Should there be one universal language?

Critically evaluate the question: Should there be one universal language?

The thought of having a universal language is very enticing, as it should ideally make communication easier. In the past, some languages gained more popularity than others, mainly due to colonialism; efforts were also made to create new languages to make it easier for countries in a region to communicate well. While few such languages indeed became quite popular, none of them went on to become a true Lingua Franca of the world. This paper will make references to relevant research and aim to articulate a well-argued case for – Should there be one universal language and if so, in what shape and form. This paper will take a closer look at the benefits of having a universal language, the challenges faced in adopting such as language, and the feasibility of such a possibility in the future. This paper will also draw from personal experiences from living and studying in several different countries while arguing the case.

There are several definitions of a language, but the common underlying message is that it allows the majority of people to communicate with one another (Smith, 2015) (Leonard, 1914). In an increased globalized society, there are times, especially during travel, or when dealing in international trade, or even in academic work, when one feels the need for having a universal language that would help reduce the barriers in communication (Helus, 1976).

It is hard to pinpoint the exact origin of languages and has been subject to much speculation for many years due to the lack of direct evidence. Many argue that the origins of language probably relate closely to the origins of modern human behavior, but there is little agreement about the implications and directionality of this connection. Having said that, there are two important linguistic theories to mention. The first one being monogenesis, which is the theory that language derived from common ancestors at the same location; the second is polygenesis which is the theory that languages evolved from different places at different times (Graffi, 1984). It’s likely that initially humans would have spoken fewer languages when they lived in close proximity. As the population grew and migration of people to other geographical locations happened, the number of languages increased, many of which were inspired by the local culture. According to Sapir and Whorf, the content of a language is directly related to the content of a culture (Kay and Kempton, 1984).

Over the years, there were even efforts to create an artificial language to ease communication. Polish linguist Zamenhof created a new language Esperanto, drawing from the vocabulary of several European languages, hoping that it would become more popular in Europe and go on to become a world language (Patterson and Huff, 1999). Esperanto did reach its peak, but eventually declined, and English, even though not a perfect language, went on to become a more popular language. In the past, several languages gained prominence as countries popularized their languages through colonization, and even through trade. International auxiliary languages like English, French, Spanish, Portuguese became popular as these countries engaged in colonialism increasing their influence on several countries around the world. Languages gained prominence because the more resourceful countries got their languages popularised through colonization. These countries successfully managed to gain power by conquering other territories and fighting battles and wars with other nations. This made them more powerful as they had more influence and it made them more relevant to people across the globe. In turn, this helped popularise and spread the language. This suggests that more than ease of speaking, other factors like trade, politics, and more recently, globalization can have a major impact on the popularity of a language (Corradi, 2017).

With increase in globalization, technological advances, digitalization, and with the world becoming smaller, making it easier for people to travel, certain languages have become more popular than others. Today, the most spoken languages in the world are English, Chinese (primarily Mandarin), Spanish, French, Portuguese, Hindi, Arabic (Lane, 2019). The inclusion of Mandarin and Hindi should not come as a surprise considering the fact that China and India are countries with the biggest populations in the world (Worldometer, 2020). However, languages such as Spanish and English can be truly considered popular because these are spoken in several countries around the world, and population of these two countries is not much when compared to the biggest countries.

The native English population is statistically the third largest language in the world, but if one takes into account the absolute number of humans that speak English, native or as a second language, it is the most widely spoken language (Lane, 2019). Many would argue that the significance of English is greater than that of Chinese and Spanish, the two most widely spoken native languages, because of the economic power represented by English speaking countries.

Other studies also reveal that the number of languages spoken in the world is reducing and will come down from a few thousand to a few hundreds over the next few decades (Ethnologue, 2020); Ethnologue is a catalog of all the world languages.

Coming to the idea of adopting a universal language, it should definitely help in aiding communication, and making it possible for people across the globe to communicate easily. In the past, it was believed that a universal language should also help in scientific and economic progress. For people who work as scientists, economists and whose first language is not English, communicating with other professional in English does become a challenging task, compared to those who happen to be native speakers of English.

While the idea of a universal language may sound good; how realistic is the implementation of this idea, and what is the likelihood that such a language would be adopted by majority of people all over the world?

According to (Worldometer, 2020) there are approximately 7.7 billion people living on the planet and the UN predicts that by 2057 that number will increase to 10 billion. In addition, the world consists of 195 countries. There are also approximately 7000 languages spoken in the world (Ethnologue, 2020). It would definitely be a challenge to get such a large population from so many countries with such a variety of different languages to speak one universal language. Having said that, there is more cooperation between countries than ever before, with agencies like the United Nations playing a big role in it. If most of the countries in the world agree to adopting a universal language, more thought could be given on how to popularize such a language and teach it to the majority.

However, it seems there is not enough agreement on this matter – on the need to have a universal language.

One reason for that is for many, language is also an identity, similar to how they feel when displaying their country’s flags (Ettlinger, 2014). I have lived in a variety of different countries throughout my childhood and adult life; I have experienced the cultural differences, and I understand the value and significance of spoken languages; it creates a sense of belonging and unites humans.

Then there are studies that suggest that the impact of globalization on indigenous people across the world is such that many of them have either lost or are likely to lose their mother tongue over the next few years. Language is often closely associated with culture, and my adopting a universal language, many fear that even most of our cultures would be lost. As a result, people have started understanding the benefit of preserving languages, similar to preserving culture; that is why one also sees renewed interest in native languages in an era of globalization.

The current Geopolitical situation also prevents countries from engaging in colonialism, which means existing languages could only get more popular, if there is a business aspect to it. Also, it has been proven that countries really don’t need to adopt a popular language, such as English, to be successful, as demonstrated by countries like Germany and Japan (United Nations, 2014).

In recent times the impact of technology, widespread use of the internet, and the ongoing digitalization has changed the way in which communication can occur between individuals. The transmission of data and hence various types of communication across the internet is far more efficient and rapid than that of the colonists (word of mouth).

Technology is also making it easier to deal with the complexities of multiple languages. Google translate is a popular language translator application that many use to quickly understand text from other languages. With emerging technologies such as Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) set to become more efficient and intelligent, such applications will only become more intelligent at language translation, making it easier for people to understand foreign languages. Also, there are many who are learning multiple languages today, for personal growth and for better career prospects, so it is also comparatively easy to find interpreters today. All these developments seem to suggest that humans are able to manage well with multiple languages and do not really miss a universal language.

Conclusion

Languages in general have a tendency to propagate and also to adapt, but its importance is to help people communicate to enable sharing of thoughts and ideas. More importantly, a language also provides a sense of identity to people; most humans and ethnicities aspire to have their own identities, and in such a case language becomes an important factor. It is important to preserve the variety of natural languages, in order to retain culture, identity and history, which is reflected in the growing interest in native languages in modern times.

It means, while there are obvious benefits of having a Universal language, it is not how humans behave and what they really want. Besides, a universal language may not really confer substantial benefits in the modern world that is heavily dependent on technology, which is becoming more intelligent and rapidly changing the way in which humans communicate. In the old days, languages would evolve locally and their prevalence would depend on the strength of their bearer and word of mouth.

In today’s world, technology is perhaps the most important factor and the pace of development is staggering; platforms such as Google translate will continue to improve and enable seamless communication. Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning will improve translation software/apps which will solve the challenge of communication between different nations and ethnicities to a large extent, and thus reduce the need for a universal language. A universal language could make more efficient, but it is not how people like to behave – they like to support different teams, prefer listening to different kinds of music, and are proud about their culture. Besides, technology is only making learning as well as interpreting foreign languages easier.

All these developments indicate that the need for a universal language might decrease, since the ability to communicate internationally improves. In fact, the rapid pace of globalisation might in fact fuel a strong desire to maintain identity and preserve culture, including native languages.

In terms of convenience, a universal language can help improve collaboration among humans, but it seems people right now are happy to use existing popular languages such as English for that purpose. Efforts to create any new language as a universal language is unlikely to find many takers around the world.

 

References

Anna Corradi, 2017. The Linguistic Colonialism of English [online]. Available at [Accessed: 10 December 2020]

Bloomfield Leonard (1914): An introduction to the study of language. New York: Henry Holt and company.

Ethnologue, 2020. How many languages are endangered? [online]. Available at [Accessed: 02 December 2020]

Ethnologue, 2020. How many languages are there in the world? Available at: [Accessed: 03 December 2020]

Graffi, G., 1984. Origin of language and origin of languages. Evolutionary Linguistic Theory, 1(1), pp.6-23.

Helus, Z., 1976. Language Barriers-Sociology of Communication-GERMAN-BADURA, B.

James Lane, 2019. The 10 Most Spoken Languages In The World [online]. Available at [Accessed: 10 December 2020]

Kay, P. and Kempton, W., 1984. What Is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?. American Anthropologist, 86(1), pp.65-79.

Marc Ettlinger, 2014. Here’s Why The World Can Never Have One Universal Language. [online]. Available at [Accessed: 10 December 2020]

Patterson, R. and Huff, S., 1999. The Decline and Fall of Esperanto: Lessons for Standards Committees. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 6(6), pp.444-446.

Smith, L., 2015. English as an International Auxiliary Language. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 4(1).

United Nations, 2014. Country classification. [online]. Available at [Accessed: 8 December 2020]

Worldometer, 2020. How many Countries are there in the World? Available at: [Accessed: 7 December 2020].

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