Summarine

Computer simulations of language change notes

This website collects my personal notes on Computer simulations of language change. These notes are provided to bring full transparency to my research process. Of course, since they are only notes, they do not reflect my final thoughts on a topic, and should not be interpreted as such. To read finished papers, please consult my website. Do not use these notes as a basis for your own scientific research. Start from high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific literature instead.

The Artificial Language Movement

p. vii

Introduction

artificial language

  • ‘a neutral tongue, acceptable to all’

Not all artificial languages have been devised to facilitate human communication. Languages such as Fortran and Pascal are artificial constructions possessing syntax and vocabulary, but they are written to act as a medium through which instructions can be passed from a human to a computer.

p. 3

Origins

p. 7

Joseph Webe, for example, believed that languages are not learnt by means of rules, but by reading and unconsciously assimilating sentence-patterns.

p. 11

international character

  • earliest attempts for international communication
  • universal writing system → would represent concepts (not sounds) by characters which would have different spoken forms according to the natural language of the user
  • ≈ Chinese ideograms, musical notes and Egyptian hieroglyphics
p. 12

↳ why?

  • incorrect knowledge about Chinese writing system
  • thought characters represent concepts directly
    • false: they represent morphemes
p. 14

universal language goals

  • create a language which reflects ‘nature’
  • a rational, philosophical language in which a logical relationship would exist between ideas and the words used to express them
  • “free of irregularities, idiosyncrasies and ambiguities” → no room for misinterpretation
  • easier to learn, remember and use than any natural language
p. 14-15
Two views
Wilkins view others view
classification of concepts universal langauge as a logical instrument
assigning concepts to a notation an instrument to enable men to think more precisely and clearly
p. 15

Although the language schemes started out with the utilitarian purpose of providing a simple universal writing, they developed into a complex analysis of things themselves: that is, into taxonomic schemes.

p. 19

Seventeenth-century language projects

p. 20

problems with ‘universal character’ (👁 ↑)

    1. not all concepts are unambiguously defined
    2. memorising the vast number of characters necessary is difficult
    3. difficult to design ‘universal characters’
    • would have to show a complex concept as a simple character
p. 40

failure of a priori languages

  • idea that language could be constructed in classification tables was based on Aristotelian philosophy
  • this brand of philosophy had lost popularity, and as such also the ‘philosophical language projects’
p. 51

Furthermore, many Idéologues like Destutt de Tracy even questioned the feasibility of constructing a perfect philosophical language. He believed that the major difficulty did not lie with the invention of a written character or spoken syllables, but with the classification of ideas, the problem that had engaged Dalgarno, Wilkins and Leibniz. Scholars would never agree about how simple ideas should be ordered in tables nor how they should be combined to form complex ideas. In any case, he argued, our ideas are imperfect and cannot be expressed precisely like mathematical statements. Languages are inherently flawed. Such arguments undermined the very foundations of a priori schemes.

a priori ⟷ a posteriori languages
a priori language a posteriori language
composed entirely of invented elements not found in any existing language based on elements of grammar, vocabulary and syntax drawn from one or more natural languages
p. 61

Solresol

  • artificial language using NOTES as a basis
  • “succeeded best in capturing the popular imagination” before Volapük and Esperanto
p. 64

The widening of appeal

Volapük

  • a mixed a priori/a posteriori language project
  • rapid success, but quick demise due to its linguistic difficulty
p. 131

The challengers to Esperanto

autonomistic systems naturalistic systems
language made as easy and precise as possible by creating a set of principles which will be employed without exceptions language resembles as closely as possible the existing forms of natural languages (even at the expense of regularity)
p. 177

Prospects of an international language

Computer simulations of language change notes

This website collects my personal notes on Computer simulations of language change. These notes are provided to bring full transparency to my research process. Of course, since they are only notes, they do not reflect my final thoughts on a topic, and should not be interpreted as such. To read finished papers, please consult my website. Do not use these notes as a basis for your own scientific research. Start from high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific literature instead.