BASIC ENGLISH AS A WORLD LANGUAGE?

Korero (AEWS), Volume 2, Issue 2, 31 January 1944, Page 8

BASIC ENGLISH AS A WORLD LANGUAGE?

From Newsweek, September 20, 1943

During Britain’s blackest hour, her mightiest weapon was the eloquence of Winston Churchill. From his potential vocabulary of from 50,000 to 60,000 words the Prime Minister drove an invisible sword again and again at the heart of the enemy until his besieged countrymen could arm themselves with new weapons of steel. Last week Winston Churchill unsheathed another, simpler weapon peace. Far more important now than the eloquence of any one man, he told an assembly which had gathered at Harvard University to see him receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, was an international language. A lasting peace and a more understanding world could come, he declared, from the universal adoption of Basic English, an 850-word highbrow pidgin which can be learned by a ninth-grade student in six months.

Report called for

The British Prime Minister’s public praise was the biggest boost any international language had ever received. Already Churchill had persuaded the British Cabinet to set up a committee of Ministers to study Basic’s success, its value, and the advisability of govern-ment-financing for its spread. Some of the things the report — be made in three or four months —probably will reveal are that at the outbreak of war Basic was being taught in thirty countries ; that Rockefeller Foundation and Payne Fund grants have permitted important research at Harvard by a distinguished Commission on English Language Studies ; that some fifty books (including the New Testament in 1,000 words) have been translated into Basic ; and that it is already being widely used by international organizations, in foreign trade, and in international radio.

Basic English was first “ discovered ” in 1920, when I. A. Richards (now at Harvard) and C. K. Ogden were writing “ The Meaning of Meaning.” Working at Magdalene College at Cambridge, they found that whenever they defined words they always came back to a few other words. Hence, they felt, “ there might be some limited set of words in terms of which the meanings of all other words might be stated.” On that basis they at least figuratively reduced the 600,000-word English language to 18 verbs, 78 pronouns, adverbs, and prepositions, 600 nouns, and 150 adjectives. At the same time, they pared the complicated grammar rules to seven —“ the smallest number necessary for the clear statement of ideas.”

Verbs and Nouns

The limitations of the Basic verbs — come, get, give, go, keep, let, make, put, seem, take, be, do, have, say, see, send, may, will—are overcome by combining with them the pronouns, adverbs, or prepositions. For example, Dr. Johnson’s well-dressed verbs like abandon, abdicate, adjure, cede, desert, desist, yield, &c., all reduce to “ give up.” The nouns are divided into two groups : 400 of them, like account, education, mind, kiss, and wind are classified as “ general,” while the other 200 angle, bag, garden, pipe, skirt, ticket, worm, &c. —are “ picturable.” Likewise, there are 100 “ general ” adjectives : able, elastic, normal, young, &c., and 50 “ opposites ” : dry, late, secret, white, and so forth.

One important grammatical change is the standardization of word order. For example, “ I will put the record on the machine now ” should read in only that way, with the subject first, the verb second and the predicate last. Beyond that, there are only seven rules to learn, such as that plurals are made by adding

“ s,” adverbs by adding “ ly,” and that degrees are indicated by the words “ more ” and “ most.”

Whether or not Basic will actually become a workable international language only the post-war world can tell. But, like all other such projects, opinion is divided sharply into two violent camps, with the arguments running like this :

Arguments for Basic

Proponents insist that as a world language Basic tops all other attempts because it' stems from a tongue spoken by 200,000,000 people, has a background of spontaneous growth, and leads into a rich literature—none of which can be said for an artificial language like Esperanto. As the speech of the American melting-pot, regular English has bridged cultures, while Basic has spread over wide geographical areas (its greatest success has been in India, and even low pidgin has spread rapidly through the South Pacific and across Malaya) . Other arguments: English can be made the easiest language for learners, and sloughing off endings for simplification doesn’t mangle it as a Romance language would be mangled. Among its staunchest supporters are H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Julian Huxley, and Ivy Litvinoff.

Charges Against It

The bitterest charge against Basic—whose opponents come chiefly from the ranks of those who advocate another international language—is that it represents “ cultural imperialism ” (Winston Churchill said in his speech : “ The empires of the future are the empires of the mind ”). By this argument, Esperanto, or any of the other 325 projected universal tongues which do not have a base language, would be superior because they are not only impartial, but are broad enough to lend a brilliance of expression which its limited vocabulary denies to Basic. Churchill himself, like other English-speaking persons, would find the habit of leaving out words far more difficult than the learning of a new language.

With singular glee, its opponents like to point to the '' clumsiness ” of Basic. “ The officer led his soldiers against the enemy, but the enemy stood firm ” would, they said, read like this : “ The person in military authority was the guide of his men in the army against the nation at war, but the not-friends stood solidly upright.” But to this C. K. Ogden snapped back his own translation : “ The lieutenant went in front of his men to the attack, but the other side did not give way.”

What Basic English would do to the speech of the Master of Words is shown by this “ translation ” of a part of the Prime Minister’s address at Harvard.

Churchillian English

I like to think of British and Americans moving about freely over each other’s wide estates with hardly a sense of being foreigners to one another. But I do not see why we should not try to spread our common language even more widely throughout the globe and, without seeking selfish advantage over any, possess ourselves of this invaluable amenity and birthright ... I am here to tell you that whatever form your system of world security may take, however the nations are grouped and ranged, whatever derogations are made from national sovereignty for the sake of the larger synthesis, nothing will work soundly or for long without the united effort of the British and American people. If we are together nothing is impossible. If we are divided, all will fail.

Basic English

I take pleasure in the thought of British and Americans going about freely one on the property of the other almost not conscious that they are of different countries. I do not see why we should not make the attempt at an even wider distribution of our common language over the earth, and, with no purpose to get the better of others, take up as our right the values that come from this move ... I am here to say to you that whatever form or system of safe government for the earth you have, however nations are grouped and ranged

whatever authority is taken away from separate nations and their power cut down for the greater good of all, nothing will be done well or for long without the full force which will come from British and Americans working together united in their purpose. If we are together, anything is possible. In division, all will go down.

Parliamentary Committee

The Parliamentary correspondent of The Times, London, reported on September 8 that in his speech on receiving an honorary degree of Harvard University the Prime Minister mentioned that some months ago he “ persuaded the British Cabinet to set up a Committee of Ministers to study and report upon basic English.” The chairman of this Ministerial committee is Mr. Amery, Secretary of State for India, himself a distinguished linguist.

Other Ministers on the committee include Mr. R. A. Butler, President of the Board of Education ; Mr. Oliver Stanley, Secretary of State for the Colonies; and Mr. Brendan Bracken, Minister of Information.

Since its appointment the committee has been collecting material and it will shortly hold its first meeting. While its procedure has not yet been decided, it is expected that the committee will be prepared to hear evidence from persons with special experience of the subject.

The committee’s terms of reference are not known, but from the context of the Harvard speech the purpose would appear to be to inquire into the possibilities of extending the use of English as an international language. A similar idea was under consideration by the Government of that day just before the war began. Mr. Chamberlain, who was then Prime Minister, appointed in 1939 a committee of the Economic Advisory Council to examine methods of teaching simplified English to those who do not speak our language. This committee comprised a number of eminent educationists, and its chairman was Lord Ponsonby. The war broke out a month later, and the committee never met.

A main reason for the appointment of the former committee was that its findings might be of special value to the British Council in its work of spreading a knowledge of English in foreign countries. This work of the British Council has been continued and extended —particularly in South American countries —and it now includes the teaching of English to members of the allied services and civilian refugees in this country. The greater use of English as an auxiliary language was also envisaged in the recent recommendation of the Ministers of Education of the allied countries in Europe that English or French should be introduced into the higher forms of the elementary schools of their countries as a compulsory subject. Simplified English may also prove of great value in British colonial territories —with their population of more than 50,000,000 —in developing the policy recently announced by Mr. Stanley for stimulating educational advance in preparation for responsible government. Methods of evolving a new technique of mass education in these territories to reduce illiteracy are now being investigated by the Colonial Office.

Progress in many Countries

Basic English, to which the new inquiry appears specially to relate, is a “ pocket English ” with a vocabulary of 850 words. Mr. Churchill mentioned that the first work on “ basic —otherwise BritishAmerican - Scientific - International - Commercial —English was written by Mr. Ivor Richards, now of Harvard University, and Mr. C. K. Ogden, of the Orthological Institute at Cambridge. It has made headway in many countries as a quick method of giving some facility of expression in English. There was recently published in this country a new translation of the New Testament into the 850 words of basic English, supplemented by only 150 additional words.