The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-12-16
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
Its Rapid Spread Over the World-The
Universal Language of the Future.

|
When Father Schleyer invented VIOLA
mix. his object was to provide Ian
guage which should be universal mehl-
UNI of communication between all tine
nations of the world. He reasoned tnao
no existing language could I'LL IRIS heeo'
because he thought that evsry language
contained sounds that were lmpossl me
of reprod uction by some people. For In
tance the Germans cannot master the
English thick and thin sounds OF tn, ana
the Chinese find it impossible to pro-
nounce the words containing the letter l..
VoIapuk was the result of years Oh
thought and labor, and is undoubtedly
the moat ingenious attempt at constrHc-
ting language ever made. At first "
aeemed as if the long desired universal
language hal he,n found. Volapuk
spread rapidly and hooks were written,
dictionaries compiled, and schools es-
tablished for its propagation. lts pre-
motors were very enthusiastic, ard said
that hereafter one need know only two
/
puk, to be able to converse and oorre-
spond with native Of any nation in
the world.
But Volapuk declined as rapidly as it
arose, and today it is dead, more dead
than the so-called "dead" languages fer
Latin is spoken by the learned Of all civ
ilized nations, and Greek has never
ceased to be the chosen tongue of ma
ton. The Jews keep up the usa OF He
brew, 10th in speech ard writing, and
Sanskrit is familiar tongue to many
scholars.
Volapuk afforded one more example
that language must grow, and cannot
/ be made. 1t had every requisite for its
purpose. 1t answered every require
ment; it was within tie capabilities Of
every one; its simplicity of construction
and absence of difficulty Of acquiremen
were admirable, but it had no literature
and it died hopelessly beyond resuscite.
| tion.
But here is language which is surely
destined to do what volnpuk was intend
ed to do, and that is our native English
tongue. During the nineteenth century
the speakers Of English have moro than
quadrupled their numbers. When this
century began English was spoken by
only the Inhabitants of England, the few
millions in America and the scattered
thousands of Englishmen elsewhere. To-
| day, in the closing years of the century,
the scholars of every nation speak Eng
| lish, and it is the yernacular Of coun-
dred millions Of Inhabitants, not count
ing the teeming multitudes of India, who
are rapidly learning this all oonquering
tongue. Not long ago French was the
language of diplomacy, and Only few
centuries ago French was indeed the
language of polite conversation, even in
England itself. But that Is changed
now. Diplomatists all over the world
use their own vernacular when possible
and then fall back on English as o last
resource.
One of the strongest factors in this rap
id and great growth Of English ia it's
marvellous literature. Today the English
scholars and scientists have displaced
the German and French savants and
stand at the head of the worlds achieve
ment. Where formerly scientific and
official WORKS were printed either in
French or erman, they are now printed
in the vernaculnr of the country issuing
them. This is patriotic, but puzz'ing.
In order to be able to consult fine works
one must understand English, French,
German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Rus
sian aud Hungarian. and perhaps Swe-
dish, Danish, Turkish and modern Greek
in addition. The scholars of the world
stand appalled, at this, and they are rap
idly coming to the opinion that one of
these existing languages must be, chosen
as the worlds Language. No other
tongue can present the claims that Eng
lish does. Prof. Mahaffy in a recent con-
tribution to the Ninetsenth Century. de-
clares that English, so far from being
difficult language to mcguire, as is COM
m only supposed. ia really the easiest Of
all. Its difficulty lies alone In the pro-
punciation, which Is conformhble to no
rule beyond that of local usage. This
might be easily remedied by writing and
printing tbs language with accents.
Prof. Mahaffy brings many examples
from ancient and modern philology in
support of his contention and proves his
case.
Whether or not English be adopted by
the conscious and voluntary act of schol-
ars, as the universal language. it is de-
stinsd to become such in the very nature
of things. The English are the greatest
oolonizers the world has ever known,
not even excepting the ancient Phoeni-
clans, and wherever the English people
20 they carry their language with them.
They never give 1t up. but on the con-
trary impress it on others so strongly
that it becomes the real yernacular. Ex-
Mayor Lebkuecher has deplored the fact