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Esperanto: the International Language of Humor; Or, S What's Funny About Esperantot' Tr2-'

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Esperanto: the International Language of Humor; Or, S What's Funny About Esperantot' Tr2-' j Esperanto: the international language of humor; or, s What's funnY about EsPerantoT' tr2-'.. DAVID K. JORDAN '-tL1{. Abstuct Tltis urticlc distingui.rlrcs four types of joking: languuge-free ' language' is discussed tlcpctttlcttt, culturc-dcpctrclenl, tud interlanguagc' Euch of tlrcse conurtuttity Dsperatrto, slrcssittg ccrt-9j4!911tyres of thc-EsperattlQ speeclt -for TIrcse are ( I ) that le nd euch of tlcm qiloiity i,r Espnranto. features ^UiiL pcople who tlnr EspcratrTo f, uorrroi,lty isett (or is intentlcdfor use) between itr do nol slurre a contnlon langwtgc and therefore have some differcnces language cultural backgrotucl as well; (2) that Esperanto is an ogglutinative of language' witlr certaitt inlte rettt linguistic possihititie s for llrc constuclion its owtt tlepctulcnt joke.r; (3) that Espcrarrto has-3Ly9j2!e4,c1tltuye-of qre entirely spieeclr comnunity: and (4) tlwr few tpiafrrs of Esperanto jUrnr, and all arc al lcasl asfuettt irt one or more olher languages' Bricf history of EsPeranto Thcautlroro[EspcrantowasoneL.L'Zamenhof(1859-1917),aPolish who had bccn optomctrist (cxccpt thirt Poland was Russia in thosc days)' posscsscd from childhood with thc i<Ica of an intcrnational auxiliary on various languagc. Hc spcnt much o[ his boyhood and youth working u".rio,rs of what was to becomc Espcranto'2 When it appearcd in "o.iy of grammar'', a 1887 in a small pamplr|et, Espcranto consistcd of l6..rulcs of a bricf vocabulary list, and a fcw cxatnples,r but it had had the benefit gooctdcatoIdcvotcdcffortonthcpartofitscreatortomakcitaIitcrary [orms l,,nguog".o Zanrcnlrofs tcst to himsclf was to translatc into various o[ proto-Espcranto works by Goethc, Shakcspcarc' Hans Christian as the Anclcrscn, and othcrs. If thc translation did not scem as compelling 7 I l-0 I 43 $2.00 Hunor l-2 (1988), l4-1-157. 0933-l 9/88/000 @ Mouton dc GruYtcr, Bcrlin l4/hot's funny oboul E.speranto? I45 i44 D. K. Jordau "languagc- yct' As a rcsult' thc simplc "larrguagc-dcpcndcnt" to contrast with our earlicr catcgory of original, hc figured Espcranto was not finishcd frcc. " lggT was actuaily the tip of a vcry considcrabrc linguistic brocrrure or- typc of humor, onc which depends upon is thc only manrnadc languagc that Tlrcrc is, as wcll, a third icebcrg. Not surprisingly, Esperanto jokestcr. spcakcrss and a sharing thc culturc, rathcr than tlrc languagc, of thc It may bc has actually dcvelopci :r substantial community o[ knowlcdgc' it is thc only languagc-dcpcndcnt, but morc importantly it is culture-dcpcndcnt. An considcrablc literaturc.6 And, to the bcst of our jokcs'7 cxamplc would bc allusions to local cvents, particular pcoplc, and so on. A artificial languagc rcgularly uscd to makc rcccnt evcnt in Amcrican politics was refcrrcd to by telcvision humorist Mark Russell as "Cippcrgate," an cxprcssion that makcs sense only to A nrcricans. of humor Thrcc kinds Finally, a fourth typc of humor occurs through thc interaction o[ works itl Esper:urto with othcr languagcs. This is common enough but occurs in For prcsent purposes' I shall bc concerncd with publishcd For anothcr' the most languagc-lcarning situations and is not of much thcorctical intcrcst. Esp"ianto. For onc thing, thcse are casier to cxaminc' of Espcrantists mcans that writing, in worldwidc but vcry tlrin distribution i Espcranto tlran in cthnic comparison with spcaking, is lnore important in Constraints on humor in Espcranto languagcs. kind is bascd on tltc I shall distinguislr thrce kinds of humor. The first to So wlrat happcns in Espcranto? Tlrc answcr is that all thrcc types of vcrbal thc joke and may rcadily be translatcd from onc languagc contcnt of particular flavor. I shall arguc hcrc of onc language find such a joke clowning cxist, and all havc thcir own another. It may be that the spcakers joking as far as that thrcc significant facts about Espcranto providc constraints on funnicr than the speakcrs of another language' but' at lcast this tltc in tlrat languagc that arc normally not as signilicant clscwhcrc. is conccrncd, suctr a jokc is translatablc' l shall call languagc Thc first is that Espcranto is dcsigncd for usc across language- "languagc-l"rsg" jokc. community boundarics, which almost by dcfinition arc also cultural Thcsccondsortofjokcmakesuseofthelinguisticrcsourccsoftlrc boundarics. Constant attcntiou must thcrcforc bc paid to the translat- languagcinwhichitistold,andisvcryc|ifl"iculttorcrrdcrintoarrotlrcr this sccond sort of ability of thc cultural cotttcxt of thc jokc. : tunguog". Puns and ncar puns are a good cxamplc of all languages' but Sccond, nrost speakcrs of Espcranto speak. it as a sccond languagc, vcrbal clowning. Punning probably exists in atl or ncarly (A collcaguc usually quitc impcrfcctly.s This mcans that many scc a frcshncss in rather any givcn pun is dcpcndcnt upon a particular languagc' That is simple jcsts that would secnt hackneycd in othcr languagcs, but that many of writing articlcs on a "word possessor"' [or cxamplc' spcaks of thcm also fail to apprcciatc somc attempts at humor bccause thcy do distinctlyurl|unnywhcntrans|atedintoalanguagcinwhich..proccssor'' bascd not undcrstand them, At thc samc timc, therc is a considcrable rangc of "posscssor" arc unrclatcd') But therc arc othcr linguistically and nrastcry of Espcranto, and thosc who know it wcll somctimcs enjoy jokcs as wcll; for examplc, thc following: of sounds involutcd linguistic byplay sirnply bccausc it is involutcd and thus turns of phrase thaf produce onotnatopocic combinations l. dcmonstratcs mastcry of the languagc. Although thcre is probably sonrc "giggly wiggly children"); (such as pcople speaking any languagc, as Archic Bunker's won- of this motivatiott among vcrbally oricnted 2. cxprcssions that allude to provcrbs (such it sccnrs to mc to bc particularly promincnt in Esperanto, whcre the range provcrb, "One man's goosc is another man's gandcr"); dcrful of adult lnastcry is so vcry widc. that oildly concatenatc lcvcls of politencss or fornlality 3. cxprcssions Third, thc cornmunity of Esperanto-spcaking pcoplc sharcs ccrtain "Could you bc so kind as to cranl it?"); (such ai, which outsidcrs do not sharc, just as docs any group of 4.cxprcssionsthatmakeneworunusua|uscofrulcsofmorpltologyor "xpcricnccs communicating people. Thcsc cxpcricnccs can bccomc thc subjcct mattcr as speaking of spouses as "spicc")' syntax (such jokcs just as jokes togcther undcr thc titlc ofjoking, providing in-culturc as nativc to Esperanto All of thcse typcs of verbal play can bc lumpcd What's funny ubout EsPeranto? 141 146 D. K. Jordatr jokes Ma Bcll arc nativc to a nrultinational audicncc, and what some audienccs find amusing is simply about the Kncsset are native to Israel or about dull to othcrs. Japanesc Espcrantists in particular olten complain about Americans. inrpcrfcct nrastcry by allusions to classical mythology, lragrncnts of schoolboy Latin, and thc A|l threc oI thesc constraints _ intercultural usc, amou.nt of indigcnous likc in Wcstcrn Esperanto writing.r2 many speakers, and the dcvclopmcnt of a ccrtain Esperantocu|ture_mustbckcptinmindasldiscussthelanguage-frec, kinds of language-dcpendent, culture-dependcnt, and intcrtanguagc tlumor typc II: languagc-dcpendcnt humor vcrbal play. Morc inLercsting in many ways are languagc-depcndent typcs of humor. docs a scndup of Humor tyPe I: language-free humor Flcrc again satirc rcars its hcad, as onc writer or spcakcr anothcr, bascd on idiosyncratic traits of style.r3 But othcr possibilitics jokcster,e facctious "ancc- Zamenhol himself was not much of a but havc also bccn cxploitcd.ra an carly dotes," olten translated, make up one 3O-page section of compcndiumoIEspcrantotextsbyvariouswritcrsthatZamcnhofeditcd toserveasamode|ofgoodEsperantosty|e(Zamcnhofl903:scction3). Puns t ltrough resegrttenlat iott Manyofthesesccmtoustodayespcciallytorcflcctthcethoso[castcrn Europc at the end of thc last ccntury' Here is an example: Ask any rcasonably educatcd Espcrantist who is a funny writer and the namc that immcdiatcly comcs to thc forc is that of Raymond Schwartz. Iundcrstand,saidsomconc,thattheycanmakeinstrumcntsandcxplorctlrcstars who cdited a humor scientists know the Schwartz (1894-1973), a French bank director plancts with them; thii is managcablc' But how do the and magazinc from 1933, was foundcr and manager of the lamous litcrary nrt.ofeachstar?Thislhavcnevcrbccnablctoundcrstand!(1903:64)' c:rbarct, thc "Grecn Cat" in Paris,l5 and contributed to a major column Amanvisitcdabarbcrtohaveahaircutandashave.Ashcsatinthebarbcrchair, Espcranto magazinc of thc intcr-War pcriod a regular humor at him cspccially intcntly' Hc he noticcd that thc barbcr's dog was sitting looking callcd // Mia Rittpunkto (From my point of taugh). His enthusiasm for "Ycstcrday I cut ofr a man's car, rcmarkcd on this to the barbcr] who cxptaincd, wordplay is reflccted in the namcs of somc of his works, such as Kutr hoping I will do it again"' and he is Siuspeca S2ico,'With its own kind of spice'(l97la), or Vole ... Novele, morc sophisticatcd 'Wiltingly in novcllc' (l97lb) (an unexpcctcd rcformation of the cx- Esperanto literature has, of course, produccd much such writer was Siindor prcssion vole nevole, 'willy nilly'). worlS.s of languagc-frce humor, howcvcr' One is dcsigned as a Schwartz was master of tfie mis-scgmcntation of Espcranto words to Szathmiri(1897-1974), whose Voyage to Kazohinia(1958) swil'tlikc producc surprising puns. This dcvicc is central to much language- scqucl to Swi[f's Gulliver's Travels.to writtcn in surprisingly a |and where tlcpcndcnt Espcranto humor, and it is wcll to takc a look at it. That prose, thc book pursues Gu|liver as hc visits Kazohinia, bannot put up with involvcs a bricf cxcursus on how Espcranto words arc built. everything is annoyingly rational' When he decides hc Beohins' who arc Espcranto words are usually madc up of roots plus suflixes that modify all this rationality ony *o,", he flees to the land of the thcm, plus grammatical endings. For example, lileraluro mcans 'lite- cntirelyirrational,r"hi"hi,justasmaddening'Anothcrsatiricalnovclis Thc salcsman' Cesare Rossctti' raturc'. Thc -o on thc cnd of it is common to all Esperanto nouns.
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