Английская Википедия:Alphonse Matejka

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Alphonse Matejka (9 January 1902 – 27 October 1999) was a Swiss exports specialist and proponent of international auxiliary language. Born in St. Gallen to a Czech father and Swiss mother, he worked in the textiles and watchmaking industries, and lived much of his life in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Matejka is best known for his work in the international language movement; first supporting Ido, and later Occidental, he lead numerous organisations in the fields, and authored several books teaching these languages. Matejka also helped to found the Center for Documentation and Study about the International Language.

Life

The Matejka family originated from Vyškovec in Bohemia. Matejka's father emigrated to Switzerland in his youth, arriving before 1900, and was granted Swiss citizenship in 1915. His mother was Swiss, and came from the canton of St. Gallen. Alphonse was born in St. Gallen on 9 January 1902.Шаблон:Sfn

Matejka completed gymnasium and graduated in St. Gallen, and became a Swiss citizen himself. He apprenticed in an embroidery shop, Reichenbach & Co; he spent ten years working at its Paris branch. While in Paris, he took evening classes in foreign languages, learning Romance and Scandinavian languages, as well as Swahili and Russian. For a period, Matejka wrote for a Russian-language journal and translated for the Academy of Sciences. Matekja also worked in the exports of a button company, first in Zürich and from 1936 in Amsterdam.Шаблон:Sfn

On 26 July 1928 while in Paris, Matejka married the French Jeanne Bellanger. In 1937, Matejka settled in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland – he worked in the watchmaking industry as an exports specialist.Шаблон:Sfn After the death of Bellanger in 1987, Matejka withdrew from public activities and moved to the nursing home Шаблон:Lang (English: The Stopover) in La Chaux-de-Fonds; he died on 27 October 1999, aged 97.Шаблон:Sfn

International languages

Alongside several other supporters of international languages, Matekja was a proponent of Pan-Europeanism, and writing and speaking on the topic;Шаблон:Sfn according to Edo Bernasconi, he was an ethnocentrist in believing that "the international auxiliary language should be a phenomenon and ideal of 'higher civilizations'". In addition, he was a supporter of the ideas of Silvio Gesell, who advocated for economic freedom. Matejka had a strong interest in foreign languages, and also supported reform of German spelling.Шаблон:Sfn

Ido

In 1918, Matejka bought a copy of Albert Nötzli's Ido textbook, and upon comparing the language with Esperanto found it to be superior; Matejka was thus never an Esperantist, and joined the Idist movement.Шаблон:Sfn Matejka took on roles in several societies, and attended four congresses; for the next three years, he was a member fo the club in St. Gallen, and later joined the organisation in Paris. He was secretary of the Union for the International Language Ido (ULI) from 1929 to 1934, and its president in 1940 after he had moved to Paris. In 1934-35, Matekja was president of the national Swiss Ido society (Шаблон:Lang-io).Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Matejka worked with Ido periodicals such as Suisian Idisto and Ido-Kuriero,Шаблон:Sfn and was the editor of the ULI's bulletin during his period as secretary. When the magazine Шаблон:Ill was restarted in 1913, Matejka was made its editor-in-chief; he kept the position until 1934.Шаблон:Sfn

Interlingue-Occidental

Шаблон:Quote box After Edgar de Wahl created Occidental in 1922, several Idists came to support it, especially from 1928.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Matejka, however, was a critic of the language – believing that the best international language would come from improving Ido, he had argued against Occidental: Ric Berger described him as "the most active and competent defender of Ido, and polemist against Occ[idental]". When Matejka argued against the Occidentalists, he often did so using the pseudonyms "Franko Veramido" and "Scorpion".Шаблон:Sfn However, disillusioned by the attitudes of more conservative Idists, he renounced Ido and joined the Occidental movement in 1937.

Matejka's departure from Ido caused a stir in the Idist movement; he soon became a corresponding member of the Шаблон:Ill; from 1943 to 1946 he was its interim president, and president in 1949. Throughout the 1940s, Matejka was president of the senate of the Шаблон:Ill (the international Occidentalist organisation), and represented the language at the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA).Шаблон:Sfn Author of several courses and textbooks for Interlingue, for over two decadesШаблон:Efn between 1937 and 1985, Matejka was editor of Cosmoglotta, the main organ of the Occidental movement. His position as editor brought him respect in the international language movement; in Cosmoglotta, he published his own works and translations (such as the works of Anton Chekhov), as well as essays against other languages, such as Basic English and Interlingua.Шаблон:Sfn

When Interlingua was published by the IALA in 1951, many Occidentalists left Interlingue,Шаблон:Efn especially following Berger's departure – this largely destroyed the movement.Шаблон:Sfn Matejka found the two languages to be 90% similar in vocabulary, and the Interlingue-Union advocated positive relations with the Interlingua movement, even after the IALA was liquidated in 1953.Шаблон:Sfn Matejka published his last article in Cosmoglotta aged 85, in 1985.Шаблон:Sfn

CDELI

Файл:La Chaux-de-Fonds urba biblioteko kaj sidejo de CDELI 766.jpg

Шаблон:Ill, home of the CDELI.

Matejka helped found the Centre de documentation et d'étude sur la langue internationale (Center for Documentation and Study about the International Language) in 1967; he worked especially with its archivist, Шаблон:Ill and with André Schild. Matejka donated large amounts of his collections of interlanguage-related material to the centre,Шаблон:Sfn and often visited until his death.Шаблон:Sfn

Bibliography

• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book

See also

• Шаблон:Annotated link

Footnotes

Sources

• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
  • "Parto 4: Ido" [Chapter 4: Ido] pp. 791-852
  • "Parto 5: Occidental-Interlingue" [Chapter 5: Occidental-Interlingue] pp. 853-866
  • "Parto 6: Interlingua (IALA)" [Chapter 6: Interlingua (IALA)] pp. 867-912
  • "Parto 7: Interlingvistiko kaj esperantologio" [Chapter 7: Interlinguistics and Esperantology] pp. 913-974

External links

• A piece discussing Matejka's 1942 German-Interlingue dictionary from the Swiss Шаблон:Ill
• A report by Gacond on the history of the CDELI, detailing Matejka's involvement with it