De Wahl ended up becoming one of the earliest users of the language Esperanto, which he encountered for the first time in 1888 during his period as a Volapükist and for which he was in the process of composing a dictionary of marine terms.
He quickly became a fervent supporter of Esperanto for a number of years where he collaborated with Zamenhof on some parts of the design of the language and translated one of the first works into Esperanto: "Princidino Mary", published in 1889 originally under the name Princino Mary.
He remained an Esperantist until 1894 when the vote to reform Esperanto failed.
The language that de Wahl announced that year was a product of years of personal experimentation under the name Auli (auxiliary language), which he used from 1906 to 1921 and which later on gained the nickname proto-Occidental.
In addition to this, de Wahl's rule developed later allowed for regular derivation from double-stem Latin verbs. The Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language, a body of academics formed to study the problem of an international language and which recommended Esperanto with reforms (leading to the language known as Ido) occurred in 1907 before Occidental was ready to be announced.
Minor Romance languages such as Ladin, Provençal (Occitan) and Catalan along with creoles had a large importance in the development of Occidental for de Wahl, who wrote as far back as 1912 that his language under development was more similar to Provençal than Italian or Spanish.
The language that de Wahl announced that year was a product of years of personal experimentation under the name Auli (auxiliary language), which he used from 1906 to 1921 and which later on gained the nickname proto-Occidental.
De Wahl had not intended to announce the language for another few years but did so through the publication of Kosmoglott after hearing that the League of Nations had begun an inquiry into the question of an international language and after receiving a favorable reply the year before from Under-Secretary General Nitobe Inazō of the League of Nations which had adopted a resolution on the subject on 15 September 1921.
The first known publication in Occidental, a booklet entitled "Transcendent algebra" by Jacob Linzbach, appeared shortly before the first issue of Kosmoglott in 1921. Occidental began gathering followers despite a complete lack of grammars and dictionaries due to its readability.
Interlingue (; ISO 639 language codes ie, ile), known until 1949 as Occidental (), is an international auxiliary language published for the first time in 1922.
Still, the opposite view was also common in the community and Occidental gained adherents in many nations including Asian nations. ==History and activity== === Beginnings === The activities of the language and its users can be seen through the magazine Cosmoglotta, which began publication in 1922 in Tallinn, Estonia under the name Kosmoglott.
that it should have an international ortography. De Wahl published in 1922 a modification of Otto Jespersen's famously cited principle that "That international language is best which in every point offers the greatest facility to the greatest number", stating that the international language should be easiest for the majority of those who need it (lit.
Two years later in 1924, de Wahl wrote that he was in correspondence with some 30 people "in good Occidental" despite the lack of learning material.
Until 1924 the magazine was also affiliated with the Academia pro Interlingua, which promoted Peano's Latino sine flexione.
Cosmoglotta had subscribers in 58 cities in Switzerland a few months before the end of World War II in Europe, and Cosmoglotta A began publication again in 1946. === IALA, Interlingua, and name change to Interlingue === The International Auxiliary Language Association, founded in 1924 to study and determine the best planned language for international communication, was at first viewed with suspicion by the Occidental community.
He cited the terms karma, ko-tau (kowtow), geisha, and mahdí in 1924 as examples of those that should not be put in a "vocalic corset" through obligatory endings (e.g.
The first dictionary was published the next year in 1925, the radicarium directiv which was a collection of Occidental root words and their equivalents in 8 languages. Kosmoglott was also a forum for various other planned languages, while still mainly written in Occidental.
The name was changed to Cosmoglotta in 1927 as it began to officially promote Occidental in lieu of other languages, and in January of the same year the magazine's editorial and administrative office was moved to Vienna, Austria in the region of Mauer, now part of Liesing.
By early 1930, the language was largely based in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, and most recently in France where it began to be used two years before. === Vienna period, World War II and language standardization === Besides an advantageous new location in a city closer to the centre of Europe, the Vienna period was also marked by financial stability for the first time.
Recordings of spoken Occidental on phonograph (gramophone) records for distribution also began to be made in this period. The years from 1935 to 1939 were particularly active for Cosmoglotta, during which a second edition of the journal was published.
Ric Berger, a prominent Occidentalist who later joined Interlingua in the 1950s, detailed one such visit he made in 1935 to Morris (whose husband was the US ambassador in Brussels) that vastly improved his opinion of the organization: My personal opinion was not so pessimistic, for, finding myself in Brussels in 1935, I sought out Mrs.
In early 1936, not counting the 110 issues of Cosmoglotta and any other journals and bulletins, a total of 80 publications existed in and about Occidental. Meanwhile, the years leading up to the Second World War led to difficulties for Occidental and other planned languages which were made illegal in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, forced to disband, kept under Gestapo surveillance, and had their didactic materials destroyed.
An edition of either Cosmoglotta A or B was published every month between January 1937 and September 1939, and then (after the initial shock of the war) every month from September 1941 to June 1951.
This readability and simplified grammar along with the regular appearance of the magazine Cosmoglotta made Occidental popular in Europe during the years up to and shortly following World War II. Occidental survived World War II, but the community had been out of touch with the language's creator since 1939.
Recordings of spoken Occidental on phonograph (gramophone) records for distribution also began to be made in this period. The years from 1935 to 1939 were particularly active for Cosmoglotta, during which a second edition of the journal was published.
No communication took place between Edgar de Wahl in Tallinn and the Occidental Union in Switzerland from 1939 to October 1947, first due to the war itself and thereafter from intercepted mail between Switzerland and the Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, de Wahl's house and his entire library had been destroyed during the bombardment of Tallinn and de Wahl himself was incarcerated for a time after refusing to leave Estonia for Germany. The outbreak of war in 1939 put a halt to publications of both Cosmoglottas extending into 1940, but in 1941 Cosmoglotta B began publication once again and continued until 1950.
An edition of either Cosmoglotta A or B was published every month between January 1937 and September 1939, and then (after the initial shock of the war) every month from September 1941 to June 1951.
The first option was hardly if ever used, and simplified orthography eventually became the standard by 1939.
Meanwhile, de Wahl's house and his entire library had been destroyed during the bombardment of Tallinn and de Wahl himself was incarcerated for a time after refusing to leave Estonia for Germany. The outbreak of war in 1939 put a halt to publications of both Cosmoglottas extending into 1940, but in 1941 Cosmoglotta B began publication once again and continued until 1950.
Meanwhile, de Wahl's house and his entire library had been destroyed during the bombardment of Tallinn and de Wahl himself was incarcerated for a time after refusing to leave Estonia for Germany. The outbreak of war in 1939 put a halt to publications of both Cosmoglottas extending into 1940, but in 1941 Cosmoglotta B began publication once again and continued until 1950.
An edition of either Cosmoglotta A or B was published every month between January 1937 and September 1939, and then (after the initial shock of the war) every month from September 1941 to June 1951.
His house was destroyed in the 1943 air raids on the city and he took refuge in a psychiatric hospital.
With questions still remaining about the official form of some words and a lack of general material destined for the general public, much time during World War II was spent on language standardization and course creation, and in August 1943 the decision was made, given the length of the war, to create an interim academy to officialize this process.
In 1945, the IALA announced that it planned to create its own language and showed four possible versions under consideration, all of which were naturalistic as opposed to schematic.
The Swiss magazine Der Landbote made a similar comment in 1945 in a review of the language, commenting humoristically that "reading through the few examples of Occidental gives us the impression of a half-learned Catalan by a foreigner who doesn't much understand the grammar." De Wahl took pains to stress that Occidental's natural appearance did not imply wholesale importing of national expressions and usage, and warned that doing so would lead to chaos.
Cosmoglotta had subscribers in 58 cities in Switzerland a few months before the end of World War II in Europe, and Cosmoglotta A began publication again in 1946. === IALA, Interlingua, and name change to Interlingue === The International Auxiliary Language Association, founded in 1924 to study and determine the best planned language for international communication, was at first viewed with suspicion by the Occidental community.
Cosmoglotta continued to report into 1946 on those who had survived the war and who had not, those who were ready to participate again and those who were still out of touch.
No communication took place between Edgar de Wahl in Tallinn and the Occidental Union in Switzerland from 1939 to October 1947, first due to the war itself and thereafter from intercepted mail between Switzerland and the Soviet Union.
Unaware of this, de Wahl was bewildered at the lack of response to his continued letters and even a large collection of translated poetry into Occidental which were never delivered; the only letter of his received in Switzerland was one that arrived in 1947 asking the Occidental Union "why it never responded to any letters from Tallinn".
After the standardization of Occidental in 1947 and the name change to Interlingue in 1949 there was a push towards greater and greater naturalistic forms inspired by the IALA's soon-to-be-published Interlingua, particularly by Ric Berger who advocated replacing the optional -i adjectival ending with -e.
Whether these experimental changes would have taken root is not known, as Berger left his position as editor of Cosmoglotta soon after and eventually joined Interlingua, while the language returned to the 1947 standard that continues to this day. === Vocabulary Examples === Though seemingly favourable to the Romance language family, Edgar de Wahl did not see Occidental as a Romance language and did not tolerate any nationalism or chauvinism in the choice of words for the language.
His correspondences nearly entirely intercepted, he was largely unaware of the developments in the language up to his death in 1948.
In early 1948 the Czechoslovak Occidentalists had begun requesting approval for a new name that would allow them to continue their linguistic activities without suspicion, proposing the name Interal (International auxiliari lingue), to which the union responded that the term Interlingue would be more appropriate and that they were free to introduce the language as Interlingue (Occidental), or even remove the mention of Occidental in parentheses if they felt it necessary.
Ric Berger began advocating for a change of name from Occidental to Interlingue in 1948.
Interlingue (; ISO 639 language codes ie, ile), known until 1949 as Occidental (), is an international auxiliary language published for the first time in 1922.
The official vote on the name change to Interlingue took place at the plenum of the Occidental Union in 1949 and was passed with 91% support, making the official name Interlingue, with Interlingue (Occidental) also permitted, valid as of 1 September 1949. The year 1951 when Interlingua was announced was consequential in weakening Interlingue-Occidental, which until then had been unchallenged in the field of naturalistic planned auxiliary languages.
After the standardization of Occidental in 1947 and the name change to Interlingue in 1949 there was a push towards greater and greater naturalistic forms inspired by the IALA's soon-to-be-published Interlingua, particularly by Ric Berger who advocated replacing the optional -i adjectival ending with -e.
After advocating for the change in April 1949 he began implementing it the following month in his own writing and most of the content in Cosmoglotta, in addition to other changes such as nostre (our) and vostre (your) instead of nor and vor.
Meanwhile, de Wahl's house and his entire library had been destroyed during the bombardment of Tallinn and de Wahl himself was incarcerated for a time after refusing to leave Estonia for Germany. The outbreak of war in 1939 put a halt to publications of both Cosmoglottas extending into 1940, but in 1941 Cosmoglotta B began publication once again and continued until 1950.
Ric Berger, a prominent Occidentalist who later joined Interlingua in the 1950s, detailed one such visit he made in 1935 to Morris (whose husband was the US ambassador in Brussels) that vastly improved his opinion of the organization: My personal opinion was not so pessimistic, for, finding myself in Brussels in 1935, I sought out Mrs.
Cosmoglotta B stopped publishing after 1950, and frequency of publication for Cosmoglotta A began to gradually drop: once every second month from 1952, and then once per quarter from 1963.
A significant number of users were lost following Interlingua's appearance in 1951, beginning period of decline until the advent of the Internet. In The Esperanto Book, American Esperantist Don Harlow wrote that Occidental had an intentional emphasis on European forms, and that some of its leading followers espoused a Eurocentric philosophy, which may have hindered its spread.
An edition of either Cosmoglotta A or B was published every month between January 1937 and September 1939, and then (after the initial shock of the war) every month from September 1941 to June 1951.
The official vote on the name change to Interlingue took place at the plenum of the Occidental Union in 1949 and was passed with 91% support, making the official name Interlingue, with Interlingue (Occidental) also permitted, valid as of 1 September 1949. The year 1951 when Interlingua was announced was consequential in weakening Interlingue-Occidental, which until then had been unchallenged in the field of naturalistic planned auxiliary languages.
The former idea of a natural fusion of both languages was shown to be unrealistic, with the new language becoming a rival."Don Harlow's summary of the year 1951 for Occidental is also similar to that of Barandovská-Frank's:Interlingua had a ready-made constituency.
Cosmoglotta B stopped publishing after 1950, and frequency of publication for Cosmoglotta A began to gradually drop: once every second month from 1952, and then once per quarter from 1963.
Cosmoglotta B stopped publishing after 1950, and frequency of publication for Cosmoglotta A began to gradually drop: once every second month from 1952, and then once per quarter from 1963.
This can be seen in the frequency of Cosmoglotta: while issue 269 was published in 1972 after publishing once per season between 1963, issue 289 was not reached until summer 2000 for an average of less than one issue per year.
This can be seen in the frequency of Cosmoglotta: while issue 269 was published in 1972 after publishing once per season between 1963, issue 289 was not reached until summer 2000 for an average of less than one issue per year.
Many subsequently moved to IALA's Interlingua, which however did not prove to be much more successful despite the impression its scientific origin made, and those who remained loyal to Occidental-Interlingue did not succeed in imparting their enthusiasm to a new generation.Activity in Interlingue eventually reached a low during the 1980s and early 1990s, when Cosmoglotta publication ceased for a number of years.
According to Esperantist Don Harlow, "in 1985 Occidental's last periodical, Cosmoglotta, ceased publication, and its editor, Mr.
Many subsequently moved to IALA's Interlingua, which however did not prove to be much more successful despite the impression its scientific origin made, and those who remained loyal to Occidental-Interlingue did not succeed in imparting their enthusiasm to a new generation.Activity in Interlingue eventually reached a low during the 1980s and early 1990s, when Cosmoglotta publication ceased for a number of years.
Adrian Pilgrim, is quoted as having described Occidental as a 'dead language.'" A decade later, a documentary in 1994 by Steve Hawley and Steyger on planned languages introduced Interlingue speaker Donald Gasper as "one of the last remaining speakers of the language Occidental". As was the case for other planned languages, it was the arrival of the internet that allowed the language to revive.
In the year 1999 the first Yahoo! Group in Occidental was founded, and Cosmoglotta had been publishing intermittently again.
This can be seen in the frequency of Cosmoglotta: while issue 269 was published in 1972 after publishing once per season between 1963, issue 289 was not reached until summer 2000 for an average of less than one issue per year.
An Interlingue Wikipedia was approved in 2004.
In recent years official meetings between Interlingue speakers have begun taking place again: a meeting in Ulm on 10 January 2013, another in Munich in 2014 with three participants, and a third in Ulm on 16 August 2015 with five. The most recent edition of the magazine Cosmoglotta is volume 325, for the period January to December 2019. == Language philosophy == Edgar de Wahl was first introduced to planned languages through Volapük by Waldemar Rosenberger, a coworker of de Wahl's father.
In recent years official meetings between Interlingue speakers have begun taking place again: a meeting in Ulm on 10 January 2013, another in Munich in 2014 with three participants, and a third in Ulm on 16 August 2015 with five. The most recent edition of the magazine Cosmoglotta is volume 325, for the period January to December 2019. == Language philosophy == Edgar de Wahl was first introduced to planned languages through Volapük by Waldemar Rosenberger, a coworker of de Wahl's father.
In recent years official meetings between Interlingue speakers have begun taking place again: a meeting in Ulm on 10 January 2013, another in Munich in 2014 with three participants, and a third in Ulm on 16 August 2015 with five. The most recent edition of the magazine Cosmoglotta is volume 325, for the period January to December 2019. == Language philosophy == Edgar de Wahl was first introduced to planned languages through Volapük by Waldemar Rosenberger, a coworker of de Wahl's father.
In recent years official meetings between Interlingue speakers have begun taking place again: a meeting in Ulm on 10 January 2013, another in Munich in 2014 with three participants, and a third in Ulm on 16 August 2015 with five. The most recent edition of the magazine Cosmoglotta is volume 325, for the period January to December 2019. == Language philosophy == Edgar de Wahl was first introduced to planned languages through Volapük by Waldemar Rosenberger, a coworker of de Wahl's father.
All text is taken from Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License .
Page generated on 2021-08-05