Auxiliary Language

Auxiliary Language 

any artificial language used for special types of communication; distinct from natural language, which is the basic means of communication serving all spheres and types of human activity. Various codes and abstract languages of the intermediary-language type used in machine translation, as well as international auxiliary languages, which serve the purposes of international communication and are similar in function to natural languages, are regarded as auxiliary languages. The problem of an international auxiliary language is 300 years old; numerous plans exist for such a language (Esperanto, Volapuk, Ido, Occidental, Novial, and Interlingua). The following requirements are set forth for international auxiliary languages: simple, clear, and precise expression of existing concepts; the ability to express new concepts; simple and rational structure; motivated quality of the relationships between the signifier and the signified; and monosemy.

An auxiliary language may be constructed on the basis of a logical classification of concepts and a conventional system of expressing them (a priori language), or it may be modeled after existing languages and based on their lexical material (a posteriori language). Among the designs of international auxiliary languages there are also languages of the mixed type (for example, Esperanto) and truncated versions of existing natural languages (pidgin or Basic English). The creation of an international auxiliary language does not imply that it will replace all national languages; the auxiliary language will be used in international communications. The solution to the problem of the structure of an auxiliary language is closely associated with the problems of general linguistics. That branch of linguistics which studies the structural principles of auxiliary language design is known as inter linguistics. The problem of an international auxiliary language was discussed at the Sixth International Congress of Linguists in Paris in 1948. The International Auxiliary Language Association was formed in 1924.

REFERENCES

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Baudouin de Courtenay, I. A. “Vspomogatel’nyi mezhdunarodnyi iazyk. ” Izbr. trudy po obshchemu iazykoznaniiu, vol. 2. Moscow, 1963.
Grigor’ev, V. P. “O nekotorykh voprosakh interlingvistiki.” Voprosy iazykoznaniia, 1966, no. 1.
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Schuchardt, H. Weltsprache und Weltsprachen. Strasburg, 1894. Couturat, L., and L. Leau. Histoire de la langue universelle. Paris, 1907.
Baudouin de Courtenay, I. “Zur Kritik der kiinstlichen Weltsprachen.” In the collection Annalen der Naturphilosophie, vol. 6. Leipzig, 1907.
Jespersen, O. An International Language. London, 1928.
Jacob, H. A Planned Auxiliary Language. London, 1947. Martinet, A. “La Linguistique et les langues artificielles.” Word, 1946, no. 1.
Actes du sixieme congres international des linguistes. Paris, 1949.
International Auxiliary Language Association: Annual Reports for 1938. New York, 1939.

V. V. RASKIN