Esperanto

This paper begins with a brief historical overview of the Esperanto language by presenting a brief biography of its founder and the historical and geographical context within which the language was created. The paper then gives a brief linguistic description of Esperanto, gathers evidence on who and how many people use Esperanto today, explains some the most basic advantages of the language, discusses criticism of Esperanto, then offers information on some of the largest Esperanto collections around the world.

Keywords Esperanto; Esperanto League for North America; Freinet school movement; Romance languages; Universal Esperanto Association; World Congress of Esperanto; World Esperantist Youth Organization; World Esperanto Association; Zamenhof, Ludwik Lazar

Overview

History of Esperanto

120 years ago, Ludwik Lazar Zamenhof (1859 - 1917) introduced to the world what has become the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language, Esperanto. Zamenhof was born in Bialystok, a small town in Poland, at a time when all of Poland was under the power of a Russian Tsar and the Russian Empire. Zamenhof was of Lithuanian Jewish descent, and considering the particular place and time he was born, his Jewish heritage of course also meant he quite often faced racial prejudice. The population of Bialystok was mostly made up of Poles, Germans, Jews and Belarusians, and these four main groups by no means co-existed in harmony. Zamenhof's daily life experience in Polish society, with its various languages defining the borders of what were essentially antagonistic social groups, probably caused him to form the opinion at an early age that language barriers were partly to blame for ethnic intolerance (Littlewood, 2007, ¶ 2).

It is also important to consider the effect of time and place on Zamenhof's exposure to languages. From childhood, he learned Russian, Yiddish, Polish and German, so he was fluent in four languages by the time he reached high school. In high school he learned French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and English, and he also became quite familiar with Italian, Spanish and Lithuanian. By the time he was a teenager, Zamenhof had been exposed to the grammatical structures and vocabularies of twelve languages, and in fact he came up with the idea of creating a universal language, and also began working on that language, when he was surprisingly young. As Littlewood writes, "On his 18th birthday he demonstrated the first practical version of a new language which he had invented in the hope of enabling people to communicate and live peaceably with one another - Esperanto" (Littlewood, 2007, ¶ 3).

Unfortunately, Zamenhof's original notes on Esperanto - as well as all other documentation relating to the Esperanto language - were destroyed by Zamenhof's father when Zamenhof went to Moscow to study medicine. Zamenhof's father worked as a government censor for the Russian Tsar and was afraid that if his son published his proposal for a new universal language, such a publication could throw the entire Zamenhof family into serious problems with the government. At the time, there had already been four assassination attempts on the Tsar Alexander II, and there was political tension everywhere in the Russian Empire. As Littlewood writes, "such was the paranoia of the [Russian] political leadership that the Polish language was outlawed for fear its use might incite Polish nationalism." Thus, even benevolent social activism, such as Zamenhof's proposal for the Esperanto language, might have made the Russian Tsarist government perceive Zamenhof as a revolutionary who had committed a subversive act. This is why Zamenhof's father persuaded Zamenhof to leave all his notes to his care - after which he burned the entire Esperanto corpus (Littlewood, 2007, ¶4).

In 1881, after Zamenhof discovered that his father had destroyed all his work, he firmly resolved to recreate the entire Esperanto corpus from his memory (Littlewood, 2007, ¶ 5). He married Klara Zilbernick, and in 1887 Zamenhof's father-in-law, who regarded him as brilliant if eccentric, funded the publication of his first book, which proposed using the language as a bridge between people of various nations, races and ethnic groups, and also laid out the grammar and vocabulary of Esperanto. This first, 40-page book was printed in Russian, and was called Dr Esperanto's International language Introduction and complete textbook for Russians. The pseudonym "Dr Esperanto" translates from Esperanto as "one who hopes" (Littlewood, 2007, ¶ 7). Mr. and Mrs. Zamenhof attended the first world conference of Esperantists in Boulogne, France, in 1905. Afterwards, the Zamenhofs also traveled to several other annual conferences in Europe, and also one in the USA (Littlewood, 2007, ¶ 9); by the early 1900s, there were already hundreds of people in countries all around the world contributing to the development of Esperanto (Littlewood, 2007, ¶ 10).

Esperanto Collections

There are quite a few books that have been written in Esperanto, and many of the world's masterpieces in literature have already been translated into Esperanto. The translations are also ongoing. At present, Esperanto translations include works by Garcia Marquez, Saikaku, Shakespeare, Gibran, Brecht, Tagore, Kawabata, Dante, and Mickiewicz. As of approximately the close of the last century, some 10,000 titles had been published in Esperanto (Lawrence, 1998, ¶ 19), and there are some large library collections around the world.

For example, the Hector Hodler Library is one of the largest Esperanto libraries with around 30,000 books, with periodicals, manuscripts, photos, music, and other collections. This collection is located at the central office of the Universal Esperanto Association in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The London Esperanto headquarters also has a library of several thousand books in and about Esperanto, including both fiction and non-fiction works from many different countries (What in the World?, 1996, ¶ 10).

In the U.S., the University of Oregon Library opened a collection of Esperanto literature in 1979. George Alan Connor, former editor of American Esperanto Magazine, compiled the collection, and the collection is said to be "the largest of its type in an academic library" (Collectors' Items, 1979, ¶ 1). When the University of Oregon Library collection opened, it had around 2,500 books and 475 serial titles featuring local, regional, national and international publications about Esperanto (Collectors' Items, 1979, ¶ 2). More recently, the Budapest Library opened a new collection of more than 40,000 Esperanto documents to the public. The collection was purchased in 2001 by Hungary's Ministry of Cultural Heritage, and it was put together by 91-year-old Karoly Fajszi, who "painstakingly bound and cataloged every volume" (Global Reach, 2002, ¶ 1).

Further Insights

Characteristics of Esperanto

In written form, Esperanto uses a modified Latin alphabet that has twenty-eight letters, and the sound or pronunciation of Esperanto is similar to that of Italian or Croatian. One of Esperanto's most advantageous features is its use of standard word endings to mark its various parts of speech. All nouns end in -o, adjectives in -a, adverbs in -e; this makes using the language much easier since one can learn a root word and then add these regular endings according to whether one is expressing a noun, adjective or adverb. The verb forms are also consistent, so that there are no irregular verbs such as exist in the English language. In Esperanto, the simple past tense ends in -is, the present tense ends in -as, and the future tense ends in -os, and there are no changes of form according to number, person or gender (Fettes, 2000, ¶ 2).

The word stock in Esperanto is mostly based on Romance languages such as Italian, Spanish and French, but part of the word stock also has its roots in Slavic languages as well as Arabic, Chinese, and other languages (Lawrence, 1998, ¶ 12). The word order in sentences is highly interchangeable, which is grammatically similar to Russian or other Slavic languages, so parts of speech have many ways that they could acceptably be rearranged. This makes Esperanto easier to learn for people who speak native languages that possess a very flexible word ordering. In fact, one problem that Slavic speakers have when learning English is the difference in word ordering, because English has a much more rigid word ordering. Slavic speakers have a tendency to use their grammatical habits when speaking English, and this causes strangely constructed sentences that then cause communication problems, but they do not face this difficulty when using Esperanto. Esperanto has a flexible word order which allows users of different language families to feel comfortable using the structures with which they are most familiar while creating intelligible and grammatically correct Esperanto. Esperanto is also, therefore, excellent for translating from different languages such as Chinese, Latin, English or French.

Usage of Esperanto

Since the 1600s, more than 100 languages have been invented with the ambition of becoming a universal second language that will help to bring mankind together (Lawrence, 1998, ¶ 18). Of these many planned languages, Esperanto is “the only language to have achieved relatively wide use;” however, estimates on the number of people using Esperanto varies among sources, so it is quite uncertain as to exactly how widespread Esperanto usage is. Fettes writes that between five and fifteen million people are estimated to have studied Esperanto, although he says that “regular users probably do not exceed one percent of this number" (Fettes, 2000, ¶ 1), meaning he estimates that about 150,000 people throughout the world regularly use Esperanto. The World Almanac & Book of Facts estimates that there are 100,000 or more Esperanto speakers in the world today (American Manual Alphabet, 2005, ¶ 1), while Lawrence (1998) writes that an estimated 300,000 to more than 1 million people know Esperanto, and that around 50,000 are active members of the World Esperanto Association (Lawrence, 1998, ¶ 12). Cox writes that there are about 2 million speakers (Cox, 1999, ¶ 4). Regardless of the exact figures, all of these sources, as well as any scholar of Esperanto, would readily agree that Esperanto is indeed by far the most successful artificial spoken language in history. As for demographics, Fettes notes that most Esperanto speakers live in Europe, but the movement also has "a long history in countries such as China, Japan and Brazil, and active users can be found in most countries of the world" (Fettes, 2000, ¶ 1).

There are other ways to gather evidence on who uses Esperanto and how many use it. As one article notes, proof that the language is thriving can be found by examining the number of Esperanto magazines published around the world. The fact that many Esperanto magazines have a small but global readership indicates that Esperanto is serving its original purpose of connecting people from various languages by offering them a neutral, universal language in which to communicate.

Viewpoints

Advantages of Esperanto

As Fettes (2000) observes, there are many factors that seem to make learning Esperanto much easier than other languages. For example, there is a close relationship between the written and spoken forms of Esperanto, the word-building system is easy and highly productive, the aforementioned lack of irregularities helps; there are very few idiomatic expressions, and there is a lot of openness and encouragement among Esperanto speakers toward new learners. Various studies have attempted to make quantitative comparisons, and the research results generally estimate the rate of progress in Esperanto "as four to twelve times that of other second languages taught under classroom conditions" (Fettes, 2000, ¶ 3).

A Bridge to Other Languages

The studies on Esperanto also frequently find “a positive effect on the learning of other languages. For instance, native English secondary school pupils who studied Esperanto for one year were subsequently found to achieve better results after three years of French than those who studied only French for four years” (Fettes, 2000, ¶ 4). Other studies around the world have reported similar results for native speakers of Finnish (learning Esperanto followed by German), Japanese (learning Esperanto followed by English) and Italian (learning Esperanto followed by French). Research also indicates that the study of Esperanto improves student performance on general native language tests, and that it enhances "various other kinds of language awareness" (Fettes, 2000, ¶ 4). Some teachers in U.S. schools have offered students the option to learn Esperanto, though such cases are admittedly few, and are from the initiative of individual educators rather than institutional initiatives.

For example, several years ago sixth-graders at Alcott Elementary School in Chicago were given the option to study Esperanto ("Sixth graders study," 1992, ¶ 1). The courses were voluntary, were 15-minute classes, and were offered during lunch break three days a week by a teacher and the school librarian, both of whom learned Esperanto at a three-week summer institute ("Sixth graders study," 1992, ¶ 2). The principal was supportive of the plan because he believed studying Esperanto would help students, was quoted as saying "When they get to high school and want to learn Spanish, French, German or some other language, they will have more chances for success" ("Sixth graders study," 1992, ¶ 3). Considering the research and findings from the above-cited studies, it seems the principal's opinion is well founded.

Connecting Diverse Backgrounds

Another advantage of Esperanto is that it offers the means for students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds to establish meaningful contact with each other. Some schools have set up international correspondence programs between students of similar ages, and such correspondence using Esperanto as a common ground for communication can give exciting and meaningful experiences to students in courses such as geography and social studies. The Freinet school movement, in which students have used Esperanto communication with students of other nations since the 1920s, is an example of a long-standing program of this type. More examples are the project Grajnoj en Vento (Esperanto for "Seeds in the Wind"), which has functioned in a number of countries since the 1960s, and the California-based network 'Children Around the World', which came into existence in the 1980s. The Internet is a perfect medium for these types of programs, and the first internet-based project of this kind began in 1999 with the Interkulturo web site (http://www.interkulturo.net). This site, with all its pages written in Esperanto, currently has participation from schools in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas (Fettes, 2000, ¶ 5).

A Global Network

Lawrence (1998) offers one last important advantage, and that is the sense of world community that Esperanto gives its users. He observes, "Speakers enter a tight community with its own literature and culture, and they get to play with language the way kids tinker with Legos - endlessly forming new configurations out of the same old blocks" (Lawrence, 1998, ¶ 3). If one examines the many comments of those who use Esperanto, this seems to be one of the most important points about the language. There is a global network of Esperanto users, and once a user has become adept in the use of Esperanto, the user gains a network of contacts in countries around the world. For example, there are various international hosting networks for Esperanto speakers - such as Pasporta Servo (http://www.tejo.org/eo/ps/), which is administered by the World Esperantist Youth Organization - and through these hosting networks Esperanto users can arrange to stay with other Esperanto users when traveling to other countries. This is one example of how Esperanto creates a global community, but there are others. For example, the magazines described above, which also mediate "pen-pal" networks, is yet another example of community building. There are also online pen-pal networks exclusively for Esperanto users.

Criticism of Esperanto

Everingham (1990) points out that "the argument for a neutral 'people's Latin' overlooks the fact that Latin became dominant because of non-neutral factors that now make English dominant" (¶ 2). His point is that, because Esperanto is largely based on languages related to Latin, non-Europeans may not view the language as neutral. However, Steele (1990) counters this argument by pointing out that only Esperanto's word-stock is heavily Latin based, but this is only one aspect of Esperanto to consider. Steele observes that Esperanto's grammar is actually much simpler and more regular than any European tongue, and he argues that "once they have mastered the vocabulary, the Chinese, for example, use Esperanto just as elegantly as any European" (Steele, 1990, ¶ 4). Steele also points out that words must come from somewhere - if we choose not to create all word roots from no existing languages. He argues that, even if a new language were to be invented which borrowed only a few words from each of thousands of languages in the world, so as to be "fair", "it is hard to see how that would be of much benefit to anybody" (Steele, 1990, ¶ 6). He concludes that, since modern industrial and technological culture is based in languages of European origin, Esperanto has an easier time with representing the terminology of modern science. The author proposes that it may be much more difficult to speak concisely about today's technology, medicine and science in general if we rely on certain non-European languages.

Another criticism of Esperanto relates to the network of users, which is cited above as an advantage. Yes, there is a global Esperanto network, but it is actually an extremely sparse network, and Esperanto will probably remain limited in its number of users. Fettes (2000) points out Esperanto's insignificant economic and demographic power and political recognition, which he says, "all but rule out its inclusion in the 'foreign language' curriculum in many countries." He observes that if a teacher wants to teach Esperanto in a classroom setting, the teacher usually must relate it "explicitly to broader curricular goals such as multicultural education, social studies or language awareness" (Fettes, 2000, ¶ 7). Esperanto is not considered a viable second language to offer American students, which is why Esperanto courses in the U.S. are not offered from the initiative of institutions or administrations, and are instead like the above-described Alcott case. As for a global second language, everyone generally agrees that English has already filled that role. However, Steele argues that the question is whether English should occupy that position. Steele writes,

In our rapidly changing world, where quasi-eternal structures are crumbling in a few weeks, we really do have the choice: should the common second language, an obvious need, be the one with the most economic and cultural muscle, even if it is unsuitable for the task, or the best candidate available? (Steele, 1990, ¶ 3).

Others would argue that we really don't have the choice, so that the question of whether English should be the world's common second language is irrelevant. English is, and will probably continue to be for quite some time, the world's common second language. According to Mankiw (1998), a language's pervasiveness is an example of what economic theorists call a "network". Mankiw argues that, in a network, the benefit that a person receives from using any given language depends on the number of other people using that same language. Mankiw gives other examples of networks such as the telephone (more individuals having a phone means more people can reach any given telephone user), and the VCR, which caused the VHS format to win out, and also caused the propagation of movies in this format (Mankiw, 1998, ¶ 2). Today we could apply this network principle to DVD technology, or various data formats such as pdf, doc, mpg, avi, or mp3. We could also apply network theory to explain why Microsoft Windows is currently the most ubiquitous computer operational system around the world. Mankiw says that networks are most interesting “because they don't really work in the standard model of how markets work.” Market economists usually promote free markets based on the premise that “people left to their own devices will typically achieve an outcome that is good for society as a whole - the vaunted invisible hand" (Mankiw, 1998, ¶ 3). However, in the case of networks, the above premise often does not seem to work correctly. As Mankiw writes,

It is easy to imagine that people might get stuck with a bad network that once established is hard to replace. Parents deciding what language to teach their children, for instance, don't really have much choice. How else can we explain why the Japanese keep speaking Japanese when less complicated languages are available, or why we aren't all speaking Esperanto - the "ideal" language that was supposed to become the world language? (Mankiw, 1998, ¶ 4).

It seems quite likely that we don't really have a choice, even if, as Steele argues, "quasi-eternal structures" can quickly disintegrate. This idea that networks are very hard to replace once established, seems true, and it does not seem likely that any language will suddenly replace English as the world's preferred second language. Further, languages as networks have some fundamental disparities from something like a video or software format, which can more easily be replaced by technological advancement. Even banning a language - such as we observed the Russian Tsarist government doing to the Polish language - does not mean the language will cease being used by an entire population of native speakers. After all, the Polish language is alive and well with at least 40 million speakers today.

Most likely, Esperanto will never become the world's common second language, and it will probably never achieve Zamenhof's original dream of becoming a global, bias-free language to eliminate culture clashes and wars. In fact, Cox quotes Miko Sloper, director of the Esperanto League for North America, who says, "history has proven that the original assumptions and intentions of Esperanto were rather naive" (Cox, 1999, ¶ 4). However, the World Congress of Esperanto will most likely continue to be held each year, as it has for over a century, and the language will probably continue to be used by Esperanto enthusiasts living all around the world.

Terms & Concepts

Esperanto: A constructed language created by L. L. Zamenhof, Esperanto is the most widely spoken international auxiliary language. Zamenhof used the pseudonym, Doktoro Esperanto, to write his first book on Esperanto.

Esperanto League for North America: (ELNA) is the main organization of speakers and supporters of Esperanto in the United States. The organization has recently changed its name to Esperanto-USA or E-USA. Among other reasons, the change was made because it is a national and not a continental organization, despite the "North America" that was in its original name.

Freinet School Movement: is the predecessor of what evolved into the Modern School Movement (MSM), founded in 1924 by French educator Celestin Freinet (1896-1966). His pedagogical methods are widely known throughout Europe, but little known to English-speaking educators. A fundamental aspect of the movement is to cultivate interscholastic correspondence exchanges between MSM schools, including matching classes and forming sister class "clusters," and pairing students for individual correspondence. Esperanto has been used for these purposes.

Romance Languages: Essentially, the romance language group is comprised of all the languages that descend from Latin. Romance languages include Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Catalan, among others.

World Congress of Esperanto: (in Esperanto: Universala Kongreso de Esperanto) has held international Esperanto conventions and Congresses since 1905 every year, except during World Wars I and II.

World Esperanto Association: (in Esperanto UEA: Universala Esperanto-Asocio) is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers. As of 2000, there were members in 119 countries. In addition to individual members, 95 national Esperanto organizations are affiliated to UEA.

Bibliography

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Cox, A. (1999). Not drowning, but waning. Mother Jones; 24 : 73. Retrieved December 22, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1458728&site=ehost-live

Everingham, D. (1990). Esperanto, English or -- Inglo? Social Alternatives; 9 : 52-53. Retrieved December 24, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9609260066&site=ehost-live

Fettes, M. (2000). Esperanto. Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching & Learning; 200-203. Retrieved December 23, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=17365666&site=ehost-live

Fiedler, S. (2012). The Esperanto denaskulo: The status of the native speaker of Esperanto within and beyond the planned language community. Language Problems & Language Planning, 36, 69-84. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=76140714&site=ehost-live

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Goro Christoph, K. (2012). Esperanto and minority languages: A sociolinguistic comparison. Language Problems & Language Planning, 36, 167-181. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=78191578&site=ehost-live

Lawrence, L. (1998). Forget French-- Latin, Klingon, and Esperanto are all the rage. Christian Science Monitor; 90 : B8. Retrieved December 22, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=615923&site=ehost-live

Littlewood, K. (2007). Ludwik Zamenhof: a colleague of rare distinction. Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology; 35 : 281-283. Retrieved December 22, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24595116&site=ehost-live

Mankiw, G. (1998). Why we don't speak Esperanto. Fortune; 138 : 54-58. Retrieved December 22, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1116575&site=ehost-live

Rapley, I. (2013). When global and local culture meet. Language Problems & Language Planning, 37, 179-196. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=92859209&site=ehost-live

Sixth graders study Esperanto during lunch break. (1992). Curriculum Review; 31 : 10. Retrieved December 24, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9706191726&site=ehost-live

Steele, T. (1990). A Reply by Trevor Steele. Social Alternatives; 9 : 53. Retrieved December 24, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9609260067&site=ehost-live

What in the World? (1996). Geographical; 68 : 66. Retrieved December 22, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9611212871&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading

Archibugi, D. (2005). The Language of democracy: Vernacular or Esperanto? A comparison between the multiculturalist and cosmopolitan perspectives. Political Studies; 53 : 537-555. Retrieved December 23, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=18301530&site=ehost-live

Fettes, M. (2000). Planned languages. Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching & Learning; p. 464-465. Retrieved December 24, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=17365775&site=ehost-live

Gnutzmann, C. (2000). Lingua franca. Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching & Learning, 356-359. Retrieved December 23, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=17365737&site=ehost-live

Ullman, P. (1980). Schizoschematic rhyme in Esperanto. Papers on Language & Literature; 16 : 430. Retrieved December 22, 2007 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=7731350&site=ehost-live