five theses to hammer on the gates of babel

7/29/2019 FIVE THESES TO HAMMER ON THE GATES OF BABEL

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more, Yi_ sha).!l hav:e :to make i t mre diverse. There w i l ~ have to be m o rt r a n ~ l a t i o n . , - t ~ ~ ~ e n d 9 u s l y JilOre, too much more fo r - machines to _handle wou]1 ttre_heJp 9 f " ~ _ v _ e r increasing numbers of specialized and expert humatl:'ansl.p,t9r.s. c ;:

. But . I hold : t':b.a.t in a l l anticipated evoltuion of the language ofsctence i t s ccideiifal l inguis t ic s_ubstratum i s bound to remain essentand vi ta l . - --5. With or without Whorf it i s possible to regard the occidental

l a n g ~ a g e s - - sub specie l a t in i t a t i s - - as variants of a common norm. Thas 1ed to the concept of a "bridge language". Take any group of closerelated languages a n ~ you can - - without undue ar t i f i ce or violence - reduce them to a colDlilon norm in which a message can be transmit ted quieffectively to speakers of each and every one of the contributing languages without pr ior in i t i a t ion . Inter l ingua i s a pan-occidental bridglangunge. In it messages can , be t ransmitted with adequate effect ivenesto those who by accident or bi r th or by choice of education know wellfa i r ly well ) one of the major languages in the Latin orbi t .- I hold tha t th is assigns to Inter l ingua a useful function in sciet i f i c communication anywhere in the world. Once and for a l l , it i s nocandidate - for the role - - glorious or inglorious - - of one cominon lang~ o r a l l mank:ind. I t is no subst i tu te _for language -learning and no comi to r of t r a n s l a t i o ~ ~ I t i s a bridge.1C1figuage t o b e used in addressingheteropolyglot audience or readership.

* * * * * *' .The _Inter l ingua Division of Science St.!'Vice - as the name implieswas se t up to ut i l i ze Inter l ingua in the service of science in mattersof in ternat ional communication.

- - - T h ~ areas_ in which the werk of the Division i s of recognized usefness t -- ttie - ind.ividual sc ien t i s t are primari ly the following:.(1) Provision ~ f fute:rlingua Summaries or Abstracts appended to acl,es in special ized journals of in ternat ional research significance

. _(2)Provision of Inter l ingua versions of Progra.m Notes or Proceediof i n t ~ r n a t i o n a l congresses. -. _ - .

EC!-i tors . and a ~ t n o r s who w ~ s h to study the poss ib i l i y of .ut i l iz inI n t e r l i n g u ~ in the i r work are invited to address the' ir .comriiun:lcatlons, - . 'Interl ingua Division -of Science Service :Alexander Gode, C.hie.f :...-- --80 East l l t h Street .

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New York 3, N. Y ' ; -U.S.A . -

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five theses to hammer on the gates of babel

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