Cover not available

Article published In: Language Problems and Language Planning
Vol. 39:2 (2015) ► pp.187–204

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

The application of C.K. Ogden’s semiotics in Basic English

 | Universität Potsdam
Published online: 22 October 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.39.2.05mce
Although a relatively minor project in terms of its impact on the broader international language movement, Basic English is interesting for the elaborate semiotic theory that underlies it. The creator of Basic English, Charles Kay Ogden (1889–1957), is today remembered chiefly as co-author of The Meaning of Meaning, a book widely regarded as a classic of early twentieth-century semiotics. In this article, I will engage in a critical examination of the design of Basic English and demonstrate how it essentially represents an implementation of the key doctrines set out in that book, tempered by the practical exigencies of language construction. I will focus on Ogden’s method of ‘panoptic conjugation’, which he used to select the Basic English core vocabulary of 850 words, as well as his conception of the grammar of Basic English as an outgrowth of its vocabulary. We observe additionally how Ogden’s approach does not result in a self-contained, independent international language, but rather a language that is subservient to Standard English idiom.
References (47)
Aiken, J. 1944[1936]. Little English. In J. Johnsen (Ed.), Basic English (pp. 142–147). New York: H.W. Wilson. Original publication 1936.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bentham, J. 1843[1791]. Panopticon; or, the Inspection-House. In J. Bowring (Ed.), The works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. IV1, (pp. 39–66). Edinburgh: William Tate.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brower, R., Vendler, H. & Hollander, J. (Eds.). (1973). I. A. Richards: Essays in his honor. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davies, A. Morpurgo. (1975). Language classification in the nineteenth century. In T.A. Sebeok (Ed.), Current trends in linguistics: Historiography of linguistics (pp. 607–716). The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1998). History of linguistics, vol. 4: Nineteenth-century linguistics. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Falk, J. (1995). Words without grammar: Linguists and the international auxiliary language movement in the United States. Language and Communication, 151, 241–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1999). Women, language and linguistics: Three American stories from the first half of the twentieth century. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gordon, W.T. (1990). C. K. Ogden: A bio-bibliographic study. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1991). ‘From “The Meaning of Meaning” to Basic English’. ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 48(2), 165–171.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1994). C. K. Ogden and Linguistics, 5 volumes1. London: Routledge / Thoemmes Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2006). ‘Linguistics and semiotics : The impact of Ogden and Richards’ The Meaning of Meaning’. In S. Auroux, E.F.K. Koerner, H.-J. Niederehe, & K. Versteegh (Eds.), History of the language sciences, vol. 31 (pp. 2579–2588). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hotopf, W.H.N. (1965). Language, thought and comprehension: A case study of the writings of I. A. Richards. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jespersen, O. (1894). Progress in language. London: Sonnenschein.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1922). Language: Its nature, development, and origin. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1962). Efficiency in linguistic change. In The Selected Writings of Otto Jespersen (pp. 381–466). London: Allen and Unwin. Original published 1941.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnsen, J. (Ed.). (1944). Basic English. New York: H.W. Wilson.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joseph, J.E., & Newmeyer, F. (2012). “All languages are equally complex”: The rise and fall of a consensus’. Historiographia Linguistica, 39 (2/3), 341–368. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lockhart, L. (1928). Word formation. Psyche, 9 (2), 8–12.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1931). Word economy. London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McElvenny, J. (2013). International language and the everyday: Contact and collaboration between C.K. Ogden, Rudolf Carnap and Otto Neurath. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 21(6),1194–1218. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2014). Ogden and Richards’ The Meaning of Meaning and early analytic philosophy. Language Sciences, 411, 212–221. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
More, A. [C.K. Ogden]. (1929). The theory of fictions. Psyche, 10(1), 31–38.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Myers, A. (1938). Basic and the teaching of English in India. Bombay: Times of India Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ogden, C.K. (1928). Debabelization (Editorial). Psyche, 9 (1), 1–3.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1929a). The universal language (Editorial). Psyche, 9 (3), 1–9.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1929b). Work in progress (Editorial). Psyche, 10 (1), 1–30.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1929c). Editorial. Psyche, 10(2), 1–38.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
.(1930). Penultima (Editorial). Psyche, 10(3), 1–29.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1931). Debabelization. London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1932a). The ABC of Basic English. London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1932b). The Basic words: A detailed account of their uses. London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1932c). The Basic dictionary. London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1932d). Bentham’s theory of fictions. London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1933). Basic English: A general introduction with rules and grammar. London: Kegan Paul. Original publication 1930.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1936). Basic English and grammatical reform. Psyche, 161, 51–75. Reprinted as supplement to The Basic News, 1937.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1993). Jeremy Bentham: 1832–2032. Bristol: Thoemmes Press. Original publication 1932.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1968). Basic English: International second language. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ogden, C.K., & Richards, I.A. (1989). The meaning of meaning. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Original publication 1923.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richards, I.A. (1943). Basic English and its uses. London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1977). Co-author of The Meaning of Meaning. In P.S. Florence & J.R.L. Anderson (Eds.), C.K. Ogden: A collective memoir (pp. 96–109). London: Pemberton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Russo, P. (1989). I.A. Richards: His life and work. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swadesh, M. (1944). Scientific linguistics and Basic English. In J. Johnsen (Ed.), Basic English (pp. 194–206). New York: H.W. Wilson. Original publication 1936.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1955). Towards greater accuracy in lexicostatistic dating. International Journal of American Linguistics, 211, 121–137. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1972). The origin and diversification of language. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Walpole, H. (1937). The theory of definition and its application to vocabulary limitation. The Modern Language Journal, 211, 398–402. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
West, M. (1944). Vocabulary limitation. In J. Johnsen (Ed.), Basic English (pp. ??). New York: H.W. Wilson.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Leavitt, John
2024. What Whorf Read and Who Has Been Reading (or Thinking) Whorf. Journal of Anthropological Research 80:4 ► pp. 402 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue