A computer language with the potential to transcend human languagebarriers now has the potential to move into certain world markets, according to a UC Davis researcher. The language, called MUMPS (for Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-programming System) or M for short, was originally developed to handle complex medical records. It quickly became popular with the shipping and banking industries. MUMPS' recent addition to the handful of computer languages formally accepted by the International Standards Organization is expected to boost commercial and academic interest. UC Davis computer science professor Richard F. Walters believes that MUMPS has a unique capacity to handle and sort symbols required for different languages around the world, which is not inherent in other computer languages. "As the world shrinks, the need to develop truly internationalized computer support is intensifying," says Walters, an international authority on MUMPS whose research has contributed significantly to extending MUMPS to serve non-English language applications. "The growing need for more effective communications in such political alliances as the European Community requires that multiple-language versions of documents be available instantaneously, not (in) days or weeks," he says. MUMPS also has the potential to incorporate medical information from a large number of languages into a single database to study diseases such as AIDS. The most attractive features of MUMPS include its intrinsic data base, powerful text-handling ability, portability, and easy programming.