What are artificial languages and why did all efforts to unify the globe over a single
language fail?
Answers
Explanation:
Why do artificial languages fail and what can be done?
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What does fail mean?
It is always important to define terms and standards. I would not say Esperanto, for example, has “failed.” It is spoken and written. Literature is translated into it. And it has a core of devotees. In that sense it has not failed. But, as to a goal of being a worldwide commonly shared second language, well, it has not succeeded in that. Nor are they many (if any) native speakers of say Esperanto (but see ). Since “failure” is only relative to a defined goal, I’ll answer the question as follows.
Why do they fail in terms of catching on and spreading worldwide?
I think it is for two simple reasons:
Very few if any learn an artificial language as their first language. That impedes inter-generational (“vertical”) spread of a language.
Artificial languages don’t have the value in terms of scope, access to literature, travel, etc. that major natural languages have. That impedes the “horizontal” spread.
What can be done?
I don’t have the sense that anything could be done short of a dictator-type step to ensure that an artificial language would not fail.
But even if an all-powerful “new world order” emerged and ordered everyone to learn and speak an artificial language, how successful would that be? Would any “stick” be powerful enough?
Perhaps a “carrot” would work better? Offering everyone free lifetime housing perhaps for becoming fluent in the artificial language on the condition that they also vowed only to use that language in the public domain? But how would a big enough “carrot” ever be funded?
Some types of artificial languages are: Constructed languages take the place of natural languages. They make human communication simpler, or make fictional worlds believable. Basic English, Esperanto, Tolkien's Quenya, and Lojban are examples.