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From: jans@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Jan Steinman)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Global Cultural Prototype [Loglan]
Message-ID: <6142@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM>
Date: 13 Oct 89 17:35:50 GMT
Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or.
Lines: 21

<As far as I know, Loglan is the only widely known (among scholars) language 
which has attempted to start from ground zero and build an easy-to-learn, 
unambiguous language.>

Although they already had a spoken language they liked, a Korean king (Sejong?) 
commissioned scientists and linguists to create the written form of Hangul.  I 
think this was in the early 1500s.  This is the only case I know of a language 
transcription system in common use being invented, rather than evolved.

Hangul is completely phonetic.  I spent a year in Korea, and was able to read 
street signs and restaurant menus within a week of arrival, meaning I could 
pronounce the words properly.  Unfortunately, simple syntax and semantics are 
not spoken Hangul's stong point, but the success of written Hangul (Korea's 
100% literacy rate is higher than most western nations) might serve as an 
example that something more ambitious, like Loglan, could get off the ground.  
(Now we just have to get a king behind it!)

							   Jan Steinman - N7JDB
						  Electronic Systems Laboratory
					Box 500, MS 50-370, Beaverton, OR 97077
						(w)503/627-5881 (h)503/657-7703