|
| |
"wikitable" style="margin: 0 auto"
|
| |
"wikitable" style="margin: 0 auto text-align:center"
|
| Adjective | Subject | Object |
|---|
| Singular | - | -'''an''' |
|---|
| Plural | - | -'''ajn''' |
|---|
|
The six verb
Inflection s are three tenses and three moods. They are
Present Tense ''-as'',
Future Tense ''-os'',
Past Tense ''-is'',
Infinitive Mood ''-i'',
Conditional Mood ''-us'', and
Jussive Mood ''-u''. Verbs are not marked for person or number. For instance: ''kanti'' - to sing; ''mi kantas'' - I sing; ''mi kantis'' - I sang; ''mi kantos'' - I will sing.
Word order is comparatively free: adjectives may precede or follow nouns, and subjects, verbs and objects (marked by the suffix ''-n'') can occur in any order. However, the
Article ''la'' (the) and the
Demonstrative s almost always come before the noun, and a
Preposition ''must'' come before it. Similarly, the negative ''ne'' (not) and
Conjunction s such as ''kaj'' (both, and) and ''ke'' (that) must precede the
Phrase or
Clause they introduce. In
Copula r (A = B) clauses, word order is just as important as it is in English clauses like ''people are dogs'' vs. ''dogs are people''.
See the lists of at Wiktionary , the free dictionary and Wikipedia's sibling project.
The core vocabulary of Esperanto was defined by ''Lingvo internacia'', published by Zamenhof in 1887. It comprised 900 roots, which could be expanded into the tens of thousands of words with prefixes, suffixes, and compounding. In 1894, Zamenhof published the first Esperanto
Dictionary , ''Universala Vortaro'', with a larger set of roots. However, the rules of the language allowed speakers to borrow new roots as needed, recommending only that they look for the most international forms, and then derive related meanings from these.
Since then, many words have been borrowed, primarily but not solely from the western European languages. Not all proposed borrowings catch on, but many do, especially
Technical and
Scientific terms. Terms for everyday use, on the other hand, are more likely to be derived from existing roots—for example ''komputilo'' (a computer) from ''komputi'' (to compute) plus the suffix ''-ilo'' (tool)—or to be covered by extending the meanings of existing words (for example ''muso'' (a mouse), now also means a computer input device, as in English). There are frequent debates among Esperanto speakers about whether a particular borrowing is justified or whether the need can be met by deriving from or extending the meaning of existing words.
In addition to the root words and the rules for combining them, a learner of Esperanto must learn some idiomatic compounds that are not entirely straightforward. For example, ''eldoni'', literally "to give out", is used for "to publish" (a
Calque of words in several European languages with the same derivation), and ''vortaro'', literally "a collection of words", means "a glossary" or "a dictionary". Such forms are modeled after usage in the ethnic European languages, and speakers of other languages may find them illogical. Fossilized derivations inherited from Esperanto's source languages may be similarly obscure, such as the opaque connection the root word ''centralo'' "power station" has with ''centro'' "center". Compounds with ''-um-'' are overtly arbitrary, and must be learned individually, as ''-um-'' has no defined meaning. It turns ''dekstren'' "to the right" into ''dekstrumen'' "clockwise", and ''komuna'' "common/shared" into ''komunumo'' "community", for example.
Nevertheless, there are not nearly as many truly idiomatic or
Slang words in Esperanto as in ethnic languages, as these tend to make international communication difficult, working against Esperanto's main goal.
Esperanto is written with a modified version of the ,
ĝ ,
ĥ ,
ĵ ,
ŝ and
ŭ (that is, ''c, g, h, j, s''
Circumflex , and ''u''
Breve ). The alphabet does not include the letters ''q, w, x, y'' except in unassimilated foreign names.
The 28-letter alphabet is:
All letters are pronounced approximately as their
Lower-case equivalents in the
IPA , with the exception of ''c'' and the accented letters:
Two
ASCII -compatible writing conventions are in use. These substitute
Digraph s for the accented letters. The original "h-convention" (''ch, gh, hh, jh, sh, u'') is based on English 'ch' and 'sh', while a more recent "x-convention" (''cx, gx, hx, jx, sx, ux'') is useful for alphabetic word sorting on a
Computer (''cx'' comes correctly after ''cu'', ''sx'' after ''sv'', etc.) as well as for simple conversion back into the standard
Orthography .
Esperanto has been a 'clear' language for
Morse Code communication since the 1920s, and
Code s exist for all accented Esperanto characters.
Here are some useful Esperanto phrases, with IPA transcriptions:
- Hello: ''Saluton''
- What is your name?:
::''Kiel vi nomiĝas?''
::''Kio estas via nomo?''
- My name is ... :
::''Mi nomiĝas ...''
::''Mia nomo estas ...''
- How much?: ''Kiom?''
- Here you are: ''Jen''
- Do you speak Esperanto?: ''Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton?''
- I don't understand you: ''Mi ne komprenas vin''
- I like this one:
:: ''Mi ŝatas tiun ĉi''
:: ''Ĉi tiu plaĉas al mi''
- Thank you: ''Dankon''
- You're welcome: ''Ne dankinde''
- Please: ''Bonvolu''
- Here's to your health: ''Je via sano''
- Bless you!/Gesundheit!: ''Sanon!''
- Okay: ''Bone''
- It is a nice day: ''Estas bela tago''
- I love you: ''Mi amas vin''
- Goodbye:
::''Ĝis (la) revido''
:: ''Ĝis (la)!''
Esperanto speakers are more numerous in Europe and East , Japan, and
Iran within Asia; in
Brazil ,
Argentina , and
Mexico in the Americas; and in
Togo and
Madagascar in Africa.
An estimate of the number of Esperanto speakers was made by
Sidney S. Culbert , a
Retired Psychology Professor of the
University Of Washington and a longtime Esperantist, who tracked down and tested Esperanto speakers in sample areas of dozens of countries over a period of twenty years. Culbert concluded that between one and two million people speak Esperanto at
Foreign Service Level 3 , "professionally proficient" (able to communicate moderately complex ideas without hesitation, and to follow speeches, radio broadcasts, etc.) (
Wolff 1996 ). Culbert's estimate was not made for Esperanto alone, but formed part of his listing of estimates for all languages of over 1 million speakers, published annually in the
World Almanac And Book Of Facts . Culbert's most detailed account of his methodology is found in a
1989 letter to David Wolff . Since Culbert never published detailed intermediate results for particular countries and regions, it is difficult to independently gauge the accuracy of his results.
In the Almanac, his estimates for numbers of language speakers were rounded to the nearest million, thus the number for Esperanto speakers is shown as 2 million. This latter figure appears in ''
Ethnologue ''. Assuming that this figure is accurate, that means that about 0.03% of the world's population speaks the language. This falls short of Zamenhof's goal of a
Universal Language , but it represents a level of popularity unmatched by any other constructed language. Ethnologue also states that there are 200 to 2000
Native Esperanto Speakers (''denaskuloj''), who have learned the language from birth from their Esperanto-speaking parents (this happens when Esperanto is the family language in an international family or sometimes in a family of devoted Esperantists).
Marcus Sikosek has challenged this figure of 1.6 million as exaggerated. Sikosek estimated that even if Esperanto speakers were evenly distributed, assuming one million Esperanto speakers worldwide would lead one to expect about 180 in the city of
Cologne . Sikosek finds only 30
Fluent speakers in that city, and similarly smaller than expected figures in several other places thought to have a larger-than-average concentration of Esperanto speakers. He also notes that there are a total of about 20,000 members of the various Esperanto organizations (other estimates are higher). Though there are undoubtedly many Esperanto speakers who are not members of any Esperanto organization, he thinks it unlikely that there are fifty times more speakers than organization members . Others think such a
Ratio between members of the organized Esperanto movement and speakers of the language is not unlikely.
The
1996 . to show the overall proportions of language capabilities within the Esperanto community:
- ''1,000 have Esperanto as their native language
- ''10,000 speak it fluently
- ''100,000 can use it actively
- ''1,000,000 understand a large amount passively
- ''10,000,000 have studied it to some extent at some time.''
In the absence of Dr. Culbert's detailed sampling data, or any other census data, it is impossible to state the number of speakers with certainty. Few observers, probably, would challenge the following statement from the
Website of the
World Esperanto Association :
:Numbers of
Textbook s sold and membership of local societies put the number of people with some knowledge of the language in the hundreds of thousands and possibly millions.
{Link without Title}
Esperanto is often used to access an international
Culture , including a large corpus of original as well as translated
Literature . There are over 25,000 Esperanto books (originals and translations) as well as over a hundred regularly distributed
Esperanto Magazine s. Many Esperanto speakers use the language for free travel throughout the world using the
Pasporta Servo . Others like the idea of having
Pen Pal s in many countries around the world using services like the
Esperanto Pen Pal Service . Every year, 1500-3000 Esperanto speakers meet for the ''
World Congress Of Esperanto '' ''(Universala Kongreso de Esperanto)''.
Historically most of the
Music published in Esperanto has been in various folk traditions; in recent decades more rock and other modern genres has appeared.
To some extent there are also shared
Tradition s, like the
Zamenhof Day , and shared
Behaviour patterns, like avoiding the usage of one's national language at Esperanto meetings unless there is good reasons for its use.
Two
Film s were produced with
Dialogue entirely in Esperanto. The films were ''
Angoroj '' in 1964 and ''
Incubus '' starring
William Shatner in 1965. The futuristic film
Gattaca uses Esperanto to deliver announcements over public address systems.
It is frequently criticized that "Esperanto has no culture". However, Esperanto is intentionally culturally neutral: It was intended to be a facilitator ''between'' cultures, not the carrier of any one culture. (See ''
Esperanto As An International Language ''.)
Zamenhof's intention was to create an easy-to-learn language to foster international understanding. It was to serve as an international auxiliary language, that is, as a universal second language, not to replace ethnic languages. This goal was widely shared among Esperanto speakers in the early decades of the movement. Later, Esperanto speakers began to see the language and the culture that had grown up around it as ends in themselves, even if Esperanto is never adopted by the United Nations or other international organizations.
Those Esperanto speakers who want to see Esperanto adopted officially or on a large scale worldwide are commonly called ''finvenkistoj'', from ''fina venko'', meaning "final victory". Those who focus on the intrinsic value of the language are commonly called ''raŭmistoj'', from
Rauma ,
Finland , where a declaration on the near-term unlikelihood of the "fina venko" and the value of Esperanto culture was made at the International Youth Congress in 1980. These categories are, however, not mutually exclusive. (''See
Finvenkismo '')
The
Prague Manifesto (1996) presents the views of the mainstream of the esperanto movement and of its main organisation, the World Esperanto Association (
UEA ).
Relatively few
School s teach Esperanto officially outside of
China ,
Hungary , and
Bulgaria ; the majority of Esperanto speakers continue to learn the language through self-directed study or correspondence courses. Several Esperanto paper correspondence courses were early on adapted to
E-mail and taught by corps of volunteer instructors. In more recent years, teaching websites like ''
Lernu! '' have become popular. Various educators have estimated that Esperanto can be learned in anywhere from one quarter to one twentieth the amount of time required for other languages.
Some argue, however, that this is only true for native speakers of Western European languages.[http://www.rickharrison.com/language/bloated.html
Claude Piron , a psychologist formerly at the
University Of Geneva and Chinese-English-Russian-Spanish translator for the United Nations, argued that it is easier to think clearly in Esperanto than in many ethnic languages (see
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis for an explanation on this theory). "Esperanto relies entirely on innate reflexes
differs from all other languages in that you can always trust your natural tendency to generalize patterns. [... The same
Neuropsychological law
called by Jean Piaget ''generalizing assimilation'' — applies to word formation as well as to grammar." Piron, Claude:
"The hidden perverse effect of the current system of international communication" , published lecture notes
Several students studied Esperanto for one
Year , then French for three years, and ended up with a significantly better command of French than a control group, who studied French for all four years. Similar results were found when the second language was
Japanese , or when the course of study was reduced to two years, of which six
Month s was spent learning Esperanto. ''See
Propaedeutic Value Of Esperanto for other relevant studies.''
Common criticisms of the language are that its vocabulary and grammar are too Western European; that its vocabulary, accented letters, and grammar are not Western European enough (a critique addressed by
Ido and
Interlingua ); that it is
Sexist , artificial, or has failed to live up to expectations.
Though Esperanto itself has changed relatively little since the publication of the ''
Fundamento De Esperanto '' ("Foundation of Esperanto"), a number of reform projects have been proposed over the years, starting with
Zamenhof's Proposals In 1894 and
Ido in 1907. Several later constructed languages, such as
Fasile , were based on Esperanto.
Adolf Hitler wrote in
Mein Kampf that he saw a universal language as a possible tool for Jewish world domination and quoted Esperanto as an example of such languages:
As long as the Jew has not become the master of the other peoples, he must speak their languages whether he likes it or not, but as soon as they became his slaves, they would all have to learn a universal language (Esperanto, for instance!), so that by this additional means the Jews could more easily dominate them!
Esperanto has been used in a number of films and novels. Typically, this is done either to add the exoticness of a foreign language without representing any particular ethnicity, or to avoid going to the trouble of inventing a new language. In
Science Fiction , Esperanto is often used to represent a future in which there is a more universally spoken language than exists today. One example of this is the
Riverworld series by
Philip José Farmer .
- ''Ludovikologia dokumentaro I'' Tokyo: Ludovikito, 1991. Facsimile reprints of the ''Unua Libro'' in Russian, Polish, French, German, English and Swedish, with the earliest Esperanto dictionaries for those languages.
- Fundamento de Esperanto . HTML reprint of 1905 ''Fundamento'', from the Academy of Esperanto.
- Auld, William. ''La Fenomeno Esperanto'' ("The Esperanto Phenomenon"). Rotterdam: Universala Esperanto-Asocio, 1988.
- Butler, Montagu C. ''Step by Step in Esperanto''. ELNA 1965/1991. ISBN 0939785013
- Culbert, Sidney S. Three letters about his methodology for estimating the number of Esperanto speakers , scanned and HTMLized by David Wolff.
- DeSoto, Clinton (1936). ''200 Meters and Down''. West Hartford, Connecticut, USA: American Radio Relay League , p. 92.
- Everson, Michael. The Alphabets of Europe: Esperanto {PDF} . Evertype, 2001.
- Harlow, Don. The Esperanto Book . Self-published on the web (1995-96).
- Wells, John . ''Lingvistikaj aspektoj de Esperanto'' ("Linguistic aspects of Esperanto"). Second edition. Rotterdam: Universala Esperanto-Asocio, 1989.
;Information on Esperanto
;Dictionaries
; Automatic translation from english and other national languages.
;Esperanto courses
;Esperanto organizations
;News in Esperanto
;Portal
;Entertainment
;Criticism
