Zonal auxiliary languages, orzonal constructed languages, areconstructed languages made to facilitate communication between speakers of a certain group of closely related languages. They form a subgroup of theinternational auxiliary languages but are intended to serve a limited linguistic or geographic area, rather than the whole world likeEsperanto andVolapük. Although most zonal auxiliary languages are based on European language families, they should not be confused with "Euroclones", a somewhat derogatory term for languages intended for global use but based (almost) exclusively on European material. Since universal acceptance is not the goal for zonal auxiliary languages, the traditional claims of neutrality and universalism, typical for IALs, do not apply. Although they may share the same internationalist commitments of the latter, zonal auxiliary languages have also been proposed as a defense against the effects of the growing hegemony of English on other cultures or as a means to promote a sense of ethnicity or community in a manner similar torevitalized languages, such asModern Hebrew andCornish.[1] Related concepts arekoiné language, a dialect that naturally emerges as a means of communication among speakers of divergent dialects of a language, andDachsprache, a dialect that serves as a standard language for other, sometimes mutually unintelligible, dialects. The difference is that a zonal language is typically a mixture of several natural languages and is aimed to serve as an auxiliary for the speakers of different but related languages of the same family.[2]
Most zonal constructed languages were developed during the period ofromantic nationalism at the end of the 19th century, but some were created later. Most older zonal constructed languages are now known only to specialists. A modern example isInterslavic, which has become the most successful example of all zonal constructed languages.[citation needed]
Most numerous among the zonal auxiliary languages are, by far,Pan-Slavic languages. The oldest known example isRuski jezik (1665) by the Croatian priestJuraj Križanić, who is often regarded as the first recordedPan-Slavist. Other notable examples of early Pan-Slavic language projects areUniversalis Lingua Slavica byJán Herkeľ (1826),Uzajemni Pravopis Slavjanski by the SloveneMatija Majar (1865),Neuslawisch by the Czech Ignac Hošek (1907) andSlavina by the Czech Josef Konečný (1912). Until the beginning of the 20th century, all projects were characterized by a heavilynaturalistic grammar, based directly or indirectly onOld Church Slavonic. Their authors were motivated by the belief that all Slavic languages were dialects of one single Slavic language rather than separate languages. They deplored the fact that these dialects had diverged beyond mutual comprehensibility, and the language they envisioned was intended to reverse this process. Their long-term objective was that it would replace the individual Slavic languages.[3]
Naturalistic projects have been created later as well. Notable examples areMežduslavjanski jezik, an unpublished project from the years 1954–1958 by a team of Czech interlinguists;Slovianski, a collaborative project started in 2006; andNovosloviensky, based on Old Church Slavonic and published in 2010 by the CzechVojtěch Merunka.[4] In 2011, Slovianski and Novosloviensky merged into one common project under the nameInterslavic (Medžuslovjansky), also incorporating material from older naturalistic projects.[5]
Most naturalistic projects are so similar that they can easily be considered versions of the same language. During the 20th century, however, a fewschematic projects have emerged as well, such asSlovanština (Edmund Kolkop, 1912),Neposlava (Vsevolod Cheshikhin, 1915),Slavski jezik (Bohumil Holý, 1920) andSlovio (Mark Hučko, 1999).[6] These projects aim at radical simplification of the grammar, often combining Slavic vocabulary withEsperanto grammar.
Languages for Pan-Germanic use have been created as well. Examples includeTutonish, a Pan-Germanic project by Elias Molee (1902), which was intended to be an auxiliary language at first but to eventually supplant all otherGermanic languages;Euronord, an effort by A.J. Pilgrim (1965); andFolkspraak, a heterogeneous project consisting of various dialects, started in 1995.[citation needed]
Many international auxiliary languages intended for global use consist exclusively or predominantly ofLatin and/orRomance material, likeLatino sine flexione, Neolatino byAndré Schild (1947), Internacional by João Evangelista Campos Lima (1948),Interlingua (IALA),Latino Moderne by David Th. Stark (1996),Interlingue, andLingua Franca Nova, which makes it hard to distinguish them from Pan-Romance languages. Some languages, however, have been presented explicitly as languages for use among (or with) Romance speakers, for exampleRomanid,Romanova by David Crandall and Robert W. Hubert (2000),Interlingua Romanica by Richard Sorfleet and Josu Lavin (2001),Romance Neolatino by a group of linguists led by Jordi Cassany Bates (2012) andLatino Interromanico by Raymund Zacharias and Thiago Sanctus (2017).
Apart from these Indo-European examples, there have also been attempts on other language families:
Some linguists, such as Alan Reed Libert, also list languages for use by speakers of unrelated languages in a particular geographical area among the zonal languages.[7] For example:
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