Language Problems and Language Planning - Volume 27, Issue 2, 2003

The struggle between Yiddishism and Hebraism in the interwar Baltic states still awaits systematic investigation and requires the use of sources in many languages. Paul Ariste (1905–1990), a famous Estonian linguist and polyglot, learned Yiddish as a young man and remained fascinated with the language for his whole life. This case study of non-Jewish support of Yiddishism in Estonia examines the arguments Ariste used in a Yiddish-language speech in 1933 in the general context of Yiddishist ideology. A member of a small people himself, Ariste was mostly concerned with assimilation. Apparently he did not consider hebraisation of the diaspora a possibility and therefore did not see Hebrew as a serious rival of Yiddish. There are marked parallels between Estonian and Yiddish language planning problems in the interwar period: despite obvious differences in their sociolinguistic history, the languages faced somewhat similar problems. The language planning climate in both cases was characterised by sensitivity towards German. In Ariste’s view, German, attractive to Jews as a powerful language of high culture and a means of modernization, posed an ideological threat, but not a threat to Yiddish corpus planning, since Yiddish is different from German by definition. His advocacy of Yiddish differs from usual Yiddishist argumentation only in minor details. He might be compared to moderate Yiddishists.

Recent literature reviewed by the author, particularly in German and English, leads him to conclude that there is a growing awareness, primarily in Europe, that the progressive establishment of English in the medium term as an international auxiliary language increasingly endangers the very survival of languages and cultures other than English, with the progressive effect of increasing political domination. On the other hand, it is not at all clear to any of the authors of these studies that the phenomenon is a necessary consequence of the political weight of international domination by the United States and the English-language world, and that accordingly a remedy must be found — above all the creation of a political power with a consistency at least comparable to that of the English-speaking world, and, secondarily, the adoption of a European federal language — and future world language — in the form of a planned language (Esperanto is the only one that is ready to use), which, not being the native language of any single people, nor the official tongue of a great power, would not have the “glottophagic” effect of English. Entirely utopian are those alternatives — merely apparent alternatives — currently being proposed in the face of the hegemony of English, such as mass multilingualism, which is neither realizable in practice nor capable of constituting a valid substitute for a single, worldwide language of communication. Such alternatives, almost certainly doomed to failure, will only confirm the conclusive victory of English and the progressive disappearance of other languages.

A significant number of publications on interlinguistics and Esperanto studies would be improved if their authors had a more thorough knowledge of the significant scholarly literature. However, it is often difficult even for the specialist to find his or her way among current and older scholarly studies dealing with various aspects of planned languages ([“artificial”] world [auxiliary] languages). The current study is intended to facilitate access to the scholarly literature by drawing the reader’s attention to the myriad sources of material worthy of use by the researcher. Particularly included, in addition to monographs, are such sources as anthologies, Festschriften, conference proceedings, university dissertations, and planned-language periodicals both current and older. Especially valuable for up-to-date information are general and specialized interlinguistics bibliographies, bibliographically oriented bulletins, and periodically published international bibliographies with sections on interlinguistics. Yielding most information is the bibliography on modern languages and literatures published by the Modern Language Association (MLA) in New York, which registers the newest materials annually. Specialized libraries, more and more easily consulted on-line, provide large quantities of materials worthy of research. The Internet is playing a growing role in making literature in the field available.