Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-14

II AOHlNGIO1N, II. u, Jan. S.-PeOpl6
wv are asking if some of the delegates
and officials at the disarmament con-
ference are not handicapped by the use of
languages unfamiliar to them. English and
French are the official languages of the con-
ference English was decided upon first, and
for the French delegation and because French
has so long been the accepted language of
diplomacy.
This means that the delegates have to do
their own translating or have the speeches
translated for them whenever any tongue ex-
Ic their own is being used. 1t is often i'm
possible to carry over into a translation ex-
act shades of meaning, and therefore the
question of an international language is again
raised. Would not all artificial language,
Esperanto, for inotance, solve this problem?
Considering the diplomatic attitude to-
ward language, it probably would not. The
diplomat knows that much of his converse
ton can be interpreted in half dozen ways.
He intends it to be so. To show his cards
before gauging carefully the other players
hands and being absolutely sure Of his own
Pis generally fatal. AS it isn't often in the
game that all of the cards are on the table,
so it isn't often that the diplomat speaks
unreservedly.
This is where the manufactured language
is inadequate for diplomacy, professor Of
philology points out to us. He says that in
la language like Esperanto or Volapuk it is
practically impossible to hedge or to veil a
meaning.
In a manufactured language there are
equivalents for ordinary English words, but
the vocabulary is limited. If Esperanto had a
wealth o. synonyms, such as we have in Eng
fish, half the simplicity Of the artificial Ian
guage would be lost. So, only when diplomats
talk straight from The shoulder will artificial
language be of any use to them, he says.
Anothe" objection to universal language
| NV RLA Low o1o hot
pronunciations differ so that the exact words
spoken by an Italian, Swede, and an Amer
lean would not sound at all alike.
Difficulties of Esperanto
Even leaving out the question Of foreign
accents this difference is notable in Es-
peranto is always broad as in ali, but an
American used to sounding his as rather
flat would be apt to produce kampo, field.
quite differently from the way given in the
book. The foreigne" not allowing for the in
fluence of local pronunciatiols, might not
understand the word at all.
The endings, for a noun, for an ad-
jective, and for an adverb, which make
reading of Esperanto easy, are another
source of confusion in conversation, as they
tend to be obscured in rapid talk. So that
from his experiments with artificial Ian
Iguages, this professor doubts whether diplo-
in Esperanto as in English or French, and
the obscurities which would arise might not
come where the diplomats intended.
The endings Of words in Esperanto have
been quite bo-le Of contention. They are
designed to simplify the grammar. But some
language students hold that III practice, ex-
tremely simple grammar is a weakness This
has been pointed out by Hugo Munsterberg,
the psychologist He finds that our compli-
Gated system of having a plural noun and
Especial form of the verb to go with it is
WISE
If we used ''run" for all forms of the
verb, for instance, and depended on the noun
to show plurals we would have, "the boy
rum ''the boys rum" This sort of thing
might make the language easier to learn,
but Munsterberg shows that it would be false
economy.
eve should need an excessive strain of
attention and reading and listening would be-
come an exhaustive labor" Re says. Having
several signposts in one sentence to point out
the sane meaning makes conversation far
less exacting.
Because of the controversies over Esper-
anto and similar inventions they have never
achieved the widespread use that their advo-
Gates hoped for. Indications point now to
English as the popular medium of inter-
course between nations officially and in trade
las WE'LL
Once German, French and English were
the three contestants for international rec
ognition. Now, German has lost much Of it's
popularity with other countries.
The advance of French has been restrict
led because French has had to share with the
Spanich in popu' arty among foreigners.
Many students, able to take only one of the
two languages, have chosen Spanish because
lof its predicted Importance. So far as COM
munication in South America is concernef,
spanish is important Americans are said to
have caused resentn ent in some cases be-
lcause they came to sell goods in South Amer