New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-08-12
TT WILL BE ENGLISH.
.TING1rA FRANCA" FOR MANKIND.

From The London Spectator.
Mankind will never adopt a single language,
nor is II to be desired that Il should. The lnstru-
ment for expressing thought must vary with the
character, history and mental range OF those
who have thoughts to express and II all men
sroke alike % per cent ~ them would be speak
ing stiffiy--not using, that IT, natural ana SELF
developed vehicle Of expression. Arabic could
not have grown up among Englshmen, or Eng
lish among Arabs. The secluson OF nations. TOO
from one another by the want or common
tongue IL by no means all loss. and we may
doubt with reason whether the higher races
would not be degraded II they understood With
out effort all that the lower races say 10 one
another. They would be bred. as it We're in the
servants hall. not to their advantage. For all
that a great deal would be gained If the learned
Of earth could agree on a lingua franca-could'
that is convey their thoughts and their new ac-
QUESTIONS of knowledge TO one another IN some
common togue-and If all merchants and manu-
facturers could communicate readily and with
out effort through the same medium. Thought
would be transmitted much more rapidly, and
must waste Of effort thereby prevented While
the reservoir of knowledge would be deepened
by the admission into II Of all who were quail
fed and who are now cut off from one another
by a wall Of mutual unintelligibility The ad-
mission for instance of all the Asatic learned
into the commonwealth of learning must In
crease its resources and facilitate the produc-
ton of a larger output. 1t would be something
gained surely IT, when a man evolved new
thought or discovered a new fact he were able
10 communicate II instantly to all competent TO
receive IT, without the labor and the misreadngs
involved in making hundred TRANSACTIONS
But granting the value of the end. Is II surely
unattainable? Possibly. but that is by no means
20 certain is supposed. Why should lingua
franco for the whole world be so much more DIFF
ficult Of attainment than lingua franco for a
continent? The learned Of Europe had one once
in Latin, every man who had anything serious
to say saying II in that tongue. so that Eras-
mus to quote n single example. was understood
in dozen capitals at once The polite or Eu-
rope still communicate with each other in
French. do all the diplomatists OF the west
including Abdul Hamid. who thinks in turkish
or Arabic The merchants OF India. who are
impeded like the people Of the world, by null
tiplicity of tongues, talk and write to each other
confdentially in Marwaree. dialect, we believe:
Of RajpOotana adopted because the traders or
Marwar having no business at home. wandered
all over India setting UP banks. Portuguese was
once the common language Of every seaport
town and at this moment the dialect dift1culty
Of communicating with the Chinese Of the COM
mercal cities. who speak a hundred languages,
though they all write one, If surmounted ny
the use Of a degraded lingua franco called
"pidgin English" The Jews all over the world
know and use kind Of "pidgin Hebrew" called
Yiddish-a practice which greatly facilitates their
cosmopolitan wanderngs. The ruling classes of
India, who are more separated by language than
their rivals in Europe. talk and write 10 one an
other in Persian; and throughout more than the
half OF Africa tribes utterly divided from each
other by unintclhgihility of tongue manage to
communicate. whenever II is Indispensable. by
the use OF n few words Of Arabic. If the
learned and the men Of commerce could but
agree upon tongue, that tongue would become
acquired in the processes Of education just as
arithmetic is acquired now as necessary busl-
ness instrument. That there would be no In
superable difficulty, and no great addition to the
mental strain involved In education Is proved by
the fact that the Dutch. whose tongue would
otherwise divide them from the general move
ment OF Europe. already do II. every Dutchman
above the peasant and the artisan speaking
or enNhn
both. There are bngual cities on most OF the
borders Of the European States, and In the
Channel Islands and French Canada there are
hundreds of men who can hardly tell you. with
out a moments reflection. in which language
they are speaking
But then which language should be employed
as the lingua franca? The tongue. we think,
must be modern. In order that those who cannot
learn readily from books may learn by ear. and
also in order that there should be suf1ciency of
instructors. 1t should be one. for the same
reasons. easy to acquire already widely dffused
and capable Of conveying anything which is
pable OF being conveyed. English, French and
Spanish all meet these conditions German, Rus
sian and italian being all little too local, and
of the first three the English IL perhaps the one
most likely to be selected. That. al least is the
Judgment Of Professor Diels. who has been lect-
urng the subject before the University Of
Berlin and he has many arguments to produce.
English. though n difficult language 10 pro-
nounce owing to our confused method Of spelling
sounds which, originally different. are now the
of the language. which has already got rid OF
genders and infections. and is getting rid Of
many delicaCies OF expression like the Of the
subjunctive mood being toward simplicity. In
Guiding, it does both Latin and Teutonic
words and thus representing two civilizations
its range is almost without limit while its brew
ity Of expression, though not equal to that OF
Latin, is without rival In modern tongues. II
is moreover the tongue which has the widest
diffusion. Nearly a hundred and fifty millions
Of men already use it. while among four hun
dred millions more in India and Africa 1t Is be-
coming a language known to all the cultivated
and all who are engaged in trade. Already used
in every port in the world. It's conquests are
advancing every day while the immense volume
OF its literature and the methods Of English ed
ton preserve IT, If not perfectly. at least
great extent from splitting into dialects All
classes can communicate, the immense distinc-
ton between the English of the cultivated and
the English Of the ignorant. a distinction SO
wide that a sentence will reveal intellectual
grade. being more q difference Of pronunciation
and meditation than Of actual words. For all
these reasons. and many more. one being the ten
dency Of the cultivated 10 neglect the humani-
ties" for more practical" studies the world will
probably adopt English az its lingua franca, the
universal medium OF intercourse among men
otherwise separated by the barrier of language.
There will. of course. be no formal decision to
that effect even by universities or chambers OF
commerce, much less by legislatures kings
International Jealouses would be sufficient 10
prevent that, besides the reluctance to interfere
with general habits but before sixty years have
pasaed-that Is. BEFORE our babies are old men
II may we'll be that one in any country Of
the world will hold himself cultivated unless he
knows English; and that any wishing to
rise in life, more especially through commerce,
Will reckon his English as he now reckons book
keeping, not among his accomplishments but
among the capacities an employer would natu-
rally expect. A silent process. possibly little
marked from year to year as the suppression OF
all local dialects in England by the London
patois, will make OF English the medium OF
conveying all thoughts meant for all men, and
for conducting all business in which more than
one country Is concerned Perceptions OF con-
venience and hopes OF profit Will conquer inter
national jealousy. as I'm most Of the seaports OF
the world they do already. or the profound ef-
feet which such change must have both in
tellectually and politically. We need not speak
except TO mention one that may be missed
Nothing increases the insularity Of n nation like
| n general knowledge Of It's language When