If you had to invent a language which could be easily lernt to perserve the knowledge of mankind, ho

Let's say we had to invent a back up language which could only consist of 26 words, which words do you think would be the most efficient for global communication so that we could say simply phrases and simply give summaries of important informations?

reply to post by arpgme


You all ready lost to the 1,0, computer language

reply to post by arpgme


What? Back up language? I'm all for hypothetical but this one...
Why would we be limited to 26 words? We would simply go, "Hey, Us Make New Word." (If those are in the 26 words I guess) You lost the race before you got to the track. Human beings can't limit themselves on communication as such, it just doesn't happen. That's where we get music from, cause we need more forms of communication. Have a cell phone? Ever send an emoticon or TXT abbreviation? That's us making up a new way to communicate. 26 words? Only possible if we could express ideas via telepathy. But then we won't need those 26 words.
Peace!

reply to post by arpgme


As much as I like the idea I'm going to have to agree with the previous answers in that this simply isn't sufficient to hold anything but the most basic of ideas and would definitely not be suitable for the global communication of ideas.

And as the other previous poster said if you are looking to minimize letters Binary already won.

English is often used as an international business language; but I'm not sure if thats because native English speakers can't figure out Japanese or Mandarin or if it is genuinely better.

If you're looking for a brand new international language I think thats overkill. There are quite a few sufficient languages on earth, I say we pick one and possibly modify it to include ideas the language might not be capable of.

Yea the Alphabet. "A" can be a word just like "B"could be a word and so on. Easy enough. Next.

The thread title and OP are two different questions really, so I will answer both of them

Language to preserve knowledge of mankind:

As other posters have said, binary is great... but I would go as far to say a language based entirely on math would be most suitable- math is the universal language! The equations used to describe the universe are the same no matter what language you speak; in fact, math is in, and a part of, everything when you think about it...

Language for global communications:

I would say to use a language made up of English words- English is the most widely spoken language in the world, and I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes almost universal within the next few centuries.

You would only really need a few simple words (subject and verb) to have an understandable conversation:
-Me, You, Them (subjects)
-You would need verbs, simple ones like "Do" and "Don't" are all you really need to get a point across
-Nouns would have to be picked sparingly... I'm not quite sure what would be the best ones, but ones relating to essential needs and emergencies would probably be near the top of the list.
-Besides this, you would also need a way to designate the past, present and future, but this could simply be as simple as putting a symbol at the end of a sentence to indicate tense.

I think that body language is very much missed. There is a sense where people can speak with eyes and gestures that would have a language without the need for words.

Peace, NRE

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


of course a woman says body language lol women are masters at it as well as reading it. Ever wonder why your girlfriend is mad at you over something you haven't done yet? Yep that's right body language

reply to post by arpgme


Beyond the obvious that others have already pointed out, the language that could be used by all human beings would be mathematical, such as, something as simple as A=1, B=2, C=3 . . . or something along those lines and then each culture across the planet could make a cipher of sorts to pass to other cultures on the equivalent letters within their alphabet. We would have to do this prior to any major break down or disaster of course . . . another words . . . we would have to have translators to put a basic mathematical language in place . . . if it has not been done already.

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive
Yea the Alphabet. "A" can be a word just like "B"could be a word and so on. Easy enough. Next.

Bingo, exactly what I was thinking; but you didn't actually say what those 26 words would be

Note to others: Body language doesn't work on writing, but I guess that would be good if you were speaking the language.

Human language is a finite set of grammar rules based on a large, but still finite set of words in the lexicon, from which any human in any language could make infinite amounts of utterances.

This is truly amazing.

For example, I can guarantee that none of you have ever heard the following sentence:

The yellow and black coffee cans full of marbles, pennies and other knickknacks are on top of the dusty, old VCR above the washing machine in the Johnson's garage on Sycamore Street.

While I certainly used words that are all familiar to any native English speaker, even I have never heard this sentence before and just made it up. It really doesn't mean a thing to any of us (unless you know a Johnson family on a Sycamore Street somewhere with the appropriate items mentioned, which, in all coincidence, would be a rather random occurrence. Nonetheless, I'm sure such an utterance has never been heard by anyone's ears here or anywhere before.

We all understand what this sentence means because the constituent words are meaningful to us in their order and context.

To have only 26 words would be short-lived, because wily humans with our creative, problem-solving would get the extensive meaning transmitted by clipping the words; combining them, making portmanteaux and just reinventing suitable words at whim.