Editor’s note: The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a renewed focus on linguistic diversity and the way it intersects with social inclusion. In this latest contribution to our series of language aspects of the COVID-19 crisis, Anna Wierzbicka suggests a series of basic messages to reach larger audiences. The call for contributions to the series continues to be open.
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“Basic Human”: the mother tongue of humankind
One of the most memorable sentences in the King James Bible comes from a line in the Acts of the Apostles, from St Paul’s speech to the Greeks in Athens (Acts 17:26): “[God] hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.”
(Image credit: Evgeni Tcherkasski via Unsplash)
So, yes, we are all related by blood, as members of the same human family. But as many modern thinkers have pointed out, a deep awareness of human unity requires something else as well.
In the words of the German philosopher Karl-Otto Appel, it requires that we see all people on earth as a “universal community of communication.”
But there are six or seven thousand different languages in the world. Can a universal community of communication be established in a world divided by thousands of different languages? Here comes the good news: the world is not only divided by several thousand different languages, but also united by them. While the languages of the world are very diverse, evidence suggests that they all include a shared core, which itself is like a mini-language. This mini-language has as many versions as there are languages in the world, but in the 21st century, for global messages the most practical of them is Minimal English.
One way of putting it is to say that at the heart of all languages there lies a mini-language which can be called “Basic Human” and which can be seen as a mother tongue of humankind. As Italian medical researcher Maria Giulia Marini said in a recent interview, people who are suffering from major depression and generally don’t talk and write, have been able to express their thoughts and wishes in the simple and transparent words and phrases of Basic Human. In Minimal English, examples might be “I can’t do anything,” “nothing good can happen to me,” “I don’t want to live anymore;” and in Minimal Italian, “non posso fare niente,” “non può succedermi niente di buono,” “non voglio vivere più.”
As these examples illustrate, in certain situations the same human messages can be conveyed through matching words and phrases of minimal languages. This fact assumes a special significance at a time like the one we are living through now, a time of pandemic. Basic Human is such a common language. It is a shared language of heart and mind, with many matching versions such as Minimal English, Minimal Russian, Minimal Chinese, and so on.
This may sound hard to believe. The “Seven Essential Messages for the Time of the Coronavirus” (first published in Russian Journal of Linguistics) prove that this is not just a utopian ideal but a reality.
There are no complex words and phrases here like “social distancing”, “self-isolation” or “quarantine”. As a number of respondents have commented, messages written in simple and transparent words of Basic Human speak directly to people’s minds and hearts. Many respondents have linked the emotional impact of such messages with a sense of human unity. As one wrote, “The message was both moving and very clear – one for all of us, which could be understood and taken in, instantaneously, by anyone.” Another wrote: “I found these messages on the Coronavirus so very heartening. I think at the most crucial times it is this kind of simple language that touches on the essence of what is important and what is not important”. And a third: “On hearing these messages one can not only know immediately what they mean, but also, one can know that other people know the same”.
There are two overwhelming conclusions: First, that in a global crisis it becomes evident how important it is for all of us on Planet Earth to be able to speak to each other in a common language; and second, that very complex times may call for a very simple language: not only because it is accessible to everyone but also because it can have a powerful impact on people, and can even lift their hearts.
Seven Essential Messages for the time of the Coronavirus
Message 1
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times. Very bad things are happening to many people now.
Many people are getting very sick because of the coronavirus, many people are dying because of this.
More people can die if I do some things now as I have always done. I don’t want this.
Because of this it will be good if I can be at home all the time.
If I have to be not at home for some time, I will think like this all the time:
“I don’t want to be very near other people; I don’t want to be so near someone that I can touch them.
I don’t want to be so near someone that I can breathe some of the same air.”
Message 2
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
Very bad things are happening to many people now.
Many people feel something very very bad.
I can do some good things for some of these people; I want to do something good for them.
I want to know what I can do; I want to think about it today; I want to do something today.
Message 3
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
During this time many people can’t be with other people as before.
They can’t speak to other people like before; many people feel something very bad because of this.
I know some of these people. I want these people to know that I am thinking about them.
I want them to know that I don’t want bad things to happen to them.
I want to do something because of this.
Perhaps I can write to them, perhaps I can ring them, something like this.
I want to do something today.
Message 4
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
Very bad things can happen to me during this time, not like at other times.
At the same time, I can do some very good things during this time, not like at other times.
I can do many things “good for the soul”, not like at other times.
I can read books, listen to music, write something every day about this day, things like that.
If I pray, I can pray more; if I don’t pray, I can do something like it.
I can look at the stars at night, I can look at the sky when the sun is rising, things like that.
I want to do these things. I want to do these things today.
Message 5
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
I don’t want to think about it like this:
“Very bad things are happening now, nothing good can happen because of this”.
I want to think like this:
“I can do some very good things during this time, not like at other times.
If I do these things, after this bad time I can be not as I was before:
I can know some people better, I can love some people more. I want this.”
Message 6
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
I can’t live during this time as I lived before.
At the same time, I can think about many things more, not as before.
I can think more about things like this:
“Why do I live on earth? What do I live for? How can I live if I want to live well?
If I know that I will die soon, what do I want to do before I die?
If I think about these things more now, after this bad time I can live not as I lived before.
I can then live in another way, I can live better. I want this.”
Message 7
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
We can’t live during this time as we lived before.
At the same time, we can think about some things more now, not as before.
We can think about things like this:
“We all live with other people, none of us is like an island.
How can we live well with other people?”
We can think about the earth; we can think like this:
“We all live on earth. The earth is a good place.
We don’t want to do bad things to this place”.
At the same time, we can think like this:
“We live on earth now, many people will live on earth after us.
We don’t want very bad things to happen to these people.”
If we think about these things more now, after this bad time we can live with other people not like before; we can live better.
We want this.
Language challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic
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This work is licensed under a
In order to say anything – native speakers can be brief, using few words with complex meanings. But faithful translation into any other language can therefore be problematic.
One of the great beauties of the minimal version of any language is that one gets a wordy story, but a story whose meaning is clear. Another beauty is that the story is readily translatable.
English is used a lot, but it is not easy to learn and millions of people don’t speak it. It is not really an international language, it is the language of the UK, the US and some other countries. We do need a common language in addition to our regional and national languages. Basic English might be used, but nevertheless we do want to say also quite complex sentences.
But there is Esperanto which is used much more widely than many people assume. It is much easier to learn than national languages, so everyone can learn it in a reasonable amount of time and feel at ease speaking it. Nowadays even Japanese people, for example, who often spent thousands of hours studying English still feel very shy when they have to speak to a native English speaker.
By speaking Esperanto you get to know people in various parts of the world, people whose language we nearly never bother to learn, like Icelandic, Hungarian, etc. Just yesterday I took part in the world conference of Esperanto teachers, virtually this year. There was a lively discussion between people from Switzerland, India, Japan, Australia, etc. By having an easy way of communicating on an equal footing we do feel much more empathy towards people who are a bit different from us, we start to really understand them. We feel like a big family.
If some of you have a bit of free time, why not go to the free website Duolingo and see for yourself what Esperanto is really like. It deserves to be better known.
Nicole, I am sure that proponents of Esperanto would benefit from the linguistic insights provided by the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage and from the concept of the Minimal versions of the world’s languages.
How would they benefit? Esperanto is, in a way, a normal language, just easier to learn than national languages. I don’t see how those concepts are useful when people want to chat with friends about politics, sports or whatever in the same way they would want to do it in their native language.