Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
NATURAL LANGUAGE, ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE
A natural language is any of the hundreds of languages spoken (many of them also written) by human beings: Latin, English, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, and Albanian are natural languages. The living ones among them—those actively in use—are constantly changing. Each has its own system of sounds and its own grammar and vocabulary too, and each is full of redundancy and variety.
Artificial languages are man-made too, but there are two quite different sorts. The artificial languages that are arbitrarily assembled from parts of one or more natural languages, such as Basic English, Esperanto, or Interlingua, try to use a simplified grammar and vocabulary and to prevent or hinder change or variation of any sort in the effort to create a new and easily learned lingua franca. None has been successful thus far. Of greater interest to us are the dozens of artificial languages such as mathematics, musical notation, wiring diagrams, and international road signs. Artificial languages of this kind are neat and efficient. They usually have only one symbol for each meaning and only one meaning per symbol, and their symbols never carry semantic overtones or social marks of favor or disfavor and almost never acquire new meanings or undergo any other sort of semantic change or functional shift. A group of musicians who know conventional musical notation can all understand that artificial language, even if they have no natural language in common. 6 + 6 = 12 is a sentence in an artificial language that both Americans and Finns can easily understand.
Natural languages of course are far more troublesome, and their redundancies and other apparent inefficiencies often irritate their users. Instinctively, most of us wish the language we have taken such pains to master would change no more, would not develop new words and meanings at every turn, and would not permit its grammatical devices to atrophy or develop in new ways. Some of the most unreasonable arguments of purists and other language conservatives stem from their unrealistic desire that natural language behave as though it were artificial. But the fact is that usage always changes, and to deal with it sensibly, you must know and respect the differences between natural and artificial languages.
