Evocative Language: Attempts for an Ideal Universal Language

From the very beginning of their existence, human beings have felt their innate need for communication with their congeners. While this seemed impossible, Homo Sapiens gradually began to develop communication channels. It all started with simple nods, utilizing body language and facial expressions. This led people to devise ways to capture these expressions more accurately. Years later, the first languages appeared. Usually, they included drawings on stony areas, lines, or symbols which gradually evolved into languages as we know them today.

The use of language has allowed us to invent theater, teaching, arts, etc. As each people enriched their language and exalted culture, dysfunctions arose. For example, how could trade between nations be facilitated? How would a traveler communicate with the natives of another country? The answer was that everyone had to know the language.

This, however, began to malfunction with the sharp increase in the world’s population. The idea of a universal common language was gaining ground. It attracted not only merchants and diplomats but also ordinary people and this is how the first artificial languages appeared. Artificial languages were consciously created by humans, without having evolved naturally, to bridge the communication and understanding gap between people. Let’s take a quick look at the efforts of this idea.

1. Bliss Symbols 

   Bliss symbols are an artificial language made up of symbols. Each symbol is a separate concept that in combination with other concepts (their respective symbols), creates understandable sentences. The idea was conceived by photographer Charles K. Bliss who worked as a photographer during World War II and expressed strong enthusiasm for the Chinese language and its ideographic system.
   This system includes several characters. What they denote can be depicted, and characters can depict something intangible (for example, love through a heart). Although the Bliss system was not adopted as a global language, it was used by physicians in patients with cerebral palsy and other medical or learning specificities to teach human communication in a way adapted to their specificities.

2. SolresolAs its name suggests, Solresol is an artificial language based on music. It was created by musician Francois Sudre in 1827 and consisted of a combination of musical notes and letters of the alphabet. Due to this mixing, this language could be expressed not only in a verbal way but also by singing, muttering, or with the help of a musical instrument.
   Solresol was also proposed for use in telegraphs during the war years, but this lasted only a short time. One of the reasons that the language did not evolve was the limited vocabulary that could be developed through it. For example, Misol was used for the word ”good” while the reverse (Solmi) was for the word ”bad”. With Sudre’s death, the language began to become extinct.
3. GlosaAlso known as ”Interglossa.” Glosa is an isolated artificial language. This means that the language does not change in the different types, and the spelling and syntax are perfectly smooth. It has influences from the Greek and Latin languages due to the use of these two in the scientific field. Each word represents an idea and can be placed as a verb, noun, adjective, or preposition. Limited auxiliary words and the syntactic order of words assist grammatical functions.
4. Romanid 

   This language uses elements from the European languages, namely French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Hungarian linguistics professor Zoltán Magyar created it, and Hungarian speakers also appreciate it. Its first edition was made in 1956, followed by a more simplified one in 1984. In fact, it was characterized as easier than Esperanto, the most widely used artificial language to date.

5. EsperantoEsperanto is an established artificial language worldwide with more than two million speakers. The inspirator was the Jewish ophthalmologist Ludwig Zamenhof in 1880. Esperanto is based on the principles of the Romance languages.
   Its vocabulary is influenced by Romance languages, while Slavic influences phonological elements. Syntactically, they follow the established subject-verb-object structure. It primarily uses the Latin alphabet. During World War II, Esperanto was seen as a tool of resistance. Thus, Hitler ordered the extermination of its speakers in the concentration camps.

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