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| Title: | Coevolution of a Globally Shared Language (GSL):New Narratives for a Challenged Planet |
| Authors: | Jonathan B. Britten |
| Contributors: | Nakamura University, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Date: | 2009-12-16 |
| Issue Date: | 2010-01-08 03:09:02 (UTC+0) |
| Publisher: | 亞洲大學外國語文學系 |
| Abstract: | The Tower of Babel myth is one of the world’s best-known narratives, imaginatively
explaining civilization’s many mutually incomprehensible languages, and the unfortunate
consequences for humanity. Various accounts of the Tower, similar to the version in
Genesis, collectively comprise the quintessential narration of a great disaster – the
dissection of one tongue into thousands. The Babel myth therefore describes the resultant
disaster of narration, i.e., the mutual incomprehensibility of myriad narrations and the
resultant cultural divisions.
The Babel myth resonates powerfully even in an era of powerful information and
communication technologies (ICT.) We have worldwide social networks, instantaneous
email and Skype service, and ever-improving Internet translation engines. For all of that,
humanity remains divided by the absence of a Globally Shared Language (GSL). We
have been unable to establish a fully shared language, though not for lack of imagination
or effort. There have been many attempts to construct an International Auxiliary
Language (IAL), such as Esperanto, but all have all failed. Indeed, according to linguist
Braj Kachru, ""all such attempts are now considered linguistic esoterica, mere symbols of
the desire for universalist thinkers for a code of communication that would cut across
cultures."" Esperanto, for example, has at most two million speakers, and these days we
read far less about IAL projects such as Esperanto than about languages constructed for
Hollywood, such as Klingon, created for the “Star Trek” franchise, or Na’vi, constructed
for the newly-released “Avatar.”
The failure of constructed languages to establish a globally shared language does not
necessarily mean that humanity cannot share a language. The premise of this short lecture
is that modern circumstances may result in an unprecedented process that may at last lead
to success: coevolution of a GSL from a scaffolding of existing world languages. Such a
process could reshape the landscape of linguistics, provide a living laboratory of
linguistic change, and have profound effects on other academic specialties and on
societies throughout the world. |
| Relation: | 2009第三屆『全球化』與華語文敘述國際學術研討會 2009-12-16~19:197-198 |
| Appears in Collections: | [外國語文學系] 會議論文
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Size | Format | |
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| 310904400-7095 .doc | | 32Kb | Microsoft Word | 802 | View/Open |
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