| Show I 1 0 I 1 I 1 i THE I 1 to att in Int ernat oust of speech TIM simplicity SIMPLi ciry OF toli it dil apos said to number thousands ai the various countries of europe at the present time chambers journal during the past three centuries en the attention of many linguists more es those of and tas been turned to pie issi b ili t vi constructing a language 11 I 1 c h B T JUIL serve many attempts III ve been made in tills direction and some fifty different dit ferent plans have been advocated for accomplishing this desirably desir ablo object but they have all been failures and for the sano reason that many other enterprises come to naught namely that they have not been suited to the comprehension of that large majority of persons who require the utmost simplicity in tiny matter abich they are required to learn and understand these linguists wrote not for tile many but those minds were as auld bated and receptive as the ron hen withey failed others suggested sue methods af accomplishing this international uniformity in speech and writing which when they barild to be examined critically were found to be little better than mutilated editions of existing tongues and so the question rested until 21 Se bleyer of constance took it up and prodie ed for the first time which gives some indication of being successful 11 ils international language is called that Is word speech 11 in constructing this neu language M has aimed at extreme simplicity and has laid existing eng ro an tongues under contribution especially Is this the case aita english I 1 and for the very good reason that tile english language is the mother tongue of persons that is to zy there are nearis double tile number of persons who speak english as compared with those who genat ge na t I 1 inore than double t 0 ail compared with those whose native tongue Is either french or spanish but while M this preference to english the features of other ians have been freely adopted th mm ile construction corst ruction of the french language lan forms a model for the con truc tion of the indeed so amplo in and desi is tills new tongue that it Is claimed by its adherents to be easily learned in a few weeks provided that the learned Is already a waster of a ian gustae sach as french or italian or a germanic one such as english or german with regard to pronunciation it may be objected that a universal ertem is an impossibility but the objection object ign fj not a serious one when it remembered Ja uniformity of exeas in asting brog sm go for instance a man and his countryman from lan bashire are both supposed W speak the tume lan but their actual P mech is so different that they find it 1 I 0 understand one another tv 0 1 one from the north and the other from the south of their ria tive country auld find themselves in the same di and it is eay ea y to see that instances such as these could be indefinitely particularly when remember that in the day some COO di florent ian lire in use upon the earth simplicity af Is one of its most noteworthy features and one which guarantees more than any other can do its probable success evera letter has one and the same sound and moreover each word Is exactly as it Is pronounced abee are no anch I 1 n atles as alj rough plough 1 cough and enough which although t in the sa me lay are sounded so differently and the who has once mastered the voel sounds ellich are same as in french will have no ditri culty whatever in reading for the consonants with one or two ex options ept ions are in enoish the average schoolboy will think ndell of when he hears that it has no genders and no irregular verbs like german and french that it possess but a single conjugation and that it forms a plural simply by adding a but let us give an instance of its of construction and one which shows low use adjective and adverb are formed hom the substantive and how they have invariably the samo termination first we will take the substantive dol pain the derivation of which is obvious by adding the syllable ik to this word west into the adjective idolie pal nial biao the simple addition to this adjective of the letter 0 o gives us the adverb Ido liko painfully the verbs too are mainly the substantive for in puk in lAnu cage while to speak space forbids us to quote any more exam pies nor is it for as to do so for those who wish to learn more this interesting 82 can obtain at small cost an abr d ge el grammar of which has been adapted to seeking people by professor it is pub dished by mears charing cress london and we a inde bad to it for bucl of the into matian in the present arli cle it may naturally be asked what there of the adoption of this lonal lao uli e it we can judge from the bomber of its are said to amount to daiy thousands in the different states of Eurove iwo must acknowledge that the progress made since the publication li of M Schley ees works in 1881 is very wonderful these books consist of a grammar and german dictionary of nearly thirteen thousand werdot and they are about to be translated into all the languages of M n I 1 of asia indeed the eng lists I 1 n of the dictionary will be rondyl wt believe in t in pre ma idi these works bri S chaleyer ch leyer bas by some of the most eminent linguists beyond this beaus 0 promoting a widespread knowledge of Vola we must not omit to notice th at the first contress Con iress of its promoters was held in IWO at Friedrich shaven on the constance when mein efi from all P arts of europe were re t another congress was held I 1 lw after at munich was equally well at tendel but we shall be able to judge before lo 10 g offie number of adherent su fitnet langu size has for a great in Cong rests Is to 0 o held at in the on the ion of the universal exhibition in attal eates from all the different OR of eu which number no fewer than se we 41 delegates from certai tie in A america will meet and w 0 hall out how far has advanced in public favor after all this endeavor to weave tc ge ther some community of expression from existing langu agod it if what philologists tell me ae true merely a return to abat buet aa the longor gotten past there are so many po n to of agreement between the various languages and dialects of europe as well as between certain 1 re dutant of asia that i e doubt Is entertained that they bave bad me boua origin ia I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 filla ar 4 lz I 1 I 1 A I 1 m mother dis ay od into a number at th rent tongues it would seem an almost superhuman work once more to con thern vocabulary aleci c an b 0 m i to n t 0 a ll 11 a n d h e it t u I 1 t y tse tr 0 v e d b y t 1 i e rit u m de r 0 f 1 I ill ire a wv ell hava been dedi until 31 Sch lever after many 3 ears v patient labor invented there are many ito have indulged antho dream that a universal ian guage would be found in tho beautiful art of music and sa its to some elt tent for me all know that various feelings and thoughts can be readily suggested bv its influence no one can tell us eliy tracery of one of chapins Cho pins mazurkas ma affect us so daffe from the tile mal ell hy the same composer each speaks to us eloquently but no two exact lythe same lma and to many of the aro utterly balod ess 11 Sch leyers I 1 poll a more substantial balisi and aa must admit that if not destined to become a universal language of the future it is the best attempt pa such it co which we have yet seen |
