Language academies are organizations considered authorities on standard languages, often linked to linguistic purism and prestige. They typically publish prescriptive dictionaries that aim to define word meanings and pronunciations, though some adopt a more descriptive approach while promoting standard spelling. Language academies can be private or government-sanctioned, with some languages having multiple bodies influenced by political factors. While many world languages have such regulators, these do not create controlled natural languages like simple English variants or Newspeak. Instead, they support standardization, enabling languages like standard French to function as standard languages, unlike English, which lacks a formal regulator.
Natural languages
Constructed languages
Apart from the Akademio de Esperanto, most constructed languages (also called conlangs) have no true linguistic regulators or language academies.26
Auxiliary languages
See also: International auxiliary languages
| Language | Regulator(s) |
|---|---|
| Esperanto | Akademio de Esperanto |
| Ido | Uniono por la Linguo Internaciona Ido |
| Lingua Franca Nova | Asosia per Lingua Franca Nova |
| Volapük | Kadäm Volapüka |
Esperanto
Esperanto and Ido have been constructed (or planned) by a person or small group, before being adopted and further developed by communities of users through natural language evolution.
Bodies such as the Akademio de Esperanto look at questions of usage in the light of the original goals and principles of the language.
Interlingua
Interlingua has no regulating body, as its vocabulary, grammar, and orthography are viewed as a product of ongoing social forces. In theory, Interlingua therefore evolves independent from any human regulator. Interlingua's vocabulary is verified and recorded by dynamically applying certain general principles to an existing set of natural languages and their etymologies. The International Auxiliary Language Association ceased to exist in 1954, and according to the secretary of Union Mundial de Interlingua "Interlingua doesn't need its Academy".27
Other constructed languages
| Language | Regulator(s) |
|---|---|
| Klingon | Marc Okrand |
| Lojban | Logical Language Group |
| Naʼvi | Paul Frommer |
| Talossan | Comità per l'Útzil del Glheþ |
Other bodies
These bodies do not attempt to regulate any language in a prescriptive manner and are primarily concerned with aiding and advising the government on policies regarding language usage.
- Hong Kong: Official Language Division Civil Service Bureau Government of Hong Kong – concerned with matters concerning government language policy
- Macau: Departamento dos Assuntos Linguísticos of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau of the Government of Macau –concerned with matters concerning government language policy
See also
- Proposals for an English Academy
- Language policy
- Language revival
- Language planning
- Linguistic purism
- Languages in censuses
References
Thomas, George (1991) Linguistic purism p.108, quotation: Whereas a number of the puristically motivated language societies have assumed de facto responsibility for language cultivation, the decisions of the academies have often had the force of law. ... Since academies are so closely associated with the notion of purism, a brief word on their history may not be out of place. The first academy to deal expressly and exclusively with language matters was the Accademia della Crusca ... Its orientation was essentially conservative, favouring a return to the Tuscan language as cultivated in the fourteenth century over the innovations of contemporary renaissance poets such as Torquato Tasso. ... One of its first tasks -- as with so many academies to follow -- was to produce a large-scale prescriptive dictionary of Italian https://books.google.com/books?id=G18NAQAAMAAJ ↩
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