amazon) deciding that from a certain date forward they would streamline operations by conducting business (customer service, contracts, ) in somthing like Simlish

Why would any business do that? It seems much easier to just conduct business in the dominant local language.

Which is really the question for everyone of the artificial languages why bother? Seems like a large amount of effort for a nominal gain at best. Especially as machine translation becomes easier and easier.

 

[Analytical Engine]

Just as long as it isn't Vötgil.

 

[ramones1986]

Eusebio T. Daluz's conlang became the "native lingua franca" and became the mother tongue of Metropolitan Manila and surrounding areas.

 

[Brady Kj]

The closest IRL equivalent is Modern Hebrew in Israel, and that required the specific centrality of Hebrew (ironically as a liturgical language) to the Jewish identity.

Are you sure that Hebrew is a closer equivalent than Indonesian?

 

[Count of Crisco]

There are plenty of examples of natural languages which have been made artificially. Happened quite a bit in the 1800s and before as states began to standardize languages in their written and taught forms to make governing easier. It also helped with nation building to take many disparate accents and dialects and combine them into a standardized form.

 

[Metempsychosis]

I have this idea for Proto-Indo-European getting promoted by an internationalist movement in the 19th century. It'd schism between the nationalist 'Aryanists' who promote the old version and make it into a new living community and the academic ones who are more invested in reconstructing it.

 

[West234]

Stalin retains his youthful affection for Esperanto: " In his seven months at the famous Bailovka [prison] set amid the oilfields, Stalin dominated its power structures. He read, studied Esperanto, which he regarded as the language of the future..." https://books.google.com/books?id=Jrkl5e1joNMC&pg=PT304

Imagine if he did he might try and premote it as a kind of universal language to unite all the different peoples in the Soviet Union and the broader Soviet block. I don’t think it would really catch on with the lower classes but among intellectuals and hardline communists it might be more common. I imagine it would see a decline after the death of Stalin but if it was intrenched enough it might be able to hang on. It would be despised by the west due to its association with communism so speakers there would be almost nonexistent. After the Soviet Union falls I bet it is used in parts of the former USSR along with English as sort of a lingua franca though countries like the former Warsaw Pact members the Baltic states and some of the Central Asian republics would probably drop it due to its association with communism.

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

Imagine if he did he might try and premote it as a kind of universal language to unite all the different peoples in the Soviet Union and the broader Soviet block. I don’t think it would really catch on with the lower classes but among intellectuals and hardline communists it might be more common.

If Stalin decreed Esperanto was the new language of Communism and other languages were counterrevolutionary, it'd catch on with everyone who didn't want to go to Kolyma.

 

[West234]

If Stalin decreed Esperanto was the new language of Communism and other languages were counterrevolutionary, it'd catch on with everyone who didn't want to go to Kolyma.

It would be really hard for him to just force everyone to accept a new language. I mean of corse he could do it but it would be very unpopular with everyone including the party higher ups and it would be hard to enforce. So I just think it is more likely that he would try and slowly implement it.

 

[aaronupright]

The closest IRL equivalent is Modern Hebrew in Israel, and that required the specific centrality of Hebrew (ironically as a liturgical language) to the Jewish identity.

Urdu in Pakistan is another example.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Im reminded of the Mandango (sp?) people or tribe in the Ohio Great Lakes region of the 18th & 19th Century. That group originated out of a amalgamation of former prisoners and slaves slipping away from the Iroquois and disaffected from other tribes of the region, refugees and whoever wandered in. These bands developed out of their multiple languages a common Pidgen. I understand this did not develop into a full blown language tho it was becoming a proper Creole when the tribe went into decline. Theres many other examples of polygot populations developing a new Creole language out of necessity when no single existing language dominated. Following those examples it is hypothetically possible a linguistically diverse population tossed together by some circumstance adopt Esperanto or devise something similar out of a need for a simple common administrative and technical communication tongue.