History of Interlingua

The History of Interlingua comprises the formation of the language itself as well as its community of speakers.

Ultimate credit for Interlingua must go to the American heiress Alice Vanderbilt Morris (1874–1950), who became interested in linguistics and the international auxiliary language movement in the early 1920s. In 1924, Morris and her husband, Dave Hennen Morris, established the non-profit International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA) in New York City. Their aim was to place the study of IALs on a scientific basis. [Falk, Julia S. "Words without grammar: Linguists and the international language movement in the United States, "Language and Communication", 15(3): pp. 241-259. Pergamon, 1995.]

Investigations of the auxiliary language problem were in progress at the International Research Council, the American Council on Education, the American Council of Learned Societies, the British, French, Italian, and American Associations for the advancement of science, and other groups of specialists. Morris created IALA as a continuation of this work.Bray, Mary Connell [1951] (1971), "Foreword", "Interlingua-English: A dictionary of the international Language", Second Edition, New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8044-0188-8. OCLC 162319. Retrieved on 2007-03-05.] She developed the research program of IALA in consultation with Edward Sapir, William Edward Collinson, and Otto Jespersen. [Falk, Julia S. "Words without grammar: Linguists and the international language movement in the United States, "Language and Communication", 15(3): pp. 241-259. Pergamon, 1995.]

International Auxiliary Language Association

The IALA became a major supporter of mainstream American linguistics, funding, for example, Sapir's cross-linguistic semantic studies of totality (1930) and grading phenomena (1944). Morris herself edited Sapir and Morris Swadesh's 1932 cross-linguistic study of ending-point phenomena, and Collinson's 1937 study of indication. Although the Morrises and their family provided most of IALA's funding, it also received support from such prestigious groups as the Carnegie Corporation, the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.]

Also in 1933, Professor Herbert N. Shenton of Syracuse University organized an intensive study of the problems encountered with interlanguages when used in international conferences. Later that same year, Dr. Edward L. Thorndike published a paper about the relative learning speeds of "natural" and "modular" constructed languages. Both Shenton and Thorndike were major influences on IALA's work from then on.

In 1937, the first steps towards the finalization of Interlingua were taken when a committee of 24 eminent linguists from 19 universities published "Some Criteria for an International Language and Commentary". However, the outbreak of World War II in 1939 cut short the intended biannual meetings of the committee.]

Model P was unchanged from 1945; Model M was relatively modern in comparison to more classical P. Model K was slightly modified in the direction of Ido.

The results of the survey were striking. The two more schematic models, C and K, were rejected – K overwhelmingly. Of the two naturalistic models, M attracted somewhat more support than P. Taking national biases into account (for example, the French who were polled disproportionately favored Model M), IALA decided on a compromise between models M and P, with certain elements of C. [Gopsill, F. P., and Sexton, Brian, [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/diverse/historia-3.htm "Le natura, si – un schema, no"] , "Historia de interlingua", 2001, revised 2006.]

Finalization

When Martinet took up a position at Columbia University in 1948, Gode took on the last phase of Interlingua's development. His task was to combine elements of Model M and Model P; take the flaws seen in both by the polled community and repair them with elements of Model C as needed; and simultaneously develop a vocabulary.

The vocabulary and verb conjugations of Interlingua were first presented in 1951, when IALA published the finalized "" and the 27,000-word "Interlingua-English Dictionary" (IED). In 1954, IALA published an introductory manual entitled "Interlingua a Prime Vista" ("Interlingua at First Sight").

uccess, decline, and resurgence

An early practical application of Interlingua was the scientific newsletter "Spectroscopia Molecular", published from 1952 to 1980. [Breinstrup, Thomas, [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/publicationes/spectroscopia.htm "Un revolution in le mundo scientific" (A revolution in the scientific world).] Accessed January 16, 2007.] In 1954 Interlingua was used at the Second World Cardiological Congress, in Washington DC, for both written summaries and oral interpretation. Within a few years, it found similar use at nine further medical congresses. Between the mid-1950s and the late 1970s, some thirty scientific and especially medical journals provided article summaries in Interlingua. Science Service, the publisher of "Science Newsletter" at the time, published a monthly column in Interlingua from the early 1950s until Gode's death in 1970. In 1967, the powerful International Organization for Standardization, which normalizes terminology, voted almost unanimously to adopt Interlingua as the basis for its dictionaries.]

The IALA closed its doors in 1953 but was not formally dissolved until 1956 or later.Esterhill, Frank, [http://www.interlingua.org/html/copy_of_ii-history.htm#_ednref19 "Interlingua Institute: A History". New York: Interlingua Institute, 2000.] ] Its role in promoting Interlingua was largely taken on by Science Service, [F. P., and Sexton, B. C., [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/diverse/historia-3.htm Gopsill, "Le natura, si – un schema, no".] Accessed January 16, 2007.] which hired Gode as head of its newly formed Interlingua Division. [ [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/biographias/gode.htm Biographias: Alexander Gottfried Friedrich Gode-von Aesch] . Accessed January 16, 2007] Hugh E. Blair, Gode's close friend and colleague, became his assistant. [ [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/biographias/blair.htm Biographias: Hugh Edward Blair.] Accessed January 16, 2007] A successor organization, the Interlingua Institute, [ [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/diverse/organisationes.htm Portrait del organisationes de interlingua.] Access January 16, 2007.] was founded in 1970 to promote Interlingua in the US and Canada. The new institute supported the work of other linguistic organizations, made considerable scholarly contributions and produced Interlingua precis for scholarly and medical publications. One of its largest achievements was two immense volumes on phytopathology produced by the American Phytopathological Society in 1976 and 1977.Esterhill, Frank, [http://www.interlingua.org/html/copy_of_ii-history.htm "Interlingua Institute: A History".] New York: Interlingua Institute, 2000.]

The Interlingua Institute was adrift for a while after the deaths of Blair in 1967 and Gode in 1970. According to Esterhill, [Esterhill, Frank, [http://www.interlingua.org/html/copy_of_ii-history.htm "Interlingua Institute: A History".] New York: Interlingua Institute, 2000.] however, publishing slowed only briefly in the late 1960s and revived soon afterward, at about the time of the 1971 second edition of the IED. Flourishing interest in Europe may have counterbalanced the struggles taking place in America.

Interlingua had attracted many former adherents of other international-language projects, notably Occidental and Ido. The former Occidentalist Ric Berger founded The Union Mundial pro Interlingua (UMI) in 1955, [ [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/diverse/organisationes.htm Portrait del organisationes de interlingua.] Accessed January 16, 2007.] and by the late 1950s, interest in Interlingua in Europe had already begun to overtake that in North America. Media coverage at the time, for example, was apparently heaviest in Northern and Eastern Europe. Frequent European coverage has continued to date, joined by media attention in South America in the early 1990s. [ [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/publicationes/pressa.htm Interlingua in le pressa.] Accessed January 17, 2007.] Beginning in the 1980s UMI has held international conferences every two years (typical attendance at the earlier meetings was 50 to 100) and launched a publishing programme that eventually produced over 100 volumes. Other Interlingua-language works were published by university presses in Sweden and Italy, and in the 1990s, Brazil and Switzerland. [ [http://www.interlingua.com/libros/pt.htm Bibliographia de Interlingua.] Accessed January 16, 2007.] [ [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/biographias/stenstrom.htm Biographias: Ingvar Stenström.] Accessed January 16, 2007] Several Scandinavian schools undertook projects that used Interlingua as a means of teaching the international scientific and intellectual vocabulary.

In 2000, the Interlingua Institute was dissolved amid funding disputes with the UMI; the American Interlingua Society, established the following year, succeeded the institute and responded to new interest emerging in Mexico. [ [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/diverse/organisationes.htm Portrait del organisationes de interlingua.] Accessed January 16, 2007.]

Behind the Iron Curtain

Interlingua was spoken and promoted in the Soviet empire, in spite of persecution and efforts to suppress information about the language. In East Germany, government officials confiscated the letters and magazines that the UMI sent to Walter Raédler, the Interlingua representative there. ["Interlingua usate in le posta". [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/diverse/stampaspostal.htm Historia de Interlingua] , 2001, revised 2006.] In Czechoslovakia, Július Tomin received threatening letters after his first article on Interlingua was published. [Breinstrup, Thomas. "Persecutate pro parlar Interlingua." "Panorama in Interlingua", 1995, Issue 5.] Despite continuing persecution, he went on to become the Czech Interlingua representative, teach Interlingua in the school system, and author a long series of published articles and books. [ [http://www.interlingua.com/historia/biographias/tomin.htm Biographias: Július Tomin. Historia de Interlingua, 2001.] Revised 2006.]

Interlingua Today

: "See also: Community of Interlingua"

Today, interest in Interlingua has expanded from the scientific community to the general public. Individuals, governments, and private companies use Interlingua for learning and instruction, travel, online publishing, and communication across language barriers. Interlingua is promoted internationally by the Union Mundial pro Interlingua (president: Barbara Rubinstein, Sweden; secretary-general: Petyo Angelov, Bulgaria). Periodicals and books are produced by many national organizations, such as the Societate American pro Interlingua (president: Dr. Stanley Mulaik), the Svenska Sällskapet för Interlingua (secretary: Ingvar Stenström), and the Brazilian Union for Interlingua (president: Gilson Passos).

Currently, Panorama In Interlingua is the most prominent of several Interlingua periodicals. It is a 28-page magazine published bimonthly that covers current events, science, editorials, and Interlingua. Thanks to the Internet, Interlingua has seen a resurgence over the last decade, with the number of speakers jumping tenfold by some estimates.

References

External links

* [http://www.interlingua.com/ The UMI website]