Constructed Language
We currently have three major players in the space industry (Russia, China and America) and each has its own distinct language and written form. The Russian Cyrillic alphabet is closely based on the Greek alphabet, with about a dozen additional letters invented to represent Slavic sounds not found in Greek.
The Chinese written form comprises characters that are roughly logosyllabic; where a character generally represents one syllable of spoken Chinese and may be a word on its own or a part of a polysyllabic word.
The written English language utilizes the Latin alphabet, also called Roman alphabet, and is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world.
With over 70 national space agencies the issue of language is evident and these three sample languages clearly demonstrate that sometime in the future there will be communication issues requiring a solution. For now, current ISS astronauts are often required to learn or be able to comprehend English and Russian, and with so many nations becoming involved in space, future astronauts will need to be recruited from the ranks of the world’s polyglots.
An alternative to learning multiple languages or sourcing astronauts from the polyglots is to create just one “constructed script” and associated language.
A constructed script is one that is not an evolved script from a root system such as English but one that has been constructed by an individual or group to serve a specific purpose. A natural script by contrast is one that evolves and grows as part of a natural language or culture as has English. (Which is Germanic in origin?)
There have been limited constructed scripts make it into main stream culture (Klingon for example) as well as a few attempts at constructing speech patterns such as the way the “belters” speak in the Sci-Fi program “The Expanse”. These attempts obviously serve the specific purpose of the storyline in fictional arenas but do not translate well into real world application as they are limited in development and distribution.
Any attempt to construct a universal script / language for interplanetary usage would create two possible outcomes. One would be a functionary language common to all space workers likely to be considered as a low language, and the second would be a more scientific based language as many early colonists or space workers would have scientific backgrounds. This could be considered as a high language.
This concept of low and high language is not unheard of.
In linguistics, diglossia[1] is a situation in which two dialects or languages are used in fairly strict compartmentalization in a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language, a second, highly codified lect (A specific form of a language or language cluster: a language or a dialect.) is used in certain situations such as literature, formal education, or other specific settings, but not used normally for ordinary conversation.
In a colonial setting where highly educated people are the first colonists followed by a ‘worker” class migration the likelihood of a diglossia affect would not be unexpected.
Within any nation the likelihood of people able to converse in English in these specific fields is high, simply because of the population numbers. In an interplanetary / lunar colony the population numbers are very low and the fluency rate may not be as high.
In such a small community the rapid evolution of a base common language would be expected to occur so mutual understanding is possible, especially in the dangerous first colonial settings.
In 1927, the International Telegraph Union (ITU) developed a popular spelling alphabet for telegram communication. By the start of WWII, the ITU code words were the form of communication used by most commercial airlines. The development of the NATO phonetic alphabet[2] is another example where the need for a common communal understanding was necessary among a diverse linguistic group. The International Civil Aviation Organization tested each word in many common dialects to ensure that each could understand and speak the word in such a manner as to have clear communications.
Although the phonetic alphabets are not truly a language they help diverse populations communicate.
The development of a constructed language would by necessity follow similar criteria of words being pronounceable by the majority of participants, even if the selected word is not an English word. This “pronounceable” linguistic requirement would invariably alter or be inclusive of multiple different languages to create a new communal language.
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