Mario Andrew Pei (February 16, 1901March 2, 1978) was an Italian-born American

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

who wrote a number of popular books known for their accessibility to readers without a professional background in linguistics. His book ''The Story of Language'' (1949) was acclaimed for its presentation of technical linguistics concepts in ways that were entertaining and accessible to a general audience. Pei was a supporter of uniting humans under one language, and in 1958 published a book entitled ''One Language For the World and How to Achieve It'' and sent a copy to the leader of every nation in existence at the time. The book argued that the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

should select one language—regardless of whether it was an existing natural language like English or a

constructed language A constructed language (shortened to conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, orthography, and vocabulary, instead of having developed natural language, naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devise ...

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

—and require it to be taught as a second language to every schoolchild in the world.

Life and career

Pei was born in

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, and emigrated to the United States with his mother in order to join his father in April 1908. By the time that he was out of high school, he spoke not only English and his native

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

but also French and had studied

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

as well. Over the years, he became fluent in several other languages (including Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and German) capable of speaking some thirty others, having become acquainted with the structure of at least one hundred of the world's languages. In 1923, he began his career teaching languages at

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

, and in 1928 he published his translation of Vittorio Ermete de Fiori's ''Mussolini: The Man of Destiny''. Pei received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1937, focusing on

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...

, and

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th Department of War. In this role, he wrote language textbooks, developed language courses, and wrote language guidebooks. While working as a professor of Romance Philology">Romance languages">Romance Philology at Columbia University, Pei wrote over 50 books, including the best-sellers ''The Story of Language'' (1949) and ''The Story of English'' (1952). His other books included ''Languages for War and Peace'' (1943; later retitled ''The World's Chief Languages''), ''A Dictionary of Linguistics'' (written with Frank Gaynor, 1954), ''All About Language'' (1954), ''Invitation to Linguistics: A Basic Introduction to the Science of Language'' (1965), and ''weasel word">Weasel Word In rhetoric, a weasel word, or anonymous authority, is a word or phrase aimed at creating an impression that something specific and meaningful has been said, when in fact only a vague, ambiguous, or irrelevant claim has been communicated. The t ...

s: Saying What You Don't Mean'' (1978). Pei wrote ''The America We Lost: The Concerns of a Conservative'' (1968), a book advocating individualism and constitutional literalism. In the book, Pei denounces the income tax as well as communism and other forms of Collectivism and individualism, collectivism. Pei was also an internationalism (politics), internationalist and advocated the introduction of

into school curricula across the world to supplement local languages. He died on March 2, 1978. Arrangements were made with George Van Tassel's Community Funeral Home in Bloomfield, N.J., and burial at Saint Raymond's Cemetery, Bronx, St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx followed.

Pei and Esperanto

Pei was fond of

, an

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 ...

. He wrote his positive views on it in his book called ''One Language for the World''. He also wrote a 21-page pamphlet entirely on world language and Esperanto called ''Wanted: a World Language''.

Quotes

Value of neologisms

Noting that

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

s are of immense value to the continued existence of a living language, as most words are developed as neologisms from root words, Pei stated in ''The Story of Language'':

Creative innovation and slang

Works

Language

*''Languages for War and Peace'' (later retitled ''The World's Chief Languages''), 1949, Vanni/George Allen & Unwin *''One Language for the World'', 1958, Biblio-Moser, *''Wanted: a World Language'', New York: 1969, Public Affairs Committee *''French Precursors of the Chanson de Roland'', 1949, AMS Press *''Story of Language'', 1949, Lippincott, *''All About Language'', 1950, Lippincott *''Liberal arts dictionary in English, French, German ndSpanish'', 1952, Philosophical Library *''Liberal Arts Dictionary'' (with Frank Gaynor), 1952, Philosophical Library *''A Dictionary Of Linguistics'' (with Frank Gaynor), 1954, Philosophical Library *''Language For Everybody;: What It Is And How To Master It'', 1956, New American Library *''Getting Along in Italian'', 1958, Bantam *''Getting Along in Russian'', 1959, Harper *''Getting Along in French'' (with John Fisher), 1961, Bantam *''109 Most Useful Foreign Phrases for the Traveler'', 1962, Curtis *''Voices of Man: The Meaning and Function of Language'', 1962, Harper & Row *''The Story of English: A Modern Approach'', 1962, Premier *''Invitation to Linguistics: A Basic Introduction to the Science of Language'', 1965, Doubleday, *''Glossary of Linguistic Terminology'', 1966, Columbia University Press, *''Studies In Romance Philology And Literature'', 1966, Garnett Publishing *''Words in Sheep's Clothing'', 1969 *''Talking Your Way Around the World'', 1971, Harper-Collins, *''Getting along in Spanish'', 1972, Bantam *''Weasel Words'', 1972, Harper & Row *''How To Learn Languages And What Languages To Learn'', 1973, Harper & Row, *''Families of Words'', 1974, St Martins Press, 0312280351 *''Dictionary Of Foreign Terms'', 1975, Delacorte Press, *''What's In A Word? Language: yesterday, today, and tomorrow'', 1975, Universal *''The Story of Latin and the Romance Languages'', 1976, Harper-Collins, *''New Italian Self-Taught'', 1982, Harpercollins,

Discography

*''Medieval Romance Poetry'', 1961 ( Folkways Records) *''One Language for the World'', 1961 (Folkways) *''Getting Along in Russian, Vol. 1'', 1962 (Folkways) *''Getting Along in Russian, Vol. 2'', 1962 (Folkways) *''Getting Along in French, Vol. 1'', 1962 (Folkways) *''Readings in Church Latin – Caesar and Cicero: Read by Dr. Mario A. Pei'', 1962 (Folkways) *''Readings in Church Latin – Virgil and Horace: Read by Dr. Mario A. Pei'', 1962 (Folkways) *''Getting Along in English, Vol. 1'', 1964 (Folkways)

Other

*''The American road to peace: a constitution for the world'', 1945, S.F. Vanni *Introduction to

Ada Boni Ada Boni (; 1881 – May 1973) was an Italian chef, magazine editor, food writer and book author. Her most famous book, '' Il talismano della felicità'' (''The Talisman of Happiness'' in English), published in 1928, is considered one of the clas ...

, '' Talisman Italian Cookbook''. 1950. Crown Publishers *''Swords of Anjou'', 1953, John Day Company. Pei's first and only novel, praised in HISPANICA 953as "an admirable combination of absorbing narrative and sound scholarship ..." *''THE CONSUMER'S MANIFESTO: A Bill Of Rights to Protect the Consumer in the Wars Between Capital and Labor'', 1960, Crown Publishers *''Our National Heritage'', 1965, Houghton Mifflin *''America We Lost: The Concerns of a Conservative'', 1968, World Publishing *''Tales of the natural and supernatural,'', 1971, Devin-Adair

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pei, Mario 1901 births 1978 deaths Linguists from Italy Italian emigrants to the United States American Esperantists Xavier High School (New York City) alumni 20th-century American linguists