Talk:Baháʼí Faith and auxiliary language

Just curious for those who know better than I - have there ever been any statements in the religion on the language Interlingua? 211.240.138.196 12:02, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

As far as my research can tell, the answer to this question is "no". It is possible that it is mentioned in a letter from the Baha'i World Centre or the Universal House of Justice, but none that I can possibly see or find. A comprehensive search of Ocean shows no results using search terms or roots: "interlingua", "lingua", "lingu", or "interl". A search of the Baha'i Academics Library shows 2 results, one reference in a research paper, and another on a forum, neither of which are statements within the faith. (Nmentha 03:23, 26 September 2005 (UTC)) I (Nmentha) was registered as not being logged into Wikipedia!

Two International Languages section
I'm not sure what the opening sentence: "Two related hermeneutic difficulties have led some commentators to conclude that two international languages will be chosen — not simultaneously, but one for the near future and one for the far future." is trying to get at. I've never heard of this so-called conflict.

"Some commentators" is troubling. What commentators? Without citation, and there's none here, these are weasly.

What hermeneutic/exegetic difficulties? It's already established in the article that Bahá'u'lláh was only praising Arabic and 'Abdul-Bahá prasing Esperanto. The points aren't related, so how could they conflict?

I'm loathe to see references to a so-called Bahá'í hermeneutics. Biblical hermeneutics has a checkered history to say the least. And Bahá'ís have a treasure-trove or authoritative, to us, interpretation in 'Abdul-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi.

Exegetic studies of the Bahá'í writings are useful, but I don't see a conflict requiring such a study. Besides that study should be documented here at least on the "Talk" page.

This section makes very good points on the process of adopting a universal auxiliary language. I especially like the references to minority languages and cultures.

Could this section be reworked as so:

Toward a universal language

The idea that a universal language would displace native languages is potentially troubling. This would seem to contradict the Bahá'í Faith's principle of "unity in diversity."

Language is strongly attached to culture. The prospect of all-but-universal language extinction would be undesirable to less dominant languages and cultures, like Uyghur or Cornish, which are struggling for distinction. American Indian languages and cultures were suppressed in boarding schools in the United States and Canada much to the detriment of these peoples. The effects of the suppression of Irish can still be felt today.

To the world's ethnic minorities an imposed language would be tantamount to an imposed culture. The Bahá'í writings appear to envision a language that is willingly supported and learned.

This passage from Shoghi Effendi refers the voluntary, or de-facto, adoption of a single language to the distant future:


 * What Bahá'u'lláh is referring to in the Eighth Leaf of the Exalted Paradise [Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 68] is a far distant time, when the world is really one country, and one language would be a sensible possibility. It does not contradict His instruction as to the need immediately for an auxiliary language.
 * From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, March 16, 1946
 * republished in Lights of Guidance, p. 340

Another possible interpretation is to say that "reduced to one" refers not to all languages, but only to the languages which would be necessary to learn. This preserves the idea of "unity in diversity."

MARussellPESE 19:29, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

Unitas Multiplex
"Unitas Multiplex" was introduced because it is the original latin term for "unity in multiplicity", which is analogous to unity in diversity. It is a fundamental tennt of the enlightenment philosophy of Leibniz, specifically his project to develop an auxiliary language known as the characteristica universalis. There have been many different developments of this approach in contemporary philosophy and science. An interesting application is in the work of Systems Ecology, ecological economics & ecological engineering. Sholto Maud 23:19, 16 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Firstly, this is the english wikipedia. Secondly the article is about the Baha'i idea of language policy which includes among it keeping the diversity of language, and comes from the writings of Baha'u'llah.  Thirdly, characteristica universalis is already in the "see also" section. -- Jeff3000 04:47, 17 March 2006 (UTC)


 * No it's not offensive, and I find it interesting that the idea has existed for so long, but it's place is not in this article, because this article is about what the Baha'i Faith teaches about language policy, not what others think about it. -- Jeff3000 13:42, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

There seems to be some tunnel vision as it relates to understanding Baha'u'llah's concept of an international auxiliary language. Some important quotes are:

"A world language will either be invented or chosen from among the existing languages and will be taught in the schools of all the federated nations as an auxiliary to their mother tongue."(Shoghi Effendi, The Proclamation of Baha'u'llah, p. xi)

"In the schools of each nation the mother tongue will be taught, as well as the revised Universal Language."(Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 94)

"In order to facilitate complete understanding between all people, a universal auxiliary language will be adopted and in the schools of the future two languages will be taught -- the mother tongue and this international auxiliary tongue which will be either one of the existing language or a new language made up of words from all the languages..."(Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 84)

"Thus it would be needful to know two languages only, the mother tongue and the universal speech." (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 156)

Is it possible that Baha'u'llah was not suggesting the creation of a completely new language, like others have done with Esperanto and suggested with characteristica universalis? What if Baha'u'llah was suggesting something entirely different--an AUXILIARY to our own mother tongues? So that instead of learning an entirely new language, we only need to learn common modifications to our own native languages that make it possible for those who speak different languages to understand what we are saying...starting with a common script. Could this be what is meant by a "revised" universal language, a "universal speech", and a language that is made up of words from all languages? This understanding of Baha'u'llah's Message would suggest the creation of an auxiliary grammatical structure that encompasses all languages, rather than adding more newly constructed languages to the mix. It would create an overarching unity out of the diversity. (Jkhalilprince (talk) 14:18, 7 May 2009 (UTC))

name change
Are there any objections to moving this page to Universal Auxiliary Language. It currently redirects here, and Bahá'í Faith and language policy sounds funny. There really isn't a "language policy" in the Baha'i Faith. Cuñado  -  Talk  10:15, 24 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Never liked this title anyway, but "Universal Auxiliary Language" is perhaps too generic. How about Baha'i Faith and auxiliary language? MARussellPESE 12:53, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes I like "Baha'i Faith and auxiliary language". Note that there is already an article called International Auxiliary Language that has nothing to do with the Baha'i Faith. -- Jeff3000 13:50, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Wikiproject:Conlanging
Should this be under Wikiproject Conlanging? I can do stuff ! (talk) 06:04, 24 January 2024 (UTC)