borges jorge luis analytical language john wilkins

7/28/2019 Borges Jorge Luis Analytical Language John Wilkins

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El idioma analtico de

John Wilkins

The Analytical Language

of John Wilkins

Jorge Luis BorgesUn ensayo de Jorge Luis Borges, publicado

primera vez en la coleccin Otras Inquisiciones.Different translations : by Ruth L. C. Simms in OtherInquisitions 1937-1952 (University of Texas Press,1984) ; by Levine and Weinberger in Jorge LuisBorges: Selected Non-Fictions (Penguin, 2000).

He comprobado que la dcimocuartaedicin de laEncyclopaedia Britannicasuprime el articulo sobre John Wilkins.Esa omisin es justa, si recordamos latrivialidad del artculo (veinte renglonesde meras circunstancias biogrficas:Wilkins naci en 1614; Wilkins muri en1672; Wilkins fue capelln de CarlosLuis, prncipe palatino; Wilkins fuenombrado rector de uno de los colegios deOxford; Wilkins fue el primer secretariode la Real Sociedad de Londres, etc.); esculpable, si consideramos la obraespeculativa de Wilkins. ste abund enfelices curiosidades: le interesaron lateologa, la criptografa, la msica, lafabricacin de colmenas transparentes, elcurso de un planeta invisible, laposibilidad de un viaje a la luna, laposibilidad y los principios de un lenguajemundial. A este ltimo problema dedicel libroAn Essay Towards a RealCharacter and a Philosophical Language(600 pginas en cuarto mayor, 1668). Nohay ejemplares de ese libro en nuestraBiblioteca Nacional; he interrogado, pararedactar esta nota, The Life and Times ofJohn Wilkins (1910), de P.A. WrightHenderson; el Wrterbuch derPhilosophie (1924), de Fritz Mauthner;Delphos (1935) de E. Sylvia Pankhurst;Dangerous Thoughts (1939), de LancelotHogben.

The 14th edition of theEncyclopdiaBritannica does not include the article onJohn Wilkins. This omission seems justifiedif we remember how trivial the article was(20 lines of purely biographical data:Wilkins was born in 1614; Wilkins died in1672; Wilkins was chaplain of CharlesLouis, Elector Palatine; Wilkins wasWarden of Wadham College, Oxford;Wilkins was the first secretary of the RoyalSociety of London, etc.); the omission is anerror if we consider the speculative worksof Wilkins. He abounded in happycuriosities: theology, cryptography, music,the fabrication of transparent beehives, thecourse of an invisible planet, the possibilityof a trip to the moon, the possibility andprinciples of a world language. To this latterproblem he dedicated the bookAn EssayTowards a Real Character and aPhilosophical Language (600 pages in largequarto, 1668). There are no copies of thisbook in our National Library; so I haveconsulted, to write this article, The Life andTimes of John Wilkins (1910), by P. A.Wright Henderson; the Wrterbuch derPhilosophie (1935), by Fritz Mauthner;Delphos (1935), by E. Sylvia Pankhurst;Dangerous Thoughts (1939), by LancelotHogben.


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Todos, alguna vez, hemos padecido esosdebates inapelables en que una dama, conacopio de interjecciones y de anacolutos,jura que la palabra luna es ms (o menos)expresiva que la palabra moon. Fuera de

la evidente observacin de que elmonoslabo moon es tal vez ms apto pararepresentar un objeto muy simple que lapalabra bisilbica luna, nada es posiblecontribuir a tales debates; descontadas laspalabras compuestas y las derivaciones,todos los idiomas del mundo (sin excluirel Volapkde Johann Martin Schleyer y laromnticaInterlingua de Peano) sonigualmente inexpresivos. No hay edicinde la Gramtica de la Real Academia que

no pondere "el envidiado tesoro de vocespintorescas, felices y expresivas de lariqusima lengua espaola", pero se tratade una mera jactancia, sin corroboracin.Por lo pronto, esa misma Real Academiaelabora cada tantos aos un diccionario,que define las voces del espaol... En elidioma universal que ide Wilkins alpromediar el siglo XVII, cada palabra sedefine a s misma. Descartes, en unaepstola fechada en noviembre de 1629,

ya haba anotado que mediante el sistemadecimal de numeracin, podemosaprender en un solo da a nombrar todaslas cantidades hasta el infinito y aescribirlas en un idioma nuevo que es elde los guarismos1; tambin habapropuesto la formacin de un idiomaanlogo, general, que organizara yabarcara todos los pensamientos humanos.John Wilkins, hacia 1664, acometi esaempresa.

We have all experienced those endlessdiscussions in which a lady, using copiousinterjections and inconsistencies, swearsthat the word luna is more (or less)expressive than the word moon. Apart from

the evident observation that themonosyllabic moon is perhaps a more aptrepresentation of such a very simple objectthan the disyllabic luna, there is nothing toadd to such discussions; apart from thecompound words and derivations, all thelanguages in the world (including theVolapkof Johann Martin Schleyer and theromanticInterlingua of Peano) are equallyinexpressive. There is no edition of theRoyal Spanish Academy Grammarthat

does not ponder "the envied treasure ofpicturesque, happy and expressive words ofthe very rich Spanish language", but it ismerely uncorroborated jactitation. In fact,every few years this same Royal Academyedits a dictionary, defining Spanish terms...In the universal language which Wilkinsproduced in the seventeenth century, eachword defines itself. Descartes, in a letterdated November 1629, had already noticedthat, using the decimal number system of

enumeration, it was possible in a single dayto learn how to name all the numbers up toinfinity and to write them in a newlanguage, namely that of ciphers1; he alsosuggested the creation of a language similarto this former system, a general language,organizing and covering all human ideas.John Wilkins, around 1664, started to workon this task.

Dividi el universo en cuarenta categoraso gneros, subdivisibles luego endiferencias, subdivisibles a su vez enespecies. Asign a cada gnero unmonoslabo de dos letras; a cadadiferencia, una consonante; a cadaespecie, una vocal. Por ejemplo: de,

He divided the universe into fortycategories or genera, these being furthersubdivided into differences, which weresubdivided into species. He assigned to eachgenus a monosyllable of two letters; to eachdifference, a consonant; to each species, avowel. For example: de, which means an


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quiere decir elemento; deb, el primero delos elementos, el fuego; deba, una porcindel elemento del fuego, una llama. En elidioma anlogo de Letellier (1850), a,quiere decir animal; ab, mamfero; abo,

carnvoro; aboj, felino; aboje, gato; abi,herbivoro; abiv, equino; etc. En el deBonifacio Sotos Ochando (1845), imaba,quiere decir edificio; imaca, serrallo;imafe, hospital; imafo, lazareto; imarri,casa; imaru, quinta; imedo, poste; imede,pilar; imego, suelo; imela, techo; imogo,ventana; bire, encuadernor; birer,encuadernar. (Debo este ltimo censo a unlibro impreso en Buenos Aires en 1886: elCurso de lengua universal, del doctor

Pedro Mata.)

element; deb, the first of the elements, fire;deba, a part of the element fire, a flame. In asimilar language invented by Letellier(1850) a means animal; ab, mammal; abo,carnivore; aboj, feline; aboje, cat; abi,

herbivore; abiv, horse; etc. In the languageof Bonifacio Sotos Ochando (1845) imabameans building; imaca, harem; imafe,hospital; imafo, pesthouse; imari, house;imaru, country house; imedo, post; imede,pillar; imego, floor; imela, ceiling; imogo,window; bire, bookbinder; birer,bookbinding. (This last list belongs to abook printed in Buenos Aires in 1886, theCurso de Lengua Universal, by Dr. PedroMata.)

Las palabras del idioma analtico de JohnWilkins no son torpes smbolosarbitrarios; cada una de las letras que lasintegran es significativa, como lo fueronlas de la Sagrada Escritura para loscabalistas. Mauthner observa que losnios podran aprender ese idioma sinsaber que es artificioso; despus en elcolegio, descubriran que es tambin unaclave universal y una enciclopediasecreta.

The words of the analytical languagecreated by John Wilkins are not torpidarbitrary symbols; each letter hassignificance, like those from the HolyScriptures had for the cabbalists. Mauthnerobserved that children could learn thislanguage without knowing that it wasartificial; later, at school, they woulddiscover that it was also a universal key anda secret encyclopedia.

Ya definido el procedimiento de Wilkins,falta examinar un problema de imposibleo difcil postergacin: el valor de la tablacuadragesimal que es base del idioma.Consideremos la octava categora, la delas piedras. Wilkins las divide en comunes(pedernal, cascajo, pizarra), mdicas(mrmol, mbar, coral), preciosas (perla,palo), transparentes (amatista, zafiro) einsolubles (hulla, greda y arsnico). Casitan alarmante como la octava, es lanovena categora. sta nos revela que losmetales pueden ser imperfectos(bermelln, azogue), artificiales (bronce,latn), recrementicios (limaduras,

Having defined Wilkins' procedure, wemust examine a problem that is impossibleor at least difficult to postpone: the value ofthe forty genera which are the basis of thelanguage. Consider the eighth category,stones. Wilkins divides them into vulgar(flint, gravel, slate), middle-prized (marble,amber, coral), precious (pearl, opal), moretransparent (amethyst, sapphire) and earthlyconcretions not dissolvible (pit-coal, okerand arsenic). Almost as surprising as theeighth, is the ninth category. This onereveals to us that metals can be imperfect(vermillion, mercury), factitious (bronze,brass), recrementitious (scoria, rust) and


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He registrado las arbitradiedades deWilkins, del desconocido (o apcrifo)enciclopedista chino y del InstitutoBibliogrfico de Bruselas; notoriamenteno hay clasificacin del universo que no

sea arbitraria y conjetural. La razn esmuy simple: no sabemos qu cosa es eluniverso. "El mundo - escribe DavidHume - es tal vez el bosquejorudimentario de algn dios infantil, que loabandon a medio hacer, avergonzado desu ejecucin deficiente; es obra de un diossubalterno, de quien los dioses superioresse burlan; es la confusa produccin de unadivinidad decrpita y jubilada, que ya seha muerto" (Dialogues ConcerningNatural Religion, V. 1779). Cabe ir mslejos; cabe sospechar que no hay universoen el sentido orgnico, unificador, quetiene esa ambiciosa palabra. Si lo hay,falta conjeturar su propsito; faltaconjeturar las palabras, las definiciones,las etimologas, las sinonimias, del secretodiccionario de Dios.

I have registered the arbitrarities of Wilkins,of the unknown (or apocryphal) Chineseencyclopedist and of the BibliographicalInstitute of Brussels; it is clear that there isno classification of the Universe not being

arbitrary and full of conjectures. The reasonfor this is very simple: we do not knowwhat the universe is. "This world," DavidHume wrote, "...was only the first rudeessay of some infant deity who afterwardsabandoned it, ashamed of his lameperformance; it is the work only of somedependent, inferior deity, and is the objectof derision to his superiors; it is theproduction of old age and dotage in somesuper-annuated deity, and ever since his

death has run on..." (Dialogues ConcerningNatural Religion, V. 1779) We can gofurther; we suspect that there is no universein the organic, unifying sense of thatambitious word. If there is, we mustconjecture its purpose; we must conjecturethe words, the definitions, the etymologies,the synonyms, from the secret dictionary ofGod.

La imposibilidad de penetrar el esquemadivino del universo no puede, sinembargo, disuadirnos de planearesquemas humanos, aunque nos consteque stos son provisorios. El idiomaanaltico de Wilkins no es el menoosadmirable de esos esquemas. Los gnerosy especies que lo componen soncontradictorios y vagos; el artificio de quelas letras de las palabras indiquensubdivisiones y divisiones es, sin duda,ingenioso. La palabrasalmn no nos dice

nada;zana, la voz correspondiente, define(para el hombre versado en las cuarentacategoras y en los gneros de esascategoras) un pez escamoso, fluvial, decarne rojiza. (Tericamente, no esinconcebible un idioma donde el nombrede cada ser indicada todos los pormenoresde su destino, pasado y venidero.)

The impossibility of penetrating the divinescheme of the universe cannot stop us fromplanning human schemes, even though weare concious that they are provisional. Theanalytic language of Wilkins is not the leastadmirable of such schemes. The classes andspecies that compose it are contradictoryand vague; the use of letters in the wordsmeaning subdivisions and divisions is,without doubt, ingenious. The wordsalmondoes not tell us anything;zana, thecorresponding word, defines (for one versed

in the forty categories and the species ofthese categories) a scaled river fish, withruddy meat. (Theoretically, it is notimpossible to think of a language where thename of each thing says all the details of itsdestiny, past and future).


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Esperanzas y utopas aparte, acaso lo mslcido que sobre el lenguaje se ha escritoson estas palabras de Chesterton:

Leaving hopes and utopias aside, perhapsthe most lucid words ever written aboutlanguage are by Chesterton:

El hombre sabe que hay enel alma tintes msdesconcertantes, msinnumerables y msannimos que los coloresde una selva otoal... cree,sin embargo, que esostintes, en todas susfusiones y conversiones,son representables conprecisin por un

mecanismo arbitrario degruidos y de chillidos.Cree que del interior de unbolsista salen realmenteruidos que significan todoslos misterios de lamemoria y todas lasagonias del anhelo. (G. F.Watts, pg. 88, 1904)

He knows that there are inthe soul tints morebewildering, morenumberless and morenameless, than the colours ofan autumn forest... Yet heseriously believes that thesethings can every one ofthem, in all their tones andsemi-tones, in all their blendsand unions, be accurately

represented by an arbitrarysystem of grunts and squeals.He believes that an ordinarycivilised stockbroker canreally produce out of his owninside, noises which denoteall the mysteries of memoryand all the agonies of desire.(G. F. Watts, page 88, 1904)

1 Tericamente, el nmero de sistemas de

numeracin es ilimitado. El ms complejo (parauso de las divinidades y de los ngeles) registraraun nmero infinito de smbolos, uno para cadanmero entero; el ms simple slo requiere dos.Cero se escribe 0, uno 1, dos 10, tres 11, cuatro100, cinco 101, seis 110, siete 111, ocho1000... Es invencin de Leibniz, a quienestimularon (parece) los hexagramas enigmticosdelI King.

1 Theoretically, the number of numbering systems is

unlimited. The most complete (used by the divinitiesand the angels) has an infinite number of symbols,one for each individual number; the simplest needsonly two. Zero is written as 0, one 1, two 10, three11, four100, five 101, six 110, seven 111, eight1000... This is an invention by Leibniz, who wasstimulated (it seems) by the enigmatic hexagrams of

I Ching.

borges jorge luis analytical language john wilkins

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