Comments on: Documenting Babel – languages in information science http://theoccasionalinformationist.com/2009/11/28/documenting-babel-languages-in-information-science/ irregular thoughts on the information sciences Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:32:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Brian Barker http://theoccasionalinformationist.com/2009/11/28/documenting-babel-languages-in-information-science/#comment-40 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:37:26 +0000 http://theoccasionalinformationist.com/?p=249#comment-40 Good luck to Esperanto :)

It’s a pity that many people do not know that it has become a living language.

Your readers may be interested in http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670

A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

]]> By: Ian Fantom http://theoccasionalinformationist.com/2009/11/28/documenting-babel-languages-in-information-science/#comment-35 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:19:18 +0000 http://theoccasionalinformationist.com/?p=249#comment-35 I agree with the comment of Sparck Jones and Kay that “linguistics and information science are natural bedfellows … but there has been relatively little contact between the two fields”. The same is as true today as it was then.

The choice of a common language is dependent not primarily on the needs of the information community, but, sadly, on power politics. The outcome of the language war will depend, more than anything, on the outcome of the current wars of domination in the Middle East.

Serious research is needed into the dynamics of language politics and its link with political propaganda. My own research suggests that an important part of language wars is the undermining of the opposition, just as in any other form of conflict. Very little seems to be published on this.

]]> By: Bill Chapman http://theoccasionalinformationist.com/2009/11/28/documenting-babel-languages-in-information-science/#comment-34 Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:25:47 +0000 http://theoccasionalinformationist.com/?p=249#comment-34 CLARIN’s philosophy that all languages – irrespective of the number of speakers or of their commercial importance – are of equal importance is the right one.

I’ve long been a user and advocate of Esperanto, but I do see the importance of all languages as well as the importance of the information scientist role in making accessible what is produced in them.

Long may the world’s rich linguistic heritage endure. The aim of Esperanto was and is only to act as an auxiliary language and not to displace other tongues.

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