Spelling Progress Bulletin Language for International Communication --One or Two?

A paper presented at the Conference of IATEFL on 7th Jan. 1977 at Oxford College of Further Education, Oxford, England. 1. The purpose of this Conference is to foster communication by language: language -that Godgiven gift bestowed only on the human race and not on any of the other animals living on this planet. Man alone is able to create language as a means of communication by word of mouth, and to extend that gift to communication by other media, thanks to which, communication by visible words may be more effective for widespread communication. Indeed, it is clear that man's invention first of writing, and much later of printing, extended to the hand and the eye what had formerly been confined to the mouth and ear, and transferred to the permanent and tractable in space what had hitherto been evanescent, intractable in time and very localized in carrying distance. Of these two extensions the far more important was printing, which extended visible communication to many more eyes and ears (when read aloud) than writing or speech could ever have reached. On Michaelmas Day last year our Post Office celebrated by a special issue of stamps the introduction into England by William Caxton, 500 years earlier, of the novelty of printing by movable type, in letters based upon the best handwritings then current in Europe. The stamps are very beautiful and worthy of that all-important revolution in human communication by means of the English language, 2. Visible language thus became in many respects more effective for communication than oral language: furthermore, in relatively recent years man has invented the telephone, the radio and T.V. (with its concomitant pictorial aids for its oral communications), magnetic tapes and computer printing, all of which have enabled words to reach the ears and eyes of a great many more listeners and readers. Language by word of mouth is otherwise lost for ever but when stored "in the can" it comes to enjoy many of the great advantages of writing and printing, in that those reached are incomparably greater in number and that even the oral message is no longer evanescent and uncontrollable in time, but when recorded in space has become more tractable. Indeed speech, when so recorded, has become able to enjoy some of the benefits of permanence, retrieval and limitless reiteration which visible language enjoys. With each extension of language, the value of the widest possible understanding of words becomes even greater. 3. When we consider the potentially great advantages of oral and visual communication on as wide a scale as possible and the enormous increase in their potential, we may recall the story of the building of the Tower of Babel (I quote from Genesis 11, verse 1): "And the whole earth was of one language and one speech. . . And the Lord said, Behold the people is one and they have all one language. . . and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." We need to recognize how great an impediment to the welfare of mankind has been and will continue to be any barrier to human cooperation which is imposed on mankind by words being spoken, listened to, written and read in so many different tongues. [1] Is it not a needless friction in the use of man's unique gift that there should be any blockage in the understanding of one another's language? 4. I want to stress human co-operation as a consequence of man's ability to communicate. In cooperation lies the explanation for man's astonishing achievements in dominating not only all other animals but all vegetables and all minerals, indeed, almost his entire environment. The heaviest and strongest elephant can be hoisted on board a ship and placed exactly in a predetermined place, but this is possible not for the reason that man's strength is adequate to the task but because of man's language and his ability to pass information to his fellows (over both time and distance) and his ability to think and to plan and to collaborate in the plan's execution. 5. Man's achievements have grown, are growing and will grow in proportion as communication by words becomes wider and the impediments to its passage are removed and the words understood. In a small tribe, the achievements of man who can understand only his tribe's language can be only negligible, compared with those of man in a wider world, where his understanding of even one World Second Language (W.S.L.) would immeasurably increase his knowledge and power. 6. This premise is no doubt self-evident, but the questions raised are many. To what extent is man able to learn languages other than his native tongue and if, so, what is to be the one or more languages preferred for universalizing understanding? 7. Is bilingualism better per se than monolingualism? Is there advantage to the individual if he remains only monolingual? Surely not. Surely improvement in the first language is inevitable in learning any second language, whether a world language or not. This paper is no argument against any language, in addition to a World Second Language (W.S.L.), being learned and used. Very much the contrary, provided it be thus additional. 8. We must define bi-and multi-lingual isms as comprising skilled knowledge of the added languages; and by skill we must mean the habituated ability to think not primarily only in the mother tongue but in the second language also, and as clearly as in that first language. The added language needs to be not only an additional medium of communication and of thinking, but also a means of communication with those of that particular other language group as effective as if there were no barrier of language. Is it desirable, and if so is it practicable, to expect the population of the world to be eventually skilled in one other language and, if so, is it practicable to expect them to become skilled in two languages or even three? -what are man's potentialities and his limitations for adding yet other language skills? 10. It would seem that six factors, in combination, are essential for any language to deserve consideration: 1) There must be a vast range of word coverage of the concepts with which man is concerned. 2) There must be a vast accumulation of material in printed form in that language. 3) Printed material available must range widely, from the very simple to the most highly advanced and sophisticated, and the wide range must cover language of feeling as well as language of purpose. 4) Printed material must be widely stocked in libraries and be read by those to whom that language has already become a second language. Many students must wish and be willing to study and practise in order to become skilled in it as their second language. The likely accretion of newly skilled listeners, speakers, readers and writers is thus important. So far the emphasis has been on world communication through literacy, not through oracy: but nevertheless 5) The language should be also spoken and listened to by a significant proportion of the world's population. (The essentiality of these five factors eliminates all but about a dozen languages. For instance, the Danish language has much to commend it but Danish scientists pass on, even to one another, their know-how in a printed language other than Danish, desiring a wider field of communication than their own language affords.) 6) The language must be easy to learn. (The artificial languages, such as Esperanto, Ido, etc. are indeed easy to learn but they do not qualify for acceptance in all of the five factors above, least of all in the second, third, fourth and fifth.) 11. It would seem that there are probably not more than a dozen of the living languages [4] which so qualify for consideration. Each member of the audience may make his own list, with his own total, but it is likely that five languages -Spanish, German, Russian, French and English -will feature in every such list which may total five or more. 12. As is implicit in the second, third and fourth factors essential for consideration (paragraph 9), visible language needs to be regarded as more important for our purposes than audible language, though oracy is of course also relevant, particularly having regard to the recent developments in speech recording and broadcasting mentioned in paragraph 2. The Chinese language is not likely to be sufficiently eligible for two reasons: firstly, that it is not one language in oracy but two or three or more, notwithstanding that in literacy it is a single language; and secondly, that its claim to eligibility in those three essential factors in literacy (Nos. 2, 3 and 4) is not nearly as strong as the claim of each of the five other languages, all of which have also a wide, if not as wide, use in oracy. Finally the volume of foreign language listening to broadcasts to foreigners in their own languages is so great that comparisons based on the populations of any one nation (e.g. China) are not necessarily a valid criterion. Arabic is a strong contender and would be among the first five were more emphasis desirable on oracy and less on literacy. Any relative shortage of printed material available to meet factor number three, and for that matter number four also, is a most important consideration. Man, for the purposes we are considering, needs to benefit from being communicated with rather than from communicating and, spread as he is over the face of the globe, for his purposes, books he can obtain from a library and read (factors four and three) are more important for him than broadcasts, lectures or speeches to which he might listen-and are of much greater value to him and more convenient and accessible. Even with T.V., the students of the Open University in Britain are dependent upon access to printed material for effective study. Equally, it is likely that the historical and literary claims of a language such as Italian or Portuguese, great as they are, do not overcome their weakness in the second, third and fourth of the six essentials. 13. It seems therefore, to me at least, that the field of choice of one or even two languages as W.S.L.'s ought to lie within these five languages. 14. The extent to which a language should be eligible for preference as a W.S.L. may be judged by the -use of it already in world-wide communication. For instance, there are likely to be only a few films or programmes originated in the Albanian (ɑ) or Welsh (ɷ) languages. [5] World-wide broadcasting: Ground-to-air and Air-to-ground communication in Civil Aviation; T.V. programmes and films, originated in that one particular language, and having been so originated have been either (i ) "dubbed" in the oracy of another language or (ii) subtitled in the literacy of another language, are all relevant. 15. However, there needs to be recognized that any indications are relevant more to oracy than to literacy, but even in oracy the relevance is only to listening, not to speaking with a world-acceptable accent. Those who listen may be influenced by the sounds of a language they hear but for most adult and adolescent listeners -who are not strongly motivated to acquire a desired accent(s) -just listening does not alter the mother-tongue interference based on existing speech habituation, so separate are the activities of listening to and understanding in context what others have spoken, and those of speaking when they involve not only composition but also alteration of habits deeply conditioned long ago. A world-acceptable accent needs to be studiously acquired. [6] Lest it may be argued that there are so many millions who do not own or have access to a radio receiver or a T.V. set and others who do not attend film showings, there needs to be considered that generally speaking it is the more fortunate in these respects who are the literate ones and therefore of the sophisticated class for which the first four "essential factors" in paragraph 10 are self-selecting. 16. I have so far been more successful in obtaining facts for world radio broadcasting and the world marketing of T.V. programmes than of films. However, what I have obtained is given in Appendices I and II. I hope to obtain some information through the embassies of France, Russia, Spain, Germany and any others who may be willing to furnish comparable facts for additional Appendices. Taken together, even what I have collected is a valuable check on the reliability of judgements which otherwise can be subjective only. The appendices are on pages 8 and 9.) 17. The remaining important question is whether one, two, or more languages are desirable and whether more than one is practicable, and if so how many more. In any case it is most important to bear in mind that if any language has become established as the unique language for world-wide collaboration -as English has become in aeronautics -nothing should be done to disturb it. The recent tragedy in the air space over Yugoslavia emphasizes the dangers of practising more than one language between ground control and those in the air, or vice versa. 18. It seems, to me at least, that the question in terms of practicality becomes whether two would be practicable, and how much less practicable than one. 20. The main advantages that a decision for two would have over one would be that two would 1) greatly increase the numerical support for the innovative concept of designating, as preferred and recommended, any language as a W.S.L. 2) The proportion of literates in any one language to the total population of the whole world is insignificantly small. The total of all those who are native speakers of any two of the world's main languages is not a great proportion but if added to the total population of the world who speak other languages with no pretensions to world acceptance (who wait in default for leadership, decision and action to nominate any one or two of the main languages as chosen W.S.L.(s)) totals a very large proportion indeed. 3) It would also substitute co-operation in place of opposition between two of the most eligible candidates one might almost say contenders -each wishing in the future to support the other, once the aim has become the universalization of the other language as well as their own. 4) It would also exhibit the willingness of the native speakers of either of the twin World Second Languages to become skilled linguists in that of the other and to submit themselves to the same need to become skilled in a World Second Language, other than their own, just as they expect the speakers of all other languages to submit themselves. 5) It would further exonerate the speakers of either language from the accusation of selfishly desiring the speakers of all other languages to learn only theirs. 6) Furthermore, as has been hinted earlier (in the first sentences of paragraph 7), it is no idle belief that every user of language for communication becomes a better communicator, even in his own language, as soon as he has added an equal skill in at least a second language. If this be accepted, it would be a great disservice to the speakers of any language chosen as a W.S.L. to have removed from them the strongly-motivating urge to learn a second language and the opportunity so to improve themselves. It seems too that the price to be paid for gaining these six advantages-in agreeing on two rather than one language -will be insignificant. The world needs a whole loaf of bread, but say nine-tenths is very much better than no bread. 20. If then two W.S.L.s are practicable, are not three W.S.L.s also practicable, at least for the speakers of neither of the two languages chosen? 21. If three languages are within the capacity of those who are native speakers of some language other than the two W.S.L.s, [7] there will come about a partial "over-kill" in that everyone who is a native speaker of either of the two W.S.L.s and is fully educated to be bilingual in the other W.S.L. will be able to communicate in either of the W.S.L.s with all bi-lingual and with all tri-lingual speakers. But what of it? There will at least remain for the remainder (those who speak their own language and only one of the two W.S.L.s) the practical convenience that they will be able to communicate with, and to receive communications from, all who are bilingual in both of the W.S.L.s and all who are tri-lingual-an eventually very large proportion of the world's population. 22. Greatly daring, I stick my neck out and plump for both French and English, but only on the condition that the learning of those two languages is made very much easier than it is at present, so that the sixth essential factor may also be enjoyed, seeing that in this factor alone both of those languages are much less acceptable as W.S.L.s than many of the languages that have been excluded. As our Bullock Committee has recently reported (paragraph 7.27): "it is self-evident that a simplification of the relationship between sound and spellings must make it easier for a child to make progress in the early stages." If this be true of English-speaking children learning literacy in a language they already speak, how much truer is it of a foreigner seeking to learn both oracy and literacy? 23. Furthermore, only if the alphabetic dis-relationship between literacy and oracy in both French and English be eliminated can the learner's senses of touch and the benefit of the kinaesthetic skill of motion become fully effective. For the newborn child, the location of the mother's nipple by touch, the motions to move to it, the act of sucking and the final reward are the first experiences in all mammals, including man (and woman), of learning cause and effect. Learning by touch and motion is held by some to be the most important approach to man's success in yet further learning, particularly of language in all its forms, e.g., handwriting, touch typewriting, shorthand, and the Morse code, as well as of oracy and literacy. [8] And there are other factors at work which make learning a language more successful if the learning be multi-sensory, employing all the relevant senses and employing them as it were pari passu, i.e. in parallel immediacy, from the very outset. If there be doubt about the difficulties which Traditional Orthography (T.O.)presents to the foreigner learning English(but which can be eliminated), let the doubter read the latter of the two papers mentioned in paragraph 25; if there were then to be any doubt about the need to eliminate all those drawbacks (and to obtain the consequent benefit of that close relationship between literacy and oracy which comes about in learning English when oracy and literacy may be learned pari passu in a beneficial harmony), let the doubter read the other two papers mentioned in paragraphs 24 and 25 be low. He will have no doubt whatever that the learning of both French and English in oracy and in literacy may indeed be made very much easier for the foreigner and with greatly increased success. 24. In the January 1972 issue of "The Incorporated Linguist" was published an article with the title "Oracy and Literacy" in which I showed the great value of simplicity in learning and the practicability of relating the letters of the alphabet for French and English to the spoken sounds of those languages and the proposed l'Alphabet d'Apprentissage (ada) and the speech Initial Teaching Alphabet (Speech ita) as such learning media and showed how practicable it would be in both languages to have, during the learning period, a systematically alphabetic medium on national lines in place of the International Phonetic Alphabet. I proposed a learning medium designed for each language which would be thus better for learning oracy and literacy simultaneously and could be nevertheless designed to be so akin to Les Formes Imprimees Traditionelles (F.I.T.) and to Traditional Orthography (T.O.) that the learner could immediately transfer to either, much as he so easily does from lower case to upper case (capitals) or from upper and lower case to cursive characters and as he so easily transfers to reading variant individual handwritings in either language.(See specimens of the proposed learning, and so temporary, medium in paragraph 27.) [9] 25. In 1974 at the IATEFL Conference I read a paper with the title "The Importance of Medium and Motivation in the Learning of English as a Foreign Language" and advanced the thesis that "if English were made easier to learn, particularly in the earliest stages, motivation would be generated. . . and would be more sustainable among those motivated" and that success would thus be more frequent, earlier, more certain and of higher quality. In a paper at the 1975 IATEFL Conference entitled "The Drawbacks of Traditional Orthography," I analysed the confusions which face the learner of oracy and literacy in English, particularly oracy, and showed how they could be eliminated while occasioning no problem at all in the transition from the learning medium to the traditional. The two papers are of course applicable no less to learning French oracy as well as literacy. 26. It ought now to be clear that in both French and English the sixth factor of simplicity in learning may easily be added. 27. Here are respectively specimens of l'Alphabet d'Apprentissage and of Speech ita, the latter prepared for use in Nigeria in Infant Schools. (These can be presented on a screen from an overhead projector from a transparency or from a slide and an o