esoteriic.com

Language and literature were boring at high school, it wasn't until after high school that I realised the worthiness of both. Eventually I realised that mathematics and language have some common building blocks; the links between maths and languages (eg English) became more apparent after learning how write computer programs.

As we all(?) know computer programs are written in a "language" that is very similar to the logical expressions of mathematics. Programming languages (eg Fortram, C, Java) are formal languages and are similar to constructed languages. While C and Java (etc) [i]are[/i] "constructed" they are not intended to be spoken. Constructed languages are essentially like natural (ordinary languages, eg English) but are constructed for some purpose, eg improve inter-lingual understanding. Examples of constructed languages include: Esperanto, Lojban, Sindarin and Klingon.

The main criticism of constructed languages is that they lack culture, although they were designed to be culturally neutral. Furthermore, such languages lack any real history. For me, foreign langauges include nuances of culture and history that make them interesting. This will is obviously lacking in a constructed language. Does the cultural neutrality (a contentious claim, see wiki) actually make a constructed language more suitable for being lingua franca? I'm guessing no. That said, I believe constructed langauges can be used as means of scientific exploration but I wouldn't want to use them as a replacement for English. As an example of scientific research: Loglan was originally conceived as a means to examine the influence of language on the speaker's thought (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis).

Hence it seems easier to have human translators to enhance communication across borders. Furthermore I wonder if the constructed languages can offer something that doesn't exist in the formal languages. Both classes are supposed to be logic based but the latter is an unspoken type. It seems that if people can learn a formal language to express ideas they would be better equipped to communicate their idea than by learning a constructed language. I suggest: one's own natural language plus language of mathematical logic which can be supplemented by learning another natural language as and when needed. As for that latter I've looked primarily at German and Norwegian.