[Membroj] Death and Life of Languages

[Ralph Dumain]

Hot off the presses:

Hage?ge Claude. /On the Death and Life of Languages/; translated by Jody 
Gladding.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.

There are references to Esperanto and artificial languages on pp. 6-10 
and 297-298. The author opposes one Dezso Koszlolanyi who levies the 
usual accusations against artificial languages. Hage?ge defends 
Esperanto (9), refuting the claim that it is cold, lifeless and 
inexpressive. Later in the book (297-9) the author compares the fates of 
Israeli Hebrew and Esperanto, suggesting that Hebrew is more solidly 
rooted historically and socially than Esperanto, whose composite 
character and internationalist aspirations lack the same force.

Hage?ge is concerned throughout with the constant disappearance of 
languages and the issue of preserving them. Interesting, he suggests (p. 
330) that the Internet may weaken the hegemony of English and strengthen 
the position and preservation of minority and endangered languages, e.g. 
Yiddish. He also says that linguistic nationalism is a two-edged sword 
(332), though I don't recall an elaboration on this point. French is #2 
in the world language pecking order, English's closest rival in terms of 
influence.  I think perhaps here he intends to avoid indulging in French 
chauvinism, while warning that English is the number one danger to the 
survival of other languages.

I didn't have the time to check out what else he has to say in between 
the covers, but I noticed that Chapter 2 deals with vitalism as a 
philosophical current in the assessment of language, i.e. the organic 
metaphor applied to language. Since I find all organic metaphors 
suspect, I should read more about this sometime.

A couple years back I attended a talk--it may have been at NSF--on this 
very question. There's a whole web site devoted to the project of 
language preservation; I have my notes somewhere. The speaker mentioned 
Esperanto at some point, but I've lost the relevant brain cells 
containing the details of this experience.
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