New-York tribune., 1896-11-29
UNIVERSAL ENTIfSH

An cXccptOnaly interesting and slIggcsllv"
contribution io thr discussion of a universal
language" is made by Professor Mahany in
.'rhe Nineteenth Century, His caption 'Ihc
Modern Babel" i we'll chosen and is in itself
convincing Indication of the need of the reform
advocated Since Latin ceased 10 be- ih"
universal language nf scholarship. vrriia-
bic confusion of tongues has arisen III Eu-
rope which j. steadily becoming worse and
worse. The present generation has seen French
largely dcposod from the place Of international
diplomatic language. Each nation now insists
upon retaining It's own peculiar speech FRO
vinclal dialects are being cultivated. Obso!r;"
or obsolesccn tongues ar" being revived. II
is indeed Babel Not many years ago. II one
were master Of three languages. English
French and German. he had access 7" all IN"
really important modern literature and >ciru-
iic lore and general information Of the world
Such Is The ease no longer. Russia now insists
on printing all her official wOrl.>. including in
valuable and unique reports ~ explorations and
scientific observations in her Asian Empire. in
Russian Hungary has renonnccd German. and
prints her official works some Of them Of ines
iimable interest in her old Tartar langiiag".
Holland publishes her best works in Dutch.
Then. Iia:y and Greece have regained mpor-
tance and. Of course. adhere io their own
tongues. So here We have at least eight Ian
glIagcs 10 he mastered instead of three II one
would keep abreast Of modern learning. Il task
in itself requiring years of arduous toll.
Nor is the burden thus imposed the only. nor
the most serious evil Of this multiplicity of
tongues II is a iruism. and II Is also Il potent
and significant fact that diversity Of tongues
tends powerfully 10 keep nations apart in sym
pathies in intellectual achievements. in com
mcrcc II is Il handicap upon brotherhood.
industry trade and learning. Nor Is that all.
Persistence in the use Of Il tongue unfamiliar
TO the great masses Of mankind dOons n state
to backwardncss. and to The loss of the services
Of even It's own best men. 4 striking example
Of this Is seen i'm the ease Of Wales by mis-
taken sentimcn'aty, no man is appointed To 4
charge In the Established Church unless hc Is
able to preach in Welsh. The result is that
the ma aority of cultivated Welshmcn are OK
cluded from the service. A still more striking
example may bc imagined by snppOsing that
Berkeley and Swift. Goldsmith and Sheridan.
Grattan and Burke. had been compelled To
speak and write in Celtic. The loss to Ireland.
as well as to the rest Of the world. would have
been immca Surablc. Or take the ease Of Hun
gary Since German was discarded and the
official use Of Magyar made compulsory. the
nation has pcrccpiibly lost touch with the rest
Of Europe. and lost some footing in the field
Of European culture and civilization. The old
folk tongues may be cherished. on sentimental
or arrhacOlC gical grounds. But TO have Ire
land confinc it's speech and literature TO Celtic.
and Wales To Welsh and Scotland to Gaelic.
and Man to Manx. and Cornwall TO Cornish,
would be to isolate those communities from
the rest of mankind and 10 infct upon them
nothing short of great disaster.
IT, then. n universal language be desirable.
what shall il be? The prcpostcrous Volapiik.
which was devised rs an anti-English tongue.
has already been dismissed. Languages are
not made: they grow. Some existing language
must therefore be chosen. and Professor
Mahafy strongly advocates the adoption of
English One Obvious argument in its favor is
that ii is already the most numerously and most
widely spoken. and most rapidly growing. OF all
civilized tongues. II is indeed the only Ian
g,iagc that Is making any marked progress
toward universal usc. and II has already made
so much as to preclude the possibility of any
other becoming universal. a common objection
to it is that il is difficult TO learn This Profess
sor Mahaffy rightly denies. It, Is not difficult
| 1t Is one Of the easiest Of languages. The only
features of il that are at all difficult are the
spelling and pronunciation. and these, Professor
Mahaffy thinks. may readily he reformed
The adoption of phonetic photography would
solve the problem at once; but The remedy
would he worse than the disease. Any system
OF spelling that would disguise the etymoogy
of words and destroy their derivative indivii-
uaty is to he condemned in advance. 1t would
make spelling and pronunciation easy, but, II
would hopclessly demoralize the language In all
other respects.
| The alternative proposed by Professor Mn.
hary Is the use Of accents. This seems q bit