Esperanto Studies: an Overview
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Introduction: in Search of Esperanto
Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 13(2), 182-192, 2015 INTRODUCTION: IN SEARCH OF ESPERANTO Humphrey Tonkin* University of Hartford West Hartford, USA DOI: 10.7906/indecs.13.2.12 Regular article ABSTRACT After almost one hundred years of continuous use, Esperanto has achieved the status and character of a fully-fledged language, functioning much as any other language does. Research on Esperanto is hampered because knowledge of the subject is often regarded, ipso facto, as evidence of a lack of objectivity, and also because Esperanto, as largely an L2, is elusive, and its speakers hard to quantify. The problem is compounded by the rapid shift in its community from membership-based organizations to decentralized, informal web-based communication. Also shifting are the community’s ideological underpinnings: it began as a response to lack of communication across languages but is now often perceived by its users as an alternative, more equitable means of communication than the increasingly ubiquitous English. Underlying these changes is a flourishing cultural base, including an extensive literature and periodical press. There is a need for more research – linguistic, sociolinguistic, and in the history of ideas. In intellectual history, Esperanto and related ideas have played a larger role than is generally recognized, intersecting with, and influencing, such movements as modernization in Japan, the development of international organizations, socialism in many parts of the world, and, in our own day, machine translation. KEY WORDS Esperanto, Esperanto community, interlinguistic research, language ideology CLASSIFICATION JEL: O20 *Corresponding author, : [email protected]; +1 860 768 4448; *Mortensen Library, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT 06117, USA Introduction: in search of Esperanto INTRODUCTION In an influential essay some years ago, the late Richard Wood described Esperanto as “a voluntary, non-ethnic, non-territorial speech community” [1]. -
In Search of Esperanto
Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 13(2), 182-192, 2015 INTRODUCTION: IN SEARCH OF ESPERANTO Humphrey Tonkin* University of Hartford West Hartford, USA DOI: 10.7906/indecs.13.2.12 Regular article ABSTRACT After almost one hundred years of continuous use, Esperanto has achieved the status and character of a fully-fledged language, functioning much as any other language does. Research on Esperanto is hampered because knowledge of the subject is often regarded, ipso facto, as evidence of a lack of objectivity, and also because Esperanto, as largely an L2, is elusive, and its speakers hard to quantify. The problem is compounded by the rapid shift in its community from membership-based organizations to decentralized, informal web-based communication. Also shifting are the community’s ideological underpinnings: it began as a response to lack of communication across languages but is now often perceived by its users as an alternative, more equitable means of communication than the increasingly ubiquitous English. Underlying these changes is a flourishing cultural base, including an extensive literature and periodical press. There is a need for more research – linguistic, sociolinguistic, and in the history of ideas. In intellectual history, Esperanto and related ideas have played a larger role than is generally recognized, intersecting with, and influencing, such movements as modernization in Japan, the development of international organizations, socialism in many parts of the world, and, in our own day, machine translation. KEY WORDS Esperanto, Esperanto community, interlinguistic research, language ideology CLASSIFICATION JEL: O20 *Corresponding author, : [email protected]; +1 860 768 4448; *Mortensen Library, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT 06117, USA Introduction: in search of Esperanto INTRODUCTION In an influential essay some years ago, the late Richard Wood described Esperanto as “a voluntary, non-ethnic, non-territorial speech community” [1]. -
Esperanto Phraseology
Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 13(2), 250-263, 2015 ESPERANTO PHRASEOLOGY Sabine Fiedler* University of Leipzig Leipzig, Germany DOI: 10.7906/indecs.13.2.5 Received: 22 April 2014. Regular article Accepted: 9 June 2014. ABSTRACT The contribution deals with the phrasicon of Esperanto, i.e. the inventory of idioms, phrases, proverbs, catchphrases and other items of pre-fabricated speech that are stored in speakers’ mental lexicon. On the basis of origins, Esperanto phraseology can be classified into three groups: First, many phraseological units have entered the language through various other languages. This group includes classical loan translations especially from the Bible as well as ad-hoc loans introduced by speakers from their mother tongues more or less spontaneously. Secondly, there is a group of planned, i.e. consciously created, phraseological units. They mainly go back to Zamenhof, the initiator of the language, who published an Esperanto Proverb Collection (Proverbaro Esperanta) in 1910. Thirdly, there are phraseological units which have their origin in the language and the cultural life of the speech community. The paper will show that the planned language Esperanto, with its agglutinative character, free word order and flexible word formation, possesses the prerequisites for creating stylistically appealing and catchy phraseological units. An analysis of literary and journalistic texts as well as oral communication in Esperanto reveals that its phraseology is widely used and that authors like to modify phrases and idioms according to the textual situation. The use of phraseological units proves that Esperanto is a living language. Phraseology can be considered a criterion for assessing the successful development of the planned language system from a project to a full-fledged language. -
Esperanto, Civility, and the Politics of Fellowship: A
ESPERANTO, CIVILITY, AND THE POLITICS OF FELLOWSHIP: A COSMOPOLITAN MOVEMENT FROM THE EASTERN EUROPEAN PERIPHERY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Ana Velitchkova Omar Lizardo, Director Graduate Program in Peace Studies and Sociology Notre Dame, Indiana July 2014 © Copyright by ANA MILENOVA VELITCHKOVA 2014 All rights reserved ESPERANTO, CIVILITY, AND THE POLITICS OF FELLOWSHIP: A COSMOPOLITAN MOVEMENT FROM THE EASTERN EUROPEAN PERIPHERY Abstract by Ana Velitchkova This dissertation examines global, regional, state-, group-, and person-level processes involved in the growth of the movement formed around the constructed international language Esperanto. The Esperanto movement emerged in the global arena in the late nineteenth century as a response to inequalities in the nation-state field. In the course of several decades, the movement established a new global field based on the logic of equal communication through Esperanto and on the accumulation of cultural capital. While the field gained autonomy from the nation-state field, it has not been recognized as its equal. Persons endowed with cultural capital but lacking political and economic capital have been particularly drawn to Esperanto. Ironically, while attempting to overcome established unfair distinctions based on differential accumulation of political and economic capital, the Esperanto movement creates and maintains new distinctions and inequalities based on cultural capital accumulation. Ana Velitchkova At the regional level, the Esperanto movement became prominent in state- socialist Eastern Europe in the second half of the twentieth century. The movement found unexpected allies among independent states in the Eastern European periphery. -
Why Esperanto?
Fiat Lingua Title: The Contemporary Esperanto Speech Community Author: Adelina Solis MS Date: 01-12-2013 FL Date: 01-01-2013 FL Number: FL-000010-01 Citation: Solis, Adelina. 2013. “The Contemporary Esperanto Speech Community.” FL-000010-01, Fiat Lingua, <http:// fiatlingua.org>. Web. 01 Jan. 2013. Copyright: © 2013 Adelina Solis. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Fiat Lingua is produced and maintained by the Language Creation Society (LCS). For more information about the LCS, visit http://www.conlang.org/ The Contemporary Esperanto Speech Community by Adelina Mariflor Solís Montúfar 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 3 1.1 Definitions 4 1.2 Political support for a universal language 5 1.3 A brief history of language invention 9 1.4 A brief history of Esperanto 14 1.5 The construction, structure, and dissemination of Esperanto 17 1.6 Esperanto and the culture question 24 1.7 Research Methods 29 Chapter 2: Who Speaks Esperanto? 34 2.1 Number and distribution of speakers 34 2.2 Gender distribution 47 Chapter 3: The Esperanto Speech Community 58 3.1 Terminology and definitions 58 3.2 Norms and Ideologies 65 3.3 Approach to language 70 Chapter 4: Why Esperanto? 81 4.1 Ideology-based reasons to speak Esperanto 83 4.2 Practical attractions to Esperanto 86 4.3 More than friendship 94 4.4 The congress effect 95 4.5 Esperanto for the blind 100 4.6 Unexpected benefits 102 Chapter 5: Esperantist Objectives 103 5.1 Attracting new speakers 103 5.2 Teaching Esperanto 107 Chapter 6: Conclusion 116 Works Cited 121 2 Chapter 1: Introduction When we think about invented languages, we may think of childhood games. -
Language Attitudes Among Esperanto Speakers Varia
146 VARIA / MISCellANEOUS Język. Komunikacja. Informacja Ilona Koutny, Ida Stria (red./ed.) 12/2017: 146–158 Ida Stria Language attitudes among Esperanto speakers Abstrakt (Postawy językowe użytkowników esperanto). Esperanto jest planowym mię- dzynarodowym językiem pomocniczym, skonstruowanym przez L.L. Zamenhofa i wydanym w 1887 r. Mimo że został stworzony, aby ułatwić komunikację międzynarodową, stał się narzędziem samoidentyfikacji. Niniejszy artykuł ma na celu opisanie postaw językowych, które formują się w esperanckiej wspólnocie językowej oraz wykazanie, że te postawy kształtują tę społeczność. Abstract. Esperanto is a planned international auxiliary language, constructed by L.L. Za- menhof and published in 1887. Although created to facilitate international communication, it has become a tool of self-identification. This paper aims to describe language attitudes formed in the Esperanto speech community and to demonstrate that these attitudes shape the community. Introduction Esperanto is an international auxiliary language initiated in 1887. Over the years it has developed into a full-fledged language with a robust speech community (see Blanke 2001; Duličenko 2001; Stria 2015). Esperanto speakers use it not only as a simple mode of intercultural communication; they develop the language and form their identity through it. This paper deals with some aspects of this community, discussing language attitu- des and their consequences for the speakers. It is argued that Esperanto, in the begin- ning meant to serve as a language to ease international communication, is no longer primarily so used. Although Esperanto speakers very often boast knowledge of more than one native and various foreign languages, Esperanto itself is usually not counted among “foreign” languages, but rather as a means of self-identification. -
Hejmfarita Abortigo Virkolbaso Mem-Kanibalado Vigla
1. Kreu PDF de tiu ĉi hejmfarita abortigo virkolbaso dokumento kun po 9 paĝoj sur ĉiu A4-folio. 2. Presu tion sur blanka 200gsm papero. 3. Enplastigu en 2x75μ. 4. Eltranĉu per "reverse wonky rectangle". Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Esperantujo Esperantujo Esperantujo mem-kanibalado vigla mansvingado senflugpovaj birdoj Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Esperantujo Esperantujo Esperantujo fotoj de mamoj fari la ĝustan agon ĉas-akcidentoj Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Esperantujo Esperantujo Esperantujo kartuna kamelo, kiu la malrespekto de la Viagra ĝuas la plaĉan niaj plej bazaj homaj guston de cigaredo rajtoj Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Esperantujo Esperantujo Esperantujo memmalamo muskolegoj honesta policano sen plu io ajn perdebla Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Esperantujo Esperantujo Esperantujo memelektita rifuzo ekvilibra Red Bull matenmanĝo Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Esperantujo Esperantujo Esperantujo kaŝi erekton dormigaj drogoj Renato Corsetti Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Esperantujo Esperantujo Esperantujo Twitter La Praeksplodo amputuloj Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Esperantujo Esperantujo Esperantujo Boris Jelcin Angela Merkel esti ekskludita Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Esperantujo Esperantujo Esperantujo nazmuko kovi ovon brakumado Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Esperantujo Esperantujo Esperantujo Napoleon La Papo blankigita pugtruo Kartoj Kartoj Kartoj Kontraŭ Kontraŭ Kontraŭ -
Constructed Languages: ESPERANTO
Journal of Modern Education Review, ISSN 2155-7993, USA October 2015, Volume 5, No. 10, pp. 1017–1025 Doi: 10.15341/jmer(2155-7993)/10.05.2015/011 © Academic Star Publishing Company, 2015 http://www.academicstar.us Constructed Languages: ESPERANTO Sevda Huseynova Sohrab (Qafqaz University, Azerbaijan) Abstract: “What is language!?” The question has been answered differently at different times. V. Humbolt, A. Shleykher, H. Shteyntal, G. Paul, and other linguists put forward various considerations about the language. Language is creative and productive by nature, a person using it can set up an infinite number of sentences and express thoughts. Throughout history, numerous languages seriously impeeded the development of relations between people. People have searched ways for getting out of this problem. As a result, the idea of creating a universal world language has occurred. Universal world language refers to a language which can be easily understood by all individuals of different nations. As a way of solving this problem, linguists have proposed to create a substituting constructed language. The most common constructed language is Esperanto. This language posses simple phonetic, grammatical, lexical structure. The language created by Zamenhof can be studied and remembered easily. According to historical facts, Esperantists (Esperanto-language speakers) established a country called Amikejo. They even celebrate The World Esperanto Day as a holiday once a year. Key words: linguists, universal world language, constructed language, Esperanto, Zamenhof, Esperantist, Amikejo 1. Introduction “What is language!?” The question has been answered differently at different times. V. Humbolt, A. Shleyher, H. Shteyntal, A. A. Potebnya, G. Paul, F. F. Fortunatov, I. -
Marginality and Variability in Esperanto
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 105 708 FL 005 381 AUTHOR Brent, Edmund TITLE Marginality and Variability in Esperanto. PUB DATE 28 Dec 73 NOTE 30p.; Paper presented at annual meeting of the Modern Language Association (88th, Chicago, Illinois, December 28, 1973); Best Copy Available EDRS PRICE EF-$0.76 HC-$1.95 PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS *Artificial Languages; Consonants; Diachronic Linguistics; Language Patterns; *Language Variation; Lexicolcgy; *Morphophonemics; Orthographic Symbols; Phonemics; Phonology; Sociolinguistics; Spelling; *Structural Analysis; *Synchronic Linguistics; Uncommonly Taught Languages; Vowels IDENTIFIERS *Esperanto ABSTRACT This paper discusses Esperanto as a planned language and refutes three myths connected to it, namely, that Esperanto is achronical, atopical, and apragmatic. The focus here is on a synchronic analysis. Synchronic variability is studied with reference to the structuralist determination of "marginality" and the dynamic linguistic description of "linguistic variables." Marginality is studied on the morphophonemic and on the lexical level. Linguistic variability is studied through a sociolinguistic survey. The sociolinguistic evidence is seen to converge with the structuralist evidence, and the synchronic analysis with earlier diachronic studies. It is hoped that this analysis will contribute toa redirection of scholarly work on Esperanto. (AM) ft'I,fF, zs- tom. ft ' t-' ."; rfl r4 ; fi S4* 3 4)4 r, J a. X PCY 114 MARGINALITY AND VARIABILITY IN ESPERANTO Paper prepared for Seminar 64, Esperanto Language and Literature 88th Annual Meeting of the Modern Language Association Chicago, Illinois December 28, 1973 by Edmund Brent Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and University of Toronto December 1973 PERMiSSON TO REPRODUCE THIS COPY. RIGHTED MA TERIAL HAS DEW GRANTED 131 U S DEPAR:Mr NT or HEALTH, EDUCATTOTt A WC. -
The Esperantist Background of René De Saussure's Work
Chapter 1 The Esperantist background of René de Saussure’s work Marc van Oostendorp Radboud University and The Meertens Institute ené de Saussure was arguably more an esperantist than a linguist – R somebody who was primarily inspired by his enthusiasm for the language of L. L. Zamenhof, and the hope he thought it presented for the world. His in- terest in general linguistics seems to have stemmed from his wish to show that the structure of Esperanto was better than that of its competitors, and thatit reflected the ways languages work in general. Saussure became involved in the Esperanto movement around 1906, appar- ently because his brother Ferdinand had asked him to participate in an inter- national Esperanto conference in Geneva; Ferdinand himself did not want to go because he did not want to become “compromised” (Künzli 2001). René be- came heavily involved in the movement, as an editor of the Internacia Scienca Re- vuo (International Science Review) and the national journal Svisa Espero (Swiss Hope), as well as a member of the Akademio de Esperanto, the Academy of Es- peranto that was and is responsible for the protection of the norms of the lan- guage. Among historians of the Esperanto movement, he is also still known as the inventor of the spesmilo, which was supposed to become an international currency among Esperantists (Garvía 2015). At the time, the interest in issues of artificial language solutions to perceived problems in international communication was more widespread in scholarly cir- cles than it is today. In the western world, German was often used as a language of e.g. -
The Story of Ludwik Zamenhof and Esperanto
Is It P ossible for A ll P eople to Speak th e Sam e Language? The Story of Ludw ik Zamenhof and Esperanto Federico Gobbo (Am sterdam / Torino) PO LIN Museum , 14 Decem ber ( ursday), 6 PM, free adm ission Abstract First, we will see the pillars of Zam enhof's thinking and why his linguistic project a$racted the Esperanto pioneers. Then, we will move on the contem porary days, looking to the m otivations of today’s speakers and their aspirations for the present and future of Esperanto. About the lecturer Lecture by Professor Federico Gobbo from University of Am sterdam . Federico Gobbo is Full Professor at the University of Amsterdam, holding the Special Chair in Interlinguistics and Esperanto, and teaching fellow in Language Planning and Planned Language at the University of Torino (Italy). He is a leading scholar in the analysis of the Esperanto phenom enon and language, including Zam enhof’s heritage in th e E s p e ra n to c o m m u n ity o f p ra c tic e . About the lecture Lecture delivered in English with simultaneous translation into Polish. The lecture is organized within the Global Education Outreach Program . The lecture was made possible thanks to the support of the Taube Foundation for Jew ish L ife & C u ltu re, th e W illia m K . B o w es, Jr. F o u n d a tio n , a n d th e A sso cia tio n o f th e Jew ish H isto rica l In stitu te of P o lan d . -
Psychological Reactions to Esperanto
ISSN 0165-2575 PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS TO ESPERANTO Esperanto Documents 42A Rotterdam 1994 Esperanto Documents describe the work, organization, culture and history of the movement for the adoption of the international language Esperanto as a second language for international use. They are published in Esperanto, English and French. The series replaces those documents of the Centre for Research and Documentation on the Language Problem which dealt with the Esperanto movement. Reproduction and translation of this document are permitted provided that the source is cited. Subscriptions (covering the next ten documents in the English series) are available for Hfl. 47,50 (postage included) from the publisher, Universal Esperanto Association, Nieuwe Binnenweg 176, 3015 BJ Rotterdam, Netherlands. Single issues cost Hfl. 4,80 each, plus 10% for shipping and, in the European Union, 6% for VAT. Special prices are available for bulk orders. Esperanto Documents, number 42A (1994) PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS TO ESPERANTO Claude Piron 1. Differing reactions To a psychologist investigating reactions to the word “Esperanto” two facts are immediately apparent: a high percentage of those invited to give their opinion have a great deal to say about it; and they regard as self-evident, and in many cases cite without prompting, various statements which are contrary to verifiable reality, for example: “no one has ever written a novel straight into Esperanto”, “Esperanto is a language no one speaks”, “there are no children who have it as the mother tongue”, etc. Such convictions are well illustrated by a reader’s letter in Time magazine from Peter Wells of Singapore: Esperanto has no cultural history, no indigenous literature and no monolinguals or even first-language speakers.