Evening star., 1925-10-31

The passion for reform is deep seat
ed in the human animal. We have re-
formed our calendars, our currency,
our laws and now there are those who
would reform our language.
''Remade English" is the title of an
interesting article by Joseph Y. Col
Inns in the September number of the
Educational Review, In which a sort
Of modified, simplified English is adj
Vanced as an auxiliary world Ian
guage.
The desire for some sort OF univer-
sal tongue has given rise. in the past
half century or SO. to several working
languages, among which Esperanto
and llo are perhaps the best known.
Several prominent people have come
out In favor of English as the inter
national auxiliary language, basin &
their arguments on economic grounds.
The Widespread nature Of the Eng
llsh-speaking races, their dominance
in world trade and other factors, are
lnStanced in favor OF this stand.
Now Mr.. Collins favors Il strictly
'remade" English, no halfway meas
res, such as those advocated by the
Slmplified Spelling Board, but n com
piete cI.anGe, n ''remade" English that
would be essentially IL dialect Of the
old language.
Text and reference books would be
prepared in the new form. dictionaries
would give the old spelIings and
etymologies, and one fine day every
body would change over TO the new
form Of the language very much as
iermany and other nations changed
TO metric weights and measures
Ten years from such date only
scholars would need to fanliarize
themselves with the old forms Of the
language"
Before this enthusiastic vision of a
new language that would be like the
one we use and yet not like il, | must
confess I stand almost speechless,
Barely able to utter:
1T is very pretty, Mr.. Collins, but
t amt human"
* :. i ::
No. and IT would not he English,
either.
Before | go on to give my opinion
in this matter | will quote some more
from the article under consideration.
Mr.. Collins says:
The advantages remade English
would have over any manufactured
language are enormous, and the diff
cuiiies in the way of its adoption are
.argely due to mere prejudice which
should be brushed aside"
lie says that the first adVantag g,.
English has is that II is the mother
tongue of nearly 200 ,O00. 900 people
scattered all over the globe He de
clares II 10 have more extensive rela-
tons with other languages than any
other tongue. Because OF its huge
vocabulary OF more than 400 600
words It provides a better means OF
conveying thought than any other
language. English has an incompar-
1ble literature which is being added
10 daily all over the English-speaking
world
Turning to the language itself. he
says. We find it comparatively simple
in its constructions. little infected. a
large number of its everyday words
short and expressed in letters and
sounds fairly familiar to many other
races"
However. the proposal here, he con-
tinues. is not To offer our present
English as a world laugua ge. but the
language remade in its spelling. gram
mar and to slight extent in its lexi.
geography, by Il qualified body Of eX-
perts.
Scientific societies should be en-.
gagged in this labor Of reforming Eng
llsh. instead Of going after d false god
in the form OF n handmade language,
Mr.. Collins continues. for the follow
ing great reason:
1t is that English must he remade
in order to remove an incubus from
our education and life" The teaching
of reading, writing and spelling in
schools, he says, instead of being a
joy, as II should be. is nothing other
than series of repressionS and in