Langues internationales, alphabets et Révolution. Les idées de N.V. Jušmanov

Abstract

Are the diacritical signs of Esperanto contrary to the interests and aspirations of the proletariat? In the early 1920s, Soviet supporters of Ido and Esperanto, two artificial languages with an international vocation, competed for a time about this kind of question. In.this article, we intend to analyse the ideas of the linguist Nikolaj Vladimirovič Jušmanov, expressed in articles written in Russian, but also in Ido and Etem, an artificial language developed by Jušmanov himself. We will see that his ideas about the alphabets (which he believes must be precise, organised and rational) fit into the particular context of the USSR in the 1920s when intentions were to erase the past and create new forms.