Kenneth Searight (born Arthur Kenneth Searight) (15 November 1883–28 February 1957) was the creator of the

international auxiliary language An international auxiliary language (sometimes acronymized as IAL or contracted as auxlang) is a language meant for communication between people from different nations, who do not share a common first language. An auxiliary language is primarily a ...

Sona. His book ''Sona; an auxiliary neutral language'' outlines the language's grammar and vocabulary. Encounters with Searight also influenced English author E.M. Forster's world-view, particularly with regard to soldiers. Searight was born in Kensington, England in 1883. He attended

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

(a boarding school) for his childhood and teenage years. In 1904 he received a commission into the Queen's Own Western Kent Regiment, and was stationed for several years in India. It was here that he befriended English author E.M. Forster (''A Passage to India'') and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

don G.L. Dickinson. His regiment was later reassigned to Iraq, and then to Egypt. Searight also enjoyed leave time around the Mediterranean Sea—especially in Italy. It was during this extensive travel that Searight developed his interest in linguistics and his familiarity with Middle Eastern and Far Eastern languages and cultures. At one point in his military career he was classified as an interpreter competent in "Arabic, Baluchi, Persian and Pushtu." Searight retired to Rome in 1926. In 1934 he contacted

Charles Kay Ogden Charles Kay Ogden (; 1 June 1889 – 20 March 1957) was a British linguist, philosopher, and writer. Described as a polymath but also an Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric and Emic and etic, outsider, he took part in many ventures related to lit ...

to discuss publishing the Sona book. Ogden was the creator of a modified version of English known as "

Basic English Basic English (a backronym for British American Scientific International and Commercial English) is a controlled language based on standard English, but with a greatly simplified vocabulary and grammar. It was created by the linguist and philo ...

", which consisted of a reduced vocabulary (only 850 words) and simplified grammar. Ogden was also the editor of the Psyche Miniatures series at Cambridge University, and he approved and published the Sona book, as well as writing an introduction for it. Searight engaged in

pederasty Pederasty or paederasty () is a sexual relationship between an adult man and an adolescent boy. It was a socially acknowledged practice in Ancient Greece and Rome and elsewhere in the world, such as Pre-Meiji Japan. In most countries today, ...

. He was also the author of six unpublished volumes of erotica, five of which were destroyed by a later owner in a moment of panic. The sixth survives: a 600-page manuscript work called the . It was made up of homoerotic stories, a detailed listing of his sexual conquests with a total of 129 boysWhite, Chris. ''Nineteenth-century writings on homosexuality: a sourcebook''. Londono: Routledge, 1999, p. 328 — the "Paidiology"— and a 137-page verse autobiography entitled "The Furnace". There is some reason to believe that Searight was the model for the hero of Forster's novel '' Maurice''. Ogden originally received the ''Paidikion'', but it was later retrieved from a used bookstore for half a

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

. Excerpts were published in the ''International Journal of Greek Love'' in 1966. The original manuscript is now kept in the Human Sexuality Collection at Cornell University (Rare Books Division, 7745 Bd. Ms. 1). Searight died in 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Searight, Kenneth Constructed language creators English male non-fiction writers British gay writers English LGBTQ writers People educated at Charterhouse School People from Folkestone People from Kensington 1883 births 1957 deaths