History of Esperanto
Encyclopedia
The constructed
international auxiliary language
Esperanto
was developed in the 1870s and 80s by L. L. Zamenhof
, and first published in 1887. The number of speakers has grown gradually over time, although it has not had much support from governments and international bodies, and has sometimes been outlawed or otherwise suppressed.
, but after learning it in school he decided it was too complicated to be a common means of international communication. When he learned English, he realised that verb conjugations
were unnecessary, and that grammatical systems could be much simpler than he had expected. He still had the problem of memorising a large vocabulary, until he noticed two Russian signs labelled Швейцарская (švejtsarskaja, a porter's lodge – from швейцар švejtsar, a porter) and Кондитерская (konditerskaja, a confectioner's shop – from кондитер konditer, a confectioner). He then realised that a judicious use of affix
es could greatly decrease the number of root words needed for communication. He chose to take his word stock from Romance
and Germanic
, the languages that were most widely taught in schools around the world and would therefore be recognisable to the largest number of people.
Zamenhof taught an early version of the language
to his high-school classmates. Then, for several years, he worked on translations and poetry to refine his creation. In 1895 he wrote, "I worked for six years perfecting and testing the language, even though it had seemed to me in 1878 that it was already completely ready." When he was ready to publish, the Czarist censors would not allow it. Stymied, he spent his time in translating works such as the Bible and Shakespeare
. This enforced delay led to continued improvement. In July 1887 he published his Unua Libro
(First Book), a basic introduction to the language. This was essentially the language spoken today.
, New Zealand, Tonkin
, and Uruguay in 1905.
In its first years Esperanto was used mainly in publications by Zamenhof and early adopters like Anton Grabowski, in extensive correspondence (mostly now lost), in the magazine La Esperantisto, published from 1889 to 1895 and only occasionally in personal encounters.
In 1894 under pressure from Wilhelm Trompeter, the publisher of the magazine La Esperantisto, and some other leading users, Zamenhof reluctantly put forward a radical reform to be voted on by readers. He proposed the reduction of the alphabet to 22 letters (by eliminating the accented letters and most of their sounds), the change of the plural to -i, the use of a positional accusative instead of the ending -n, the removal of the distinction between adjectives and adverbs, the reduction of the number of participles from six to two, and the replacement of the table of correlatives with more Latinate words or phrases. These reforms were overwhelmingly rejected, but some were picked up in subsequent reforms
(such as Ido
) and criticisms of the language. In the following decade Esperanto spread into western Europe, especially France. By 1905 there were already 27 magazines being published (Auld 1988).
A small international conference was held in 1904, leading to the first world congress in August 1905 in Boulogne-sur-Mer
, France. There were 688 Esperanto speakers present from 20 nationalities. At this congress, Zamenhof officially resigned his leadership of the Esperanto movement, as he did not want personal prejudice against himself (or anti-Semitism
) to hinder the progress of the language. He proposed a declaration
on founding principles of the Esperanto movement, which the attendees of the congress endorsed.
The autonomous territory of Neutral Moresnet, between Belgium and Germany, had a sizable proportion of Esperanto-speakers among its small and multiethnic population. There was a proposal to make Esperanto its official language.
In the early 1920s, there was a proposal for the League of Nations
to accept Esperanto as their working language. Ten delegates accepted the proposal with only one voice against, the French delegate, Gabriel Hanotaux
. Hanotaux did not like how the French language was losing its position as the international language and saw Esperanto as a threat. However, two years later the League recommended that its member states include Esperanto in their educational curricula. Many people see the 1920s as the heyday of the Esperanto movement.
Starting in the 1930s, Adolf Hitler
and Joseph Stalin
murdered many Esperanto speakers because of their anti-nationalistic
tendencies.
Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf
that it was created as a universal language to unite the Jewish diaspora
.
The creation of a Jew-free National German Esperanto League was not enough to placate the Nazis.
The teaching of Esperanto was not allowed in German prisoner-of-war camps during World War II. Esperantists sometimes were able to get around the ban by convincing guards that they were teaching Italian, the language of Germany's closest ally.
In the early years of the Soviet Union
, Esperanto was given a measure of government support, and an officially recognized Soviet Esperanto Association came into being. However, in 1937, Stalin reversed this policy. He denounced Esperanto as "the language of spies" and had Esperantists exiled or executed. The use of Esperanto was effectively banned until 1956.
While Esperanto itself was not enough cause for execution, its use was extended among Jews or trade unionists and encouraged contacts with foreigners.
Fascist Italy, on the other hand, made some efforts of promoting tourism in Italy
through Esperanto leaflets and appreciated the similarities of Italian and Esperanto.
Salazarist Portugal persecuted the language from 1936 until the Carnation Revolution
of 1975.
After the Spanish Civil War
, Francoist Spain persecuted the Anarchists
and Catalan nationalists among which Esperanto was extended but in the 1950s, the Esperanto movement was tolerated again with Francisco Franco
accepting the honorary patronage of the Madrid World Esperanto Congress.
The Cold War
, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, put a damper on the Esperanto movement as well, as there were fears on both sides that Esperanto could be used for enemy propaganda. However, the language experienced something of a renaissance in the 1970s and spread to new parts of the world, such as its veritable explosion in popularity in Iran in 1975. By 1991 there were enough African Esperantists to warrant a pan-African congress. The language continues to spread, although it is not officially recognised by any country, and is part of the state educational curriculum of only a few.
of 1905 limited changes to Esperanto. That declaration stated, among other things, that the basis of the language should remain the Fundamento de Esperanto ("Foundation of Esperanto", a group of early works by Zamenhof), which is to be binding forever: nobody has the right to make changes to it. The declaration also permits new concepts to be expressed as the speaker sees fit, but it recommends doing so in accordance with the original style.
Many Esperantists believe this declaration stabilising the language is a major reason why the Esperanto speaker community grew beyond the levels attained by other constructed languages and has developed a flourishing culture. Other constructed languages have been hindered from developing a stable speaking community by continual tinkering. Also, many developers of constructed languages have been possessive of their brain-children and have worked to prevent others from contributing to the language. One such ultimately disastrous case was Schleyer
's Volapük
. In contrast, Zamenhof declared that "Esperanto belongs to the Esperantists", and moved to the background once the language was published, allowing others to share in the early development of the language.
The grammatical description in the earliest books was somewhat vague, so a consensus on usage (influenced by Zamenhof's answers to some questions) developed over time within boundaries set by the initial outline (Auld 1988). Even before the Declaration of Boulogne, the language was remarkably stable; only one set of lexical changes were made in the first year after publication, namely changing "when", "then", "never", "sometimes", "always" from kian, tian, nenian, ian, ĉian to kiam, tiam, neniam etc., to avoid confusion with the accusative forms of kia "what sort of", tia "that sort of", etc. Thus Esperanto achieved a stability of structure and grammar similar to that which natural languages enjoy by virtue of their native speakers and established bodies of literature. One could learn Esperanto without having it move from underfoot. Changes could and did occur in the language, but only by acquiring widespread popular support; there was no central authority making arbitrary changes, as happened with Volapük
and some other languages.
Modern Esperanto usage may in fact depart from that originally described in the Fundamento, though the differences are largely semantic (involving changed meaning of words) rather than grammatical or phonological. The translation given for "I like this one", in the sample phrases in the main Esperanto
article, offers a significant example. According to the Fundamento, Mi ŝatas ĉi tiun would in fact have meant "I esteem this one". The traditional usage is Tiu ĉi plaĉas al mi (literally, "this one is pleasing to me"), which reflects the phrasing of most European languages (French celui-ci me plaît, Spanish éste me gusta, Russian это мне нравится [eto mnye nravitsya], German Das gefällt mir, Italian mi piace). However, the original Ĉi tiu plaĉas al mi continues to be commonly used.
For later changes to the language, see Modern evolution of Esperanto
.
s through natural language use. This may be because it is the language of daily communication for only a small minority of its speakers. However at least three other factors work against dialects, namely the centripetal force of the Fundamento, the unifying influence of the Plena Vortaro and its successors, which exemplified usage from the works of Zamenhof and leading writers, and the transnational ambitions of the speech community itself. Slang and jargon
have developed to some extent, but such features interfere with universal communication – the whole point of Esperanto – and so have generally been avoided.
However, in the early twentieth century numerous reform projects were proposed. Almost all of these "esperantido
"s were stillborn, but the very first, Ido
("Offspring"), had significant success for several years. Ido was proposed by the Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language
in Paris in October 1907. Its main reforms were in bringing the alphabet
, semantics
, and some grammatical
features into closer alignment with the Romance languages
, as well as removal of adjectival agreement and the accusative case except when necessary. At first a number of leading Esperantists put their support behind the Ido project, but the movement stagnated and declined, first with the accidental death of one of its main proponents and later as people proposed further changes, and the number of current speakers is estimated at between 250 and 5000. However, Ido has proven to be a rich source of Esperanto vocabulary.
Some more focused reform projects, affecting only a particular feature of the language, have gained a few adherents. One of these is "riism
", which modifies the language to incorporate non-sexist language and gender-neutral pronoun
s. However, most of these projects are specific to individual nationalities (riism from English speakers, for example), and the only changes that have gained acceptance in the Esperanto community have been the minor and gradual bottom-up reforms discussed in the last section.
Esperanto is credited with influencing or inspiring several later competing language projects, such as Occidental
(1922) and Novial
(1928). These always lagged far behind Esperanto in their popularity. By contrast, Interlingua
(1951) has greatly surpassed Ido in terms of popularity. It shows little or no Esperanto influence, however.
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
international auxiliary language
International auxiliary language
An international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
was developed in the 1870s and 80s by L. L. Zamenhof
L. L. Zamenhof
Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof December 15, 1859 – April 14, 1917) was the inventor of Esperanto, the most successful constructed language designed for international communication.-Cultural background:...
, and first published in 1887. The number of speakers has grown gradually over time, although it has not had much support from governments and international bodies, and has sometimes been outlawed or otherwise suppressed.
Development of the language before publication
Zamenhof would later say that he had dreamed of a world language since he was a child. At first he considered a revival of LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, but after learning it in school he decided it was too complicated to be a common means of international communication. When he learned English, he realised that verb conjugations
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
were unnecessary, and that grammatical systems could be much simpler than he had expected. He still had the problem of memorising a large vocabulary, until he noticed two Russian signs labelled Швейцарская (švejtsarskaja, a porter's lodge – from швейцар švejtsar, a porter) and Кондитерская (konditerskaja, a confectioner's shop – from кондитер konditer, a confectioner). He then realised that a judicious use of affix
Affix
An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
es could greatly decrease the number of root words needed for communication. He chose to take his word stock from Romance
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
and Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
, the languages that were most widely taught in schools around the world and would therefore be recognisable to the largest number of people.
Zamenhof taught an early version of the language
Proto-Esperanto
Proto-Esperanto is the modern term for any of the stages in the evolution of L. L. Zamenhof's language project, prior to the publication of his Unua Libro in 1887.-The Lingwe uniwersala of 1878:...
to his high-school classmates. Then, for several years, he worked on translations and poetry to refine his creation. In 1895 he wrote, "I worked for six years perfecting and testing the language, even though it had seemed to me in 1878 that it was already completely ready." When he was ready to publish, the Czarist censors would not allow it. Stymied, he spent his time in translating works such as the Bible and Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. This enforced delay led to continued improvement. In July 1887 he published his Unua Libro
Unua Libro
The Unua Libro was the first publication to describe the international language Esperanto . It was first published in Russian on July 26, 1887 in Warsaw, by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto. Over the next few years editions were published in Russian, Hebrew, Polish, French, German,...
(First Book), a basic introduction to the language. This was essentially the language spoken today.
Esperanto history from publication until the first world congress
At first the movement grew most in the Russian empire and eastern Europe, but soon spread to western Europe and beyond: to Argentina in 1889; to Canada in 1901; to Algeria, Chile, Japan, Mexico, and Peru in 1903; to Tunisia in 1904; and to Australia, the United States, Guinea, IndochinaIndochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
, New Zealand, Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
, and Uruguay in 1905.
In its first years Esperanto was used mainly in publications by Zamenhof and early adopters like Anton Grabowski, in extensive correspondence (mostly now lost), in the magazine La Esperantisto, published from 1889 to 1895 and only occasionally in personal encounters.
In 1894 under pressure from Wilhelm Trompeter, the publisher of the magazine La Esperantisto, and some other leading users, Zamenhof reluctantly put forward a radical reform to be voted on by readers. He proposed the reduction of the alphabet to 22 letters (by eliminating the accented letters and most of their sounds), the change of the plural to -i, the use of a positional accusative instead of the ending -n, the removal of the distinction between adjectives and adverbs, the reduction of the number of participles from six to two, and the replacement of the table of correlatives with more Latinate words or phrases. These reforms were overwhelmingly rejected, but some were picked up in subsequent reforms
Esperantido
Esperantido is the term used within the Esperanto and constructed language communities to describe a language project based on or inspired by Esperanto. Esperantido originally referred to the language of that name, which later came to be known as Ido. The word Esperantido is derived from Esperanto...
(such as Ido
Ido
Ido is a constructed language created with the goal of becoming a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds as a language easier to learn than ethnic languages...
) and criticisms of the language. In the following decade Esperanto spread into western Europe, especially France. By 1905 there were already 27 magazines being published (Auld 1988).
A small international conference was held in 1904, leading to the first world congress in August 1905 in Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
, France. There were 688 Esperanto speakers present from 20 nationalities. At this congress, Zamenhof officially resigned his leadership of the Esperanto movement, as he did not want personal prejudice against himself (or anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
) to hinder the progress of the language. He proposed a declaration
Declaration of Boulogne
The Declaration of Boulogne was a document written by L. L. Zamenhof and endorsed by the attendees of the first world congress of Esperanto in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France in 1905...
on founding principles of the Esperanto movement, which the attendees of the congress endorsed.
Esperanto history since the first congress
World congresses have been held every year since 1905, except during the two World Wars.The autonomous territory of Neutral Moresnet, between Belgium and Germany, had a sizable proportion of Esperanto-speakers among its small and multiethnic population. There was a proposal to make Esperanto its official language.
In the early 1920s, there was a proposal for the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
to accept Esperanto as their working language. Ten delegates accepted the proposal with only one voice against, the French delegate, Gabriel Hanotaux
Gabriel Hanotaux
Albert Auguste Gabriel Hanotaux, known as Gabriel Hanotaux was a French statesman and historian.-Biography:...
. Hanotaux did not like how the French language was losing its position as the international language and saw Esperanto as a threat. However, two years later the League recommended that its member states include Esperanto in their educational curricula. Many people see the 1920s as the heyday of the Esperanto movement.
Starting in the 1930s, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
murdered many Esperanto speakers because of their anti-nationalistic
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
tendencies.
Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
that it was created as a universal language to unite the Jewish diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
.
The creation of a Jew-free National German Esperanto League was not enough to placate the Nazis.
The teaching of Esperanto was not allowed in German prisoner-of-war camps during World War II. Esperantists sometimes were able to get around the ban by convincing guards that they were teaching Italian, the language of Germany's closest ally.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Esperanto was given a measure of government support, and an officially recognized Soviet Esperanto Association came into being. However, in 1937, Stalin reversed this policy. He denounced Esperanto as "the language of spies" and had Esperantists exiled or executed. The use of Esperanto was effectively banned until 1956.
While Esperanto itself was not enough cause for execution, its use was extended among Jews or trade unionists and encouraged contacts with foreigners.
Fascist Italy, on the other hand, made some efforts of promoting tourism in Italy
Tourism in Italy
With more than 43.2 million tourists a year, Italy is the fourth highest tourist earner, and fifth most visited country in the world, behind France , Spain , United States , and China...
through Esperanto leaflets and appreciated the similarities of Italian and Esperanto.
Salazarist Portugal persecuted the language from 1936 until the Carnation Revolution
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
of 1975.
After the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, Francoist Spain persecuted the Anarchists
Anarchism in Spain
Anarchism has historically gained more support and influence in Spain than anywhere else, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939....
and Catalan nationalists among which Esperanto was extended but in the 1950s, the Esperanto movement was tolerated again with Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
accepting the honorary patronage of the Madrid World Esperanto Congress.
The Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, put a damper on the Esperanto movement as well, as there were fears on both sides that Esperanto could be used for enemy propaganda. However, the language experienced something of a renaissance in the 1970s and spread to new parts of the world, such as its veritable explosion in popularity in Iran in 1975. By 1991 there were enough African Esperantists to warrant a pan-African congress. The language continues to spread, although it is not officially recognised by any country, and is part of the state educational curriculum of only a few.
Evolution of the language
The Declaration of BoulogneDeclaration of Boulogne
The Declaration of Boulogne was a document written by L. L. Zamenhof and endorsed by the attendees of the first world congress of Esperanto in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France in 1905...
of 1905 limited changes to Esperanto. That declaration stated, among other things, that the basis of the language should remain the Fundamento de Esperanto ("Foundation of Esperanto", a group of early works by Zamenhof), which is to be binding forever: nobody has the right to make changes to it. The declaration also permits new concepts to be expressed as the speaker sees fit, but it recommends doing so in accordance with the original style.
Many Esperantists believe this declaration stabilising the language is a major reason why the Esperanto speaker community grew beyond the levels attained by other constructed languages and has developed a flourishing culture. Other constructed languages have been hindered from developing a stable speaking community by continual tinkering. Also, many developers of constructed languages have been possessive of their brain-children and have worked to prevent others from contributing to the language. One such ultimately disastrous case was Schleyer
Johann Martin Schleyer
Martin Schleyer was a German Catholic priest who invented the constructed language Volapük. His official name was "Martin Schleyer"; he added the name "Johann" unofficially....
's Volapük
Volapük
Volapük is a constructed language, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Roman Catholic priest in Baden, Germany. Schleyer felt that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. Volapük conventions took place in 1884 , 1887 and 1889 . The first two conventions used...
. In contrast, Zamenhof declared that "Esperanto belongs to the Esperantists", and moved to the background once the language was published, allowing others to share in the early development of the language.
The grammatical description in the earliest books was somewhat vague, so a consensus on usage (influenced by Zamenhof's answers to some questions) developed over time within boundaries set by the initial outline (Auld 1988). Even before the Declaration of Boulogne, the language was remarkably stable; only one set of lexical changes were made in the first year after publication, namely changing "when", "then", "never", "sometimes", "always" from kian, tian, nenian, ian, ĉian to kiam, tiam, neniam etc., to avoid confusion with the accusative forms of kia "what sort of", tia "that sort of", etc. Thus Esperanto achieved a stability of structure and grammar similar to that which natural languages enjoy by virtue of their native speakers and established bodies of literature. One could learn Esperanto without having it move from underfoot. Changes could and did occur in the language, but only by acquiring widespread popular support; there was no central authority making arbitrary changes, as happened with Volapük
Volapük
Volapük is a constructed language, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Roman Catholic priest in Baden, Germany. Schleyer felt that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. Volapük conventions took place in 1884 , 1887 and 1889 . The first two conventions used...
and some other languages.
Modern Esperanto usage may in fact depart from that originally described in the Fundamento, though the differences are largely semantic (involving changed meaning of words) rather than grammatical or phonological. The translation given for "I like this one", in the sample phrases in the main Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
article, offers a significant example. According to the Fundamento, Mi ŝatas ĉi tiun would in fact have meant "I esteem this one". The traditional usage is Tiu ĉi plaĉas al mi (literally, "this one is pleasing to me"), which reflects the phrasing of most European languages (French celui-ci me plaît, Spanish éste me gusta, Russian это мне нравится [eto mnye nravitsya], German Das gefällt mir, Italian mi piace). However, the original Ĉi tiu plaĉas al mi continues to be commonly used.
For later changes to the language, see Modern evolution of Esperanto
Modern evolution of Esperanto
Esperanto has been remarkably stable since its creation compared to other planned languages. This is due to the Declaration of Boulogne in 1905, which made the early works of Zamenhof binding; most attempts at change have been therefore seen as distinct language projects , and in the main the...
.
Dialects, reform projects and derived languages
Esperanto has not fragmented into regional dialectDialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s through natural language use. This may be because it is the language of daily communication for only a small minority of its speakers. However at least three other factors work against dialects, namely the centripetal force of the Fundamento, the unifying influence of the Plena Vortaro and its successors, which exemplified usage from the works of Zamenhof and leading writers, and the transnational ambitions of the speech community itself. Slang and jargon
Jargon
Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...
have developed to some extent, but such features interfere with universal communication – the whole point of Esperanto – and so have generally been avoided.
However, in the early twentieth century numerous reform projects were proposed. Almost all of these "esperantido
Esperantido
Esperantido is the term used within the Esperanto and constructed language communities to describe a language project based on or inspired by Esperanto. Esperantido originally referred to the language of that name, which later came to be known as Ido. The word Esperantido is derived from Esperanto...
"s were stillborn, but the very first, Ido
Ido
Ido is a constructed language created with the goal of becoming a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds as a language easier to learn than ethnic languages...
("Offspring"), had significant success for several years. Ido was proposed by the Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language
Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language
The Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language was a body of academics convened in the early part of the twentieth century to decide on the issue of the which international auxiliary language should be chosen for international use...
in Paris in October 1907. Its main reforms were in bringing the alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
, semantics
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
, and some grammatical
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
features into closer alignment with the Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
, as well as removal of adjectival agreement and the accusative case except when necessary. At first a number of leading Esperantists put their support behind the Ido project, but the movement stagnated and declined, first with the accidental death of one of its main proponents and later as people proposed further changes, and the number of current speakers is estimated at between 250 and 5000. However, Ido has proven to be a rich source of Esperanto vocabulary.
Some more focused reform projects, affecting only a particular feature of the language, have gained a few adherents. One of these is "riism
Riism
Gender asymmetry is one of the aspects of the constructed language Esperanto that is most frequently targeted for criticism. There are numerous proposals to regularize both grammatical and lexical gender....
", which modifies the language to incorporate non-sexist language and gender-neutral pronoun
Gender-neutral pronoun
A gender-neutral pronoun is a pronoun that is not associated with any gender. It designates two distinct grammatical phenomena, the first being pronouns/periphrastics that have been assigned nontraditional meanings in modern times out of a concern for gender equity, and the second being genderless...
s. However, most of these projects are specific to individual nationalities (riism from English speakers, for example), and the only changes that have gained acceptance in the Esperanto community have been the minor and gradual bottom-up reforms discussed in the last section.
Esperanto is credited with influencing or inspiring several later competing language projects, such as Occidental
Occidental language
The language Occidental, later Interlingue, is a planned language created by the Balto-German naval officer and teacher Edgar de Wahl and published in 1922....
(1922) and Novial
Novial
Novial [nov- + IAL, International Auxiliary Language] is a constructed international auxiliary language intended to facilitate international communication and friendship, without displacing anyone's native language...
(1928). These always lagged far behind Esperanto in their popularity. By contrast, Interlingua
Interlingua
Interlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
(1951) has greatly surpassed Ido in terms of popularity. It shows little or no Esperanto influence, however.
- See also EsperantidoEsperantidoEsperantido is the term used within the Esperanto and constructed language communities to describe a language project based on or inspired by Esperanto. Esperantido originally referred to the language of that name, which later came to be known as Ido. The word Esperantido is derived from Esperanto...
Timeline of Esperanto
- 1859: Lazar ZamenhofL. L. ZamenhofLudwig Lazarus Zamenhof December 15, 1859 – April 14, 1917) was the inventor of Esperanto, the most successful constructed language designed for international communication.-Cultural background:...
, the creator of Esperanto, is born in BiałystokBialystokBiałystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Located on the Podlaskie Plain on the banks of the Biała River, Białystok ranks second in terms of population density, eleventh in population, and thirteenth in area, of the cities of Poland...
, Russia (now Poland). - 1873: The Zamenhof family moves to WarsawWarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. - 1878: Zamenhof celebrates the completion of his universal language project, Lingwe Uniwersala, with high-school friends.
- 1879: Zamenhof attends medical school in Moscow. His father burns his language project while he's away. Meanwhile SchleyerJohann Martin SchleyerMartin Schleyer was a German Catholic priest who invented the constructed language Volapük. His official name was "Martin Schleyer"; he added the name "Johann" unofficially....
publishes a sketch of Volapük, the first constructed international auxiliary languageConstructed languageA planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
to acquire a number of speakers. Many Volapük clubs will later switch to Esperanto. - 1881: Zamenhof returns to Warsaw to continue medical school, and starts to recreate his project.
- 1887: Zamenhof marries, and with his wife's help publishes Unua LibroUnua LibroThe Unua Libro was the first publication to describe the international language Esperanto . It was first published in Russian on July 26, 1887 in Warsaw, by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto. Over the next few years editions were published in Russian, Hebrew, Polish, French, German,...
, the book introducing modern Esperanto. - 1888: Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
becomes an early supporter. - 1894: Zamenhof, reacting to pressure, puts a radical reform to a vote, but it is overwhelmingly rejected.
- 1901: Zamenhof publishes his ideas on a universal religionHomaranismoHomaranismo is an Esperanto word used by its creator, Ludwig Zamenhof, to describe his philosophy of human interaction and behaviour. Based largely on the teachings of Hillel the Elder, a 1st century BCE rabbi, Zamenhof originally called this philosophy Hillelism...
, based on the philosophy of Hillel the ElderHillel the ElderHillel was a famous Jewish religious leader, one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He is associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud...
. - 1905: The first Universala KongresoWorld Congress of EsperantoThe World Congress of Esperanto has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run of more than a hundred years. The congresses have been held since 1905 every year, except during World Wars I and II...
(World Congress) is held in Boulogne-sur-MerBoulogne-sur-Mer-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
, with 688 participants and conducted entirely in Esperanto. The Fundamento de EsperantoFundamento de EsperantoThe Fundamento de Esperanto is a book by L. L. Zamenhof, published in the spring of 1905. On August 9, 1905 it was made the official source for the language by the fourth article of the Declaration of Boulogne at the first World Congress of Esperanto in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France:It is considered...
is published. - 1907: Twelve members of the British parliament nominate Zamenhof for the Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
. The Ĉekbanko Esperantista (Esperantist Checking Bank) is founded in London, using the spesmiloSpesmiloThe spesmilo is an obsolete decimal international currency, proposed in 1907 by René de Saussure and used before the First World War by a few British and Swiss banks, primarily the Ĉekbanko esperantista....
, an auxiliary Esperanto currency based on the gold standardGold standardThe gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
. A committee organised by Louis CouturatLouis CouturatLouis Couturat was a French logician, mathematician, philosopher, and linguist.-Life:Born in Ris-Orangis, Essonne, France, he was educated in philosophy and mathematics at the École Normale Supérieure...
in Paris proposes the IdoIdoIdo is a constructed language created with the goal of becoming a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds as a language easier to learn than ethnic languages...
reform project, which provides significant competition for Esperanto until the First World War. - 1908: Universala Esperanto-AsocioWorld Esperanto AssociationThe World Esperanto Association is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with members in 121 countries and in official relations with the United Nations and UNESCO. In addition to individual members, 70 national Esperanto organizations are affiliated to UEA...
, the World Esperanto Association, is founded by Hector HodlerHector HodlerHector Hodler was a Swiss Esperantist who had a strong influence on the early Esperanto movement....
, a 19-year-old Swiss Esperantist. - 1909: The International Association of Esperantist Railway Workers is founded in BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. - 1910: 42 members of the French parliament nominate Zamenhof for the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1917: Zamenhof dies during World War I.
- 1910s: Esperanto is taught in state schools in the Republic of China, SamosSamos IslandSamos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional...
, and MacedoniaMacedonia (region)Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
. (Today it is part of the curriculum of China, Hungary, and Bulgaria.) - 1920: The first Esperanto magazine for the blind, Aŭroro, begins publishing in CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. It's still in print today. - 1921: The French Academy of the Sciences recommends using Esperanto for international scientific communication.
- 1922: Esperanto is banned from French schools. The French delegate to the League of NationsLeague of NationsThe League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
vetoes the use of Esperanto as its working language, leaving English and French. - 1924: The League of NationsLeague of NationsThe League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
recommends that member states implement Esperanto as an auxiliary language. - 1920s: Offices of the Brazilian Ministry of Education use Esperanto for their international correspondence. Lu XunLu XunLu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...
, the founder of modern Chinese literature, becomes a supporter of Esperanto. Montagu Butler is the first to raise Esperanto-speaking children. - 1933/34: Reorganisation of the international (neutral) Esperanto movement, under the name UEA.
- 1934: Encyclopedia of EsperantoEncyclopedia of EsperantoEncyclopedia of Esperanto may refer to three different attempts of creating an encyclopedia of all Esperanto topics...
first published in BudapestBudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
. - 1935: KalocsayKálmán KalocsayKálmán Kalocsay , in Hungarian name order Kalocsay Kálmán is one of the foremost figures in the history of Esperanto literature...
and WaringhienGaston WaringhienGaston Waringhein was a French linguist, lexicographer, and Esperantist. He wrote poems as well as essays and books on linguistics...
publish the influential Plena Gramatiko de Esperanto (Complete Grammar of Esperanto). - 1936: Esperanto-organisations in Nazi GermanyNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
prohibited. - 1937: Leaders of the Esperanto-organisation in the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
arrested, Esperanto activities made impossible. - 1938: The World Esperanto Youth Organisation TEJOTEJOTEJO is the Tutmonda Esperantista Junulara Organizo, or World Esperanto Youth Organization. TEJO was founded in 1938 under the name Tutmonda Junular-Organizo . The current name was taken in 1952. In 1956, TEJO became the youth section of the World Esperanto Association...
is founded. - 1939–1945: In World War II many countries are occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union, where Esperanto-organisations often were prohibited or Esperanto activities were limited in other ways.
- 1948: The railway workers' association is refounded as IFEF, the Internacia Fervojista Esperanto-Federacio (International Railway Workers' Esperanto Federation) to foster the use Esperanto in the administration of the railroads of the world (so far, of Eurasia).
- 1954: UNESCO establishes consultative relations with the World Esperanto AssociationWorld Esperanto AssociationThe World Esperanto Association is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with members in 121 countries and in official relations with the United Nations and UNESCO. In addition to individual members, 70 national Esperanto organizations are affiliated to UEA...
. - 1966: The precursor to Pasporta ServoPasporta ServoThe Pasporta Servo is a hospitality service for Esperantists. The service publishes a directory of people from countries on every continent who are willing to host other Esperanto speakers in their homes for free...
is launched in Argentina. Pasporta Servo is a global network of Esperanto speakers who host Esperantists traveling through their countries. - 1967: István NemereIstván NemereIstván Nemere is a Hungarian novelist, Esperantist, and translator. He has written over ten novels in Esperanto. He has been a notable figure in the world of Hungarian science fiction with as many as 60 novels and several stories.- External links :*...
founds the Renkontiĝo de Esperanto-Familioj, the first organisation for Esperanto-speaking families. - 1975: The Esperanto movement spreads to Iran, with three thousand learning the language in Tehran.
- 1980: The Internacia Junulara Kongreso (International Youth Congress) in Rauma, FinlandRauma, FinlandRauma is a town and municipality of ca. inhabitants on the west coast of Finland, north of Turku, and south of Pori. Granted town privileges on May 17, 1442 , Rauma is known of its high quality lace , and of the old wooden architecture of its centre , which is a Unesco world heritage...
makes explicit the view of many in the Esperanto movement that Esperanto is a goal in itself. - 1985: UNESCO encourages UN member states to add Esperanto to their school curricula.
- 1987: 6000 Esperantists attend the 72nd Universala KongresoWorld Congress of EsperantoThe World Congress of Esperanto has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run of more than a hundred years. The congresses have been held since 1905 every year, except during World Wars I and II...
in WarsawWarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
to mark Esperanto's centennial. - 1991: The first pan-African Esperanto Conference is held in LoméLoméLomé, with an estimated population of 737,751, is the capital and largest city of Togo. Located on the Gulf of Guinea, Lomé is the country's administrative and industrial center and its chief port. The city exports coffee, cocoa, copra, and palm kernels...
, Togo. - 1992: PEN International accepts an Esperanto section.
- 1999: The Esperanto poet William AuldWilliam AuldWilliam Auld was a Scottish poet, author, translator and magazine editor who wrote chiefly in Esperanto. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999, 2004, and 2006 making him the first and only person to be nominated for works in Esperanto...
is nominated for the Nobel Prize in LiteratureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
. - 2001: The Vikipedio project (Esperanto WikipediaEsperanto WikipediaThe Esperanto Wikipedia is the Esperanto edition of Wikipedia, which started in December 2001 as the eleventh edition of Wikipedia...
) is launched, resulting in the first general encyclopedia written in a constructed language. It is now one of the most popular websites in Esperanto. - 2004: The Europe - Democracy - Esperanto party (E°D°E°) contests the European Parliament electionsEuropean Parliament election, 2004Elections to the European Parliament were held from 10 June 2004 to 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom...
in France, on a platform of making Esperanto the second language of all EU member states, taking 0.15% of the vote. - 2007: The State of Israel issues a stamp to commemorate 120 years of Esperanto (1887–2007). An image of Zamenhof is designed in a text describing his life, reproduced from the Wikipedia article on Esperanto. The corner of the tab shows the flag of the Esperanto movement.
- 2009: The SenateSenate of BrazilThe Federal Senate of Brazil is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. Created by the first Constitution of the Brazilian Empire in 1824, it was inspired by the United Kingdom's House of Lords, but with the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 it became closer to the United States...
of Brazil passed a bill which would make Esperanto an optional part of the curriculum in its state schools. As of 2010 the bill has not yet been passed by the Chamber of DeputiesChamber of Deputies of BrazilThe Chamber of Deputies of Brazil is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. As of 2006, the chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms...
.
External links
- Ronald Creagh & Karine Tourraton. A Short History of Anarchist Participation in the Esperanto Movement. http://dailybleed.blogspot.com/search/label/article