Language Reform

SIMPLIFICATION

Simplification reform involvies Spelling simplification (''cf.'' Spelling Reform ), Inflection , Syntax , and Vocabulary , including word formation. For example, in English , there are many prefixes that mean "the opposite of", e.g. un-, im-, an-, de-, etc. A language reform might propose to eliminate all these miscellaneous prefixes and replace them by just one, say un-. On top of this, there are words such as "good" and "bad" that roughly mean the opposite of each other, but would be better (in terms of simplicity) portrayed as "good" and "ungood", dropping "bad" from the language altogether. However, the most common form of simplification is the adoption of spelling reforms. Several major world languages have undergone wholesale spelling reforms: Spanish (in the XVIII century), Portuguese (in 1910, in Portugal, and in 1946 and 1972, in Brazil), German (in 1910 and 1999) and Russian (in 1728 and 1919).

PURIFICATION

See Also: Linguistic purism

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

As with all reform, there are overwhelming reasons for opposition. All Literature , digital documents, road signs and maps would need to be rewritten. Moreover, everyone would need to relearn the language. Young children and language students would in the long run be far better off with the new, easier language, but in the short term would have a lot of work on their hands. It is argued that languages lose their Poeticness , becoming harsh and Soul ess, if they are changed.

However, such claims are unsupported by fact. Most of them are based on the assumption that the current, yet Archaic , form of the language is the only one that bears the traditional ' Mana ', the ancient 'holiness' and that a reform would break the chain that ties the present to the past. In reality, moderate spelling reforms can do more to help than to hinder education and culture. The cost of the transition can be largely overcame by good planning, enough time for transition and capitalizing on popular support.

Examples of very successful language reforms were:

Romanian (XIX Century) -- replaced the Cyrillic alphabet with the Latin Al , dropped thousands of Slavic roots and replaced them with Romance ones.

Portuguese (XX Century) -- replaced a cumbersome traditional spelling system with a simplified one (''asthma'', for instance, became ''asma'' and ''phthysica'' became ''tísica'').

German (1910) -- unified the spelling system nationwide (in Germany, was later adopted by other Germanophone countries.

Chinese (Post-Civil War) -- introduced a new and simplified writing system, helping spread literacy.

INSTANCES OF LANGUAGE REFORM

The Turkish language and writing system were reformed starting in the 1920's, to the point that the older language is called by a different name, Ottoman Turkish . Ottoman used the Arabic Alphabet , which was replaced in 1928 by a new, Latin-based Turkish Alphabet . The vocabulary was "purified" by the replacement of loan-words from Persian and Arabic with native Turkish words or new coinages based (sometimes loosely) on Turkish models. (Lewis, 2002)

The Modern Hebrew language was created from Ancient Hebrew by simplification of the grammar (especially of the Syntax ) according to Indo-European models, coinage of new words from Hebrew roots based on European models, and simplification of pronunciation rules.

('s novel '' Nineteen Eighty-Four '', English has become Newspeak , a language designed to make official Propaganda easy and to make politically undesirable thoughts impossible to express.

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Language Reform