Thread by @hiphilangsci

Today marks the 117th anniversary of the first World Esperanto Congress that took place in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1905. We use this opportunity to take a look at the international language movement leading to this congress and contrast it with later conlang projects.

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The aim of the movement was the adoption of a common medium (based on natural languages, but improved) to achieve progress and peace. The movement begins with Volapük (1879), ends with Interlingua (1951), but contains also Latino sine flexione, Ido, Novial or Basic.

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Volapük or 'World-Language', created by Johann Martin Schleyer (1831-1912), was the first international language to actually win any relevant number of users (almost 2 million in 1889). The project lost its relevance after a schism concerning some reform proposals.

#Histlx 3/10

Around the time Volapük was fading away, a new sheriff in town appeared - Esperanto. Created by Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof (1859-1917) in 1887, Esperanto became the basis of a whole movement (accompanied also by the religion Homaranismo) striving for peace and harmony.

#Histlx 4/10

The movement became institutionalised in 1901 when the Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language was founded in Paris. Its members, e.g. Otto Jespersen, Jan Baudouin de Courtenay or Hugo Schuchardt, planned to decide which language to use.

#Histlx 5/10

In October 1907, the Delegation made a decision in favour of Esperanto, but demanded a number of revisions to its grammar. The majority of Esperantists were against these suggestions, but a minority accepted them leading to the emergence of a new language Ido.

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Alice Vanderbilt Morris (1874-1950) founded the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA) in 1924 with a similar goal as the pre-war Delegation - to find the most suitable international language. After 27 years of work, IALA came up with Interlingua.

#Histlx 7/10

A different approach presents C. K. Ogden’s (1889-1967) Basic English. Following the semiotic principles outlined in The Meaning of Meaning (1921), it focused on minimalising the lexicon while leaving grammar aside. It was even endorsed by Winston Churchill in 1943.

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Some of the later constructed languages were really successful - the languages of Middle-earth, Klingon, Dothraki or Na'vi. None of them are, however, part of a larger movement as international languages of the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries were.

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Languages such as Esperanto, Volapük, Ido or Novial were not just any conlangs. They were understood in the tradition of Enlightenment as solutions to the "curse of Babel" and were supposed to not only facilitate communication, but also secure peace and progress.

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