RE EDUCATION

Many of us have heard the adage:  "Feed a man a fish and you've fed him for a day.  Teach a man how to fish and you've fed him for a lifetime."  In my opinion, this is an accurate observation; and ought serve as the rationale behind our efforts to bring education to all the world's children.  No one can ever know "too much"; and, likewise, there can never be "too many" people in possession of any or all knowledge.  We must therefore strive to share our knowledge with our fellow man at every opportunity.

I further believe that education is the most valuable tool a human being can give to another human being; and that it truly is, according to a Japanese proverb, "the stem which winds the watch."  Education has been credited with being "the only serious prescription for world economic and psychological troubles." (Alfred DeGrazia, Political Organization)  The teacher has even at times been equated to the priest--for he or she is said to serve as a moral exemplar, deriving authority from society to honestly and objectively interpret society's will.

The higher the incidence or level of education existing in a place, the higher is its labor productivity, the more rapid its growth of gross domestic product, and the more dynamic its level of social integration, including its people's participation in cultural and political affairs.  Furthermore, and once again parenthetically, as an unexpected added bonus, the more widespread and advanced the incidence of education happens to be in a place, the later its people tend to marry; and, thus, the lower the rate of population growth in that place.

But what is most fundamental, as well as most important, is the concept that the knowledgeable segments of our world owe an obligation to impart their knowledge to the rest of the world.  It is comparable to the idea that a person who possesses food in abundance is obligated to pass some of it on to a starving, or even undernourished, person whom he happens to encounter.  And knowledge being infinitely available to the possessor (i.e., none is lost when it is passed on to others), continues as well to be, in full measure, in the possession of the original giver.

Therefore, there is no reason why all children throughout the world should not be afforded the opportunity to obtain, and thereby forever possess, what is actually their birthright: an education of appropriate quantity and quality to enable each to live a life of service, productivity, fulfillment, and consequent happiness.

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RE EDUCATION

Staistics concerning the percentages of children worldwide who are actually enrolled in school are particularly shameful in light of the world's recent and continuing rapid advances in virtually every field of knowledge that man p[ossesses; and in light of the emergence as well of such an array of new developments requiring skill and training that can only be obtained academilcally. 

Especially neglected in addition are the school-age mentally retarded and mentally ill.  They are afforded the least amount of educational and vocational assistance in the most developed parts of the world--and generally none at all in the less developed regions. 

On a positive note, it is probable that in a unified world, without the expenses of arms, armies, and warfare, a great deal more funds will be available for application to more worthwhile purposes such as education.  Moreover, today's traditional methods for funding education can also continue to be resorted to--including parental funding, student loans, programs whereby educations are paid for by employers, work-study programs, and the like.  I also consider a program of "scholarships" awarded to students in return for obligations to perform within their professions for a period following graduation, at modest recompense, to be a sensible path to follow.

When and if worldwide unity should come to pass, conferences will be necessary, attended by experts in all fields of education, to plan and coordinate the conversion and expansion of the various educational systems and facilities into a worldwide program for the education of all appropriate recipients.  It is anticipated that all newly established institutions will need to shortly be of equal or higher qualitythan the majority of currently existing facilities of like nature. 

Laws would need to be enacted making it mandatory for all parents to permit their children to freely take part in these educational programs.  And additional schools of every level would obviously need to be established all over the world; so that universal educational opportunities would be available to all.

It is my opinion that ability begets desire; and that, consequently, we all perform best at what we love to do most.  Conversely, we most desire to do what we will likely be best at.  Therefore, I believe that every person should be interviewed, at several points during his of her childhood, about vocational goals and plans.  This would serve to alert every child that he or she should be thinking about and deciding upon what to learn and what to pursue in life; while at the same time exploring with each child the possible directions in which said child's learning and life ought be guided.

Furthermore, aptitude tests should be administered to all children, at two or more age levels, in order to determine what he or she seems best suited for.  Based upon these results, an individual educational plan would be composed for each child; and the means to effectuate said plan made available to him or her.

I am of course aware that all of my suggestions as to method and manner, re any subject, can and should be improved upon, as well as tempered in accordance with then-current reality, by the experts in the professions involved.

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Plato recommended that each citizen be assigned a lifetime vocation by the state; and that the state give him the training to thus perform in his designated function as well.  Today, the idea of people being "assigned" a type of employment would not be acceptable to most of us; but there is still a need to pursue this line of thinking, in a more liberal context, to a certain extent.  I believe that, one day, conferences should be convened to assess the resources on hand and/or necessary to provide all aspects of safety, security, comfort, and convenience for people the world over; and the deploymehnt of these resources in order to fulfill these goals promptly and efficiently.  One of the resources that would need to be considered at such deliberations is personnel.  Such determinations as to quantity and placement would thus at the same time constitute an estimate of the numbers and types of jobs and professions, in addition to facilities and equipment, that would be necessary worldwide.

A method of creating assurance that these personnel requirements would always be filled--especially as to positions and locations that may seem less desirable--might be the offer of free or affordable education, or "scholarships," to qualified youths who would voluntarily agree, in return, to perform such services, at such places, for a specific period of time.  On a similar note, college students might all be obligated to donate a small period of their lives to assigned tasks involving the provision of services needed by society, at a more or less modest wage.  These services should be related, where possible, to the individual student's course of study.  Thus, it would not only be helpful as regards the beneficiaries involved; but would also usually afford the serving student early experience in his or her chosen endeavor, as well as early familiarity with the processes involved in interacting with people and the atmosphere and procedures in their particular fields as well.

Another possibility might be to require graduating professional students--such as in the medical fields--to perform a period of service--perhaps two or three years--where they are most needed, but where the likelihood of receiving their voluntary presence is then slim.  Who wouldn't accept a scholarship to, or perhaps a degree of financial assistance concerning, e.g., medical school, or an engineering college, etc.,where the quid pro quo was merely such a two or three year stint following graduation?  The basic idea behind all of this comprises a simple concept:  free or affordable education in return for the giving of services needed by mankind--at least for a time.

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Education in the military arts should be limited to those subjects connected with the safeguarding of peace, lives, property, safety, and security.  Under the guidance of a single world government, national armies would not be necessary--and, in fact, could obviously not exist.  Nevertheless, there would be a need for a great number of personnel, trained, equipped, and armed as should be appropriate, whose function it would be to preserve the peace, save lives, safeguard and rescue property, apprehend wrongdoers, and do any and all other things necessary to enable the huiman race to live on in tranquility, harmony, safety, and security.

This would constitute, in effect, a kind of giant worldwide police, fire, rescue, and emergency medical, department, which would be deployed and utilized as necessary.  Education in the knowledge and skills related thereto would come to replace the arts of warfare as are currently taught in our military academies.

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Another concept pertaining to education in a single unified world is the internationalization of the educational process itself.  This is something that would need to be attended to as soon as possible, among the various colleges and other institutions of higher learning throughout our world.

For example, college credits would need to be valid and transferable among colleges all over the globe, more or less to the same extent, and in the same fashion, that they are accepted as valid and transferable among institutions of higher learning within the United States today.  That is to say, there should continue to be criteria as regards different schools, academic levels, and standards; but there ought be no barriers among institutions on the basis of what (former) countries they happen to be located within.  The Academic Cooperation Association, located in Brussels, does in fact perform this apparently inevitable educational aspect for the Europrean Union.  It represents at least twenty one European organizations that support internationalization of higher education; and its efforts have apparently been successful to date.

In 1999, ministers of education from twenty nine European nations met in Bologna, to deal with the current situation whereby today's graduates require increased mobility and international employability.  A European Higher Education Area was born, similar to other European unifications, such as those concerning trade and currency.  Known as the "Bologna Process," a plan for the development and adoption of a common framework of credits, quality controls, and graduate as well as postgraduate degrees, has been put int place.  Forty seven nations have presently become involved in this arrangement.  Parenthetically, it may be additionally significant to note that a growing number of European universities are said to be teaching in English--which has come to be referred to in such circles as "the accepted global lingua franca." 

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RE EDUCATION

Our children are our ultimate hope.--and moreover our only hope--for tomorrow.  It is threrefore necessary to give them every possible opportunity to become as knowledgeable and competent in their respective chosen fields of endeavor as possible,.

All the world's children are entitled to receive a quality education.  Beyond a universal minimum, which should be a requirement for all children, additional education, in accordance with each child's desires and abilities, should be attainable by all.  It furthermore goes without saying that equal access to all levels of education should be available to women as well as men.

Emphasis on, and attention to, the education of our children is one of humanity's most important considerations.  However, it today receives attention in widely varying amounts in different places--sometimes not very far from one another.  For example, in 2000, only four percent of Israel's population over fifteen years of age was illiterate; while this figure was close to fifty percent in nearby Iraq and Egypt, and well over fifty percent in Yemen.  Of course, variations in economic and political conditionns would be cited as the cause for these extreme differences.  On the other hand, it is my purpose to convince that the formation of a single worldwide state, administered by a single worldwide just and beneficent government, coupled with worldwide access to a single worldwide economy, should and would provide worldwide access to equal educational opportunities for all.  This would eventually result in the emergence of skilled and talented people from all corners of the earth, happily contributing to the welfare of all.

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At the beginning of 2007, the world still contained over 323 million children who were not enrolled in any school whatsoever--and likely, under present circumstances, never will.  Only 58 percent of the world's secondary school level age group (ages 12 to 17) were enrolled in high school as of 2008.  It is unlikely that this has improved very much during the last few years either.  And a recent report tells us that while college enrollment is increasing worldwide--particularly in Russia and Africa--the percentage of the world's pop;ulation who currently hold college degrees is a mere 6.7 percent

RE AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

IN CONCLUSION

In our past, a number of great minds--who may not be familiar to all of us, or whose beliefs we may not share, but whose superior intelligence is acknowledged by those who knew them--have predicted and advocated a single worldwide language.  During the nineteenth century, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche forecast that "in the future...there will be a new language...just as certainly as there will be some day travel by air."  Abdul Baha Ullah, the chief figure during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries of the Bahaist sect, a Middle Eastern religion with a following of tens of thousands, has been quoted as calling for "one language that may be spread universally among the people  in order that this universal language may eliminate misunderstandings from among mankind."  Octave Mirbeau, a noted French author of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, whose works are currently undergoing a renaissance, once said:  "Civilization will not have taken a great step forward...until there is a single language on the surface of the earth."  Karl Kautsky, a German Socialist and noted opponent of Naziism, who lived between 1850 and 1938, observed that "the division of language weakens the power of mankind...."  And the famed Russian author and journalist, Maxim Gorky, has said:  "Mankind would realize far faster the community of its interests if it spoke a single language...."

It is said to be a fundamental principle of philology that the language of each people serves as more than simply a means of communication.  Rather, it has been said to comprise, as well as to limit, the basis for the speakers of that tongue's seeming conception of, and approasch to, the world.  And, just as each respective form of currency today varies as against the currency of another nation, so too do the shades of import and meaning of language differ as regards parallel words of two different languages.

Certain items or concepts are better portrayed by the words of one language than those of another. 
Many of us have heard jokes that can only be effectively told in a particular idiom.

Thus, the variety of languages can be likened to the variety of cuisines, or musical forms, or styles of costume, that presently exist in our world.  And, as such, there is no harm in preserving them.  However, that is as far as their utility and significance appear to go.  For the purpose of transaction of all the numerous "serious" affairs of our world, a single universally expressed and understood form of language is necessary; and steps toward its creation and establishment should be commenced as soon as possible.  In fact, if a single universal language would help to create an atmosphere of peace and cooperation among all men--and it appears likely that it would--then its adoption is well one of the greatest gifts that our generation can bequeath to posterity. 

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RE AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

BENEFITS

An international language would enable us to understand each other clearly and completely.  No longer would differences in meaning and implication among the various languages cause misunderstandings, problems, and disputes.  No longer would translators and translations be required when people dealt with one another.  Furthermore, as pointed out earlier, the translation process frequently produces distortions, exaggerations, and misunderstandings, as well. 

If one were to ask a hundred different parents, from a hundred different places, each of  whom spoke a different language,--in their own respective tongues--what they desired most for their children and the future of the world, it is likely that each would say more or less the same thing in their respective dialects:  that their children should have an opportunity to grow up free, happy, productive, and healthy, in a just, peaceful, and stable world.  It is likely that many other questions being put to such diversified groups of speakers would similarly elicit like responses that were all not far different from one another.  Thus, in actuality, we're all already speaking the same language--we're merely expressing it by resort to different words.  It therefore seems clear that a single universal language would serve to underline our universal kinship as members of the human race--because people who understand and agree each other naturally feel akin to each other.

It is a proven fact that where frontiers are crossed by common languages, this constitutes an aid to greater cooperation within the region in general.  For example, upon Julius Nyere's rise to power in Tanzania during the mid-1960s, his establishment of Swahili as the official language of public life helped unite the country's ethnic and linguistic groups more effectively than elsewhere on the African continent.

Of course, as aforesaid, a single worldwide language would be of great benefit to business, commerce, and trade.  It would enable the participants to deal directly, clearly, and accurately with one another.  There would be no misunderstandings and consequent disputes arising out of differences in the way something was stated, or quoted, or understood.  Moreover, a participant would be enabled to pursue his or her activities more readily anywhere in the world--and thus not be limited or thwarted by a lack of comprehension, or accurate interpretation, in certain places.

A single method of communication, whereby all could be understood by all the rest, seems to be particularly needed in the scientific community.  These activities frequently constitute a process of building upon the prior work of others--which would seem to be much more readily accomplished if all who were engaged in a particular field of endeavor could speak to, and otherwise communicate with, each other in a common tongue.

There are some who object to the adoption of a universal language of the constructed type, because they presume that such a language would necessarily be lacking in the literary grace and style that many of our current languages have come to possess over long years of development and usage.  But it should be remembered that all of our current and classic languages began as simple tools for rudimentary communication among hunters, warriors, and farmers.  Examples would include Greek and Latin.  Only over time did they assume grace and style, and evolve into the vehicles for great literary expression that they have become.  It is submitted that this would eventually come to pass as well for any constructed language that should be created and put to use as a worldwide idiom.  Moreover, its literature would be available to, and understood by, everyone--without the need for translations--which translations are sometimes themselves lacking in grace or style.

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ENGLISH

It is my obvious purpose to urge the pursuit of a number of universal objectives, including a universal language.  However, it is not a purpose to recommend the type of language that it should be (existing or constructed), or which of these languages should be chosen.

Of course, being a speaker of English--and only English--I would personally tend to favor the choice of English as it is spoken today as a worldwide language.  Moreover, it is noteworthy to realize that English has already sort of evolved into a kind of global tongue.  English is presently spoken by many residents of many non-English-speaking countries.  It is probably the most popular second language among the younger people of Europe and Asia; and particularly as a choice of language as a school subject for high school and college students abroad.  As a result of this, more and more European universities are offering courses in English as the accepted global "lingua franca" of today.  Furthermore, English has at the same time come to be widely used as the language of international commerce. 

Nevertheless, this is not meant to be a claim that English is the most grammatically superior, or the easiest to learn, or the most efficient to use, of all the existing and proposed, evolved and constructed, languages that have appeared in our world thus far.  For this reason, such judgments and decisions regarding an international language shojuld be left to experts in linguistics, and fields related thereto, from across the world,

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METHOD

A Gallup poll conducted during the mid-1950s in Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States resulted in a finding that nearly eighty percent of the people thus polled favored the teaching of an international language in their elementary schools. (Mario Pei, One Language for the World)  Today, with such greatly increased globalization in our world, it seems likely that this would rise to an even higher percentage. 

It has been conjectured that if all the world's children began today (during 2012) to learn a universal language together with their own, there would be little need for interpreters or translators by 2040.  More realistically, if such a program went into operation in, say, 2020, the then-kindergarten generation would be adults by 2040.  By 2060, they, and those born after them, would comprise a probable majority of the world's population.  Thus, before the end of our twenty-first century, a universal language could indeed be in place.

The first step would likely be the setting up of a commission composed of experts in the linguistic fields from every corner of the globe.  Its role would be the choosing and/or creation of the language which would become the eventual worldwide tongue, and setting of a proposed timetable for effectuating this plan.  If an existing national language were chosen, it would likely be necessary to "tidy it up" with phonetic spelling and standardized pronunciation.  This new language would become a required subject for all students enrolled in elementary school (years one to eight) in addition to the basic lessons in their respective native tongues that are usually taught to children of this age group.  The teachers who would introduce this new language to our children would be required to themselves know it and speak it quite fluently.

Students who were at this time of "high school" (years nine to twelve), or college (years thirteen to sixteen) level, would be able--and strongly encouraged--to study it as well.  In these grades, it would be taught much like the foreign languages that are today taught in high school and college.  These latter foreign languages could continue to be taught in college.  But it might be arranged that the new international language would be a "required" subject, both in high school and in college; and the aforesaid "other" foreign languages becoming elective "third" languages, available only in college.  In addition, for people already out of school, there would be available lessons in the new language, in anticipation of its future increasing proliferation as the years rolled on.

Competence in this new language would be necessary for all, after a time, for the transaction of business, as well as for communication with our younger people.  Books, periodicals, and newspapers would for a while be published in the native languages of the places of their publication, in addition to the new language.  The same would apply to radio broadcasts, which might be simultaneously broadcast in the original native language and the new language as well.  Television shows could be "dubbed" and/or "captioned" in one or the other language (depending upon the language in which it were originally produced); and thus simultaneously available both ways.  The same could apply to motion pictures, and even live theater (wherein earphones, or streaming caption--as is offered today in some opera houses--would need to be resorted to, as necessary, by part of the audience).  And, of course, access in two languages would be available to users of the Internet.

It is likely that all of this would take place for a relatively brief period of time--perhaps twenty years or so--until the new language became the basic language of mankind.  Once this occurred, the original languages would likely be considered charming vestiges of our past.  They could, and possibly would, continue to be studied in high school and college--now as a second language rather than a third--much like Latin is studied today.  They would be still used for reaearch, where resort to as yet untranslated texts were required.  And there might remain some elderly folk who refused to learn the new language, and thus speak only in their original tongues--much like some elderly immigrants in a number of places today. 

Of course, this is merely a suggested method for initiating the introduction of such a universal language.  It is probable that experts in the fields of education and communication could and would devise even better methods for accomplishing the goals set forth herein.

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RE AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

PAST PROPOSALS

As most of us know, there have been many prior proposals for an international idiom.  As long ago as the seventeenth century, the troubles that have beset man on account of the fact that most of us can't understand each other's verbal utterings have been recognized and addressed.  It is estimated that, since that time, at least six hundred proposals aimed at achieving a solution have been advanced.  Among the earliest suggestions were those of the French philosopher Rene' Descartes, who saw the need for a constructed language, having a regular and consistent form of grammar, and having no exceptions.  Said language would use a vocabulary whose elements would be systematic as well as logically connected.  In 1765, a Frenchman named Faiguet devised a language which he called
"Langue Nouvelle".  It was based on various elements borrowed from various existing tongues.  And in 1795, another attempt to devise an international idiom was undertaken in France, by a man named Delormel.  It was named "Projet d'une Langue Universelle." 

The nineteenth century witnessed the furnishing of at least fifty new proposals, including "Volapuk" and "Esperanto," two "constructed" languages (i.e., devised by the authors, as opposed to borrowing from existing tongues) which were deemed worthy of particular merit.  In 1894, Hugo Schuchardt, who was at the time one of Europe's leading philologists, while speaking of Volapuk, referred to the possibility of such an international tongue being introduced as a compulsory subject in the public schools of the world. 

During the twentieth century, linguists have suggested at least twenty more constructed languages, from something called "Mundelingua" in 1904, to "Mondial," originated by a linguist named Heimer in 1957.  At the first assembly of the League of Nations, held in 1921, a motion favoring Esperanto was in fact made and carried.  And in 1955, at a UNESCO meeting held at Montevideo, Esperanto was once more endorsed as a universal language.

Additionally, during the twentieth century, suggestions began to be put forth concerning international languages consisting of modified national tongues.  Some linguists have suggested an international language that would give representation to most of the world's present languages.  Others have taken the position that only languages having "long and noble traditions of civilization" should be resorted to in the construction of a tongue from existing idioms.  In addition, six existing languages have been frequently suggested for utilization as the tongue that should become the worldwide language:  Chinese, English, French, Greek, Latin, and Russian.

Of course, we all know that at this time, English happens to be spoken and understood in a great many parts of our world.  On the other hand, it is worthwhile to realize that Chinese is a language spoken by at least one fifth of the world's people. 

Constructors of languages often state that they are primarily guided by the motivation that their language should provide "the greatest ease to the greatest number."  Present-day proposals have consisted of:
a.  choosing and utilizing a currently spoken national or regional language as the universal tongue; whereby schools worldwide would teach it, on a par with the then-current national idiom of their respective lands, to all students;
b.  modifying such a chosen national or regional language, so as to make it more easily and readily assimilated by the rest of the world's students and speakers;
c.  creating a professionally constructed, simple and clear, logical and efficient, language; designed to be readily learned by school children, as well as adults, the world over; devoid of sla ng terms, strange spellings and pronunciations, and other inconsistencies and peculiarities; and capable of serving the needs of all activities, disciplines, and professions that are engaged in by people the world over.

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PROBLEMS

Further complicating a situation wheerein the people of so many nation-states speak their own separate and distinct languages--which their neighbors on the other sides of their border oftehn cannot speak or understand--is the fact that there presently exist many nation-states within which several, and even numerous, languages are the norm.

A prime, but far from solitary, example is India, where one commentator reports the existence of 1,652 "mother tongues."  Such a diversity of idioms and dialects has been blamed for "fragmenting" Indian society, and thus contributing to India's several problems.  Other countries with similar difficulties include China, where we are told there have existed sixty or seventy local dialects, resulting in many Chinese being unable to understand the words of many of their countrymen.  Indonesia is also said to be home to sixty or seventy local tongues; and the former Soviet Union is reputed to have consisted of some one hundred and fifty different languages.  Even Switzerland is a place where citizens speak three different languages in addition to the original Swiss:  i.e., French, German, and Italian.

In Africa, this problem does not go away--in fact it gets even worse.  For example, the Sudan is populated by speakers of seventy languages, containing more than two hundred dialects.  African nations have frequently been torn by internal strife and civil wars, resulting from one faction within that nation hating and wishing to destroy another such faction.  Of course, the fact that one faction speaks differently than, and therefore cannot understand or communicate with, the other, certainly exacerbates the situation and feeds the mistrust, loathing, and consequent violence.

Linguistic differences can even translate into ideological misunderstandings.  A word, term, or expression used by a speaker of one language can have an entirely different meaning to, or produce an entirely different effect upon, a listener having a different primary tongue.

A related difficulty which frequently takes place--and has, at times, resulted in tragic consequences--is the scenario wherein diplomats and other officials from nation "A" are in receipt of a communique', or response, from nation "B," which appears to be hostile or contemptuous.  An exasmple of this took place during World War II, when the Allies issued an ultimatum to the Japanese prior to resorting to the first atomic bombs.  It was hoped that the Japanese response would be conciliatory, or at least courteous.  In fact, the Japanese Prime Minister's reply was courteous: though framed, in a Japanese way, to be non-commital for the time being.  Unfortunately, this response, in Japanese, was translated into English words bearing a contemptuous posture.  Hence, in the days that followed, the world's first nuclear attacks were unleashed upon two Japanese cities without further hesitation.  Had there been at the time a single worldwide language, in which the American military and the Japanese leadership were proficient, it is perhaps possible that many thousands would not have died, and that the age of atomic warfare may have never thus commenced.

And of course, in a business or social setting, failure of communication due to linguistic differences can be amusing, troublesome, and even disastrous.  I have personally witnessed an oriental gentleman, of apparent means and probable substantial learning, experiencing great difficulty with a waitress in a restaurant in the Pan Am Building in New York City one morning, in communicating his desire for a piece of toast.  Years later, I still recall how this painful, and eventually somewhat hostile, exchange emphasized to me the simple need for all of us to be able to speak to and understand one another.  I have come to thus realize that, theoretically, one could assemble in a room several dozen persons of education and ability--who would each nevertheless be unable to know what any of the others in the room were talking about.

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RE AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

HISTORY

Once upon a time, when the world was a good deal younger, the first humans' few expressive grunts obviously had little possibility for variety.  Thus, it can be safely said that, in those early days, the whole human race more or less spoke the same language.  (n.b., According to a study by Dr. Quentin Atkinson of the University of Aukland, New Zealand,--by means of sorting the phenomes [basic vowels, consonants, and tonal sounds] within the 504 modern languages that currently exist in our world,--the world's six thousand-plus languages appear to all be descended from a single ancestral tongue developed in the southern part of Africa between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago.)  This purported unity of tongue apparently subsequently split up and developed into a very numerous quantity of idioms, as the various hunting and gathering tribes expanded and went their respective ways, eventually often not even aware of each other's existence.  Then, at about 8000 B.C., groups of these formerly highly mobile bands began to combine in their pursuit of new, more sedentary, agricultural endeavors.  These early unifications gave birth to the gradual merging of numbers of neighboring idioms into families of languages.

These early clusters of people, though fewer in quantity, continued to be largely isolated from each other.  Thus, an abundance of individual languages continued to exist and to develop.

Today, as we all know, isolation has become a thing of the past.  Homogenization of our global economy has fostered what has been referred to as a "monoculture," wherein customs, procedures, and even languages, have tended to necessarily merge with and into one another.

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Another major step in the progression of language was the leap from utilization of the hieroglyphic and cuneiform types of script to the alphabetic method.  This development transported literacy from the realm of a few specially trained "professionals" to anyone who could become familiar with and proficient in the use of twenty or thirty characters called "letters." 

As time went on, progress toward unity of language, both oral and written, came to share in the development of civilizations and cultures.  An early example is seen in ancient Greece.  There, Dorians, Ionians, and Aeolians spoke a common language, which helped them to build and share a common society.  The same can be said of the subsequent Roman ascendancy, wherein Latin became the spoken language from one end of the Empire to the other.

The emergence of national languages was said to be a natural accompaniment to the emergence of national states and its consequent birth of nationalism.  As groups of people came to unify, and to acknowledge their common brotherhood as members of a particular nation-state, and a consequent duty of loyalty and obedience to a single central monarch, they adopted and resorted to a single national tongue as their means of common communication and mutual self-identification.

Steps toward greater unity in language were urged as early as the seventeenth century by Comenius, a renowned educator of that era.  His proposal called for the adoption of but two or three international languages throughout Europe:  Russian in the East; French and English in the West.  He further asserted that inclusion of lessons in an international language in our children's educations would eventually help to cure international ills.

French had actually been in flower as early as the thirteenth century; and it was frequently lauded as "the most beautiful language in the world."  In fact, French did become the "lingua franca" among many Europeans of intellect during the Enlightenment.  It also became known as the "language of diplomats," being used almost exclusively as the language for international negotiations and other such communication from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.  An example could have been observed at the Congress of Vienna, following the Napoleonic wars, during the early part of the nineteenth century.  At these meetings, French constituted the sole official language.  Subsequently however, during the conferences held at Versailles at the end of World War I, the badge of "official language" was jointly worn by English as well as French.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, this necessity for unity of language came to be shared among men of science as well.  Researchers and technical people suggested that progress in the various fields required unification and coordination which could best be achieved via the medium of a single language.

In recent times, the role of language as a means of reaffirming the unity of a group of persons who came together from various parts of the world, to settle in a particular place having historical significance to them, has been demonstrated in the adoption of Hebrew as the official language of the State of Israel.  Formerly a "dead" language, found only in scripture, it has now become the mother tongue of over three and a half million Israeli citizens.

 Today, many people living in places where there was no national native tongue usually speak English, French, or Russian.  In a sense, these have thus become "international languages."

During proceedings at the United Nations, unity of language is in evidence to the extant that only six languages are spoken during proceedings:  Arabic, Chinese English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

Our ongoing trend toward unity in language is further corroborated by an opposite phenomenon:  the disappearance of a number of languages spoken in more remote places by small numbers of people.  The last speaker of Manx died on the Isle of Man in 1974; the last speaker of Ubykh in Turkey in 1992; the last speaker of Catawba in Carolina in 1996.  We are told that, in Alaska, there was but one speaker of Eyak left--until her death in 2008, at the age of ninety.  And in southern Chile, there remain but twenty speakers of Kawesqar.

In fact, in this connection, linguists advise that there are currently at least 438 languages upon our globe having less than fifty speakers remaining.  Moreover, these experts predict that many more languages than these 438 are endangered (having declining quantities of speakers among the young); will soon become moribund (wherein there will remain only a declining number of elderly speakers); and finally dead (whereupon the last known speaker will pass away).  They estimate that, by natural events alone, more than half of the world's current six thousand-plus languages will have become extinct by the end of the twenty first century.

While it is sad to witness the passing of any person, living creature, or non-harmful thing, it is, in this connection, a probable blessing in disguise.  For as the world becomes more unified and standardized in virtually every aspect of business and economics, and in numerous other ways "smaller" each day, it becomes self-evident that the means of communication among us should likewise be unified and standardized.  In days gone by, when most people rarely traveled or did business beyond their immediate environs, a local idiom sufficed.  But this is no longer the case.  It thus becomes more necessary each day for all of us to be able to communicate with and understand each other clearly and easily.  This translates into an eventual need for mankind to adopt or devise a common language for use throughout the world.

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