'HSDUWHPHQW9HUWDDONXQGH (63(5$172$1',765,9$/5<:,7+(1*/,6+ )257+(7,7/(2),17(51$7,21$//$1*8$*( Seger Van der Borght $IVWXGHHUVFULSWLHLQGH9HUWDDONXQGH 6FULSWLHEHJHOHLGHU3URI'U-RRVW%X\VVFKDHUW Academiejaar 2005-2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS )LUVWRIDOO,ZRXOGOLNHWRWKDQNP\VXSHUYLVRU3URI'U-RRVW%X\VVFKDHUWIRUKLVJXLGDQFH KLVYDOXDEOHVXJJHVWLRQVGXULQJWKHSUHSDUDWLRQRIP\GLVVHUWDWLRQDQGIRUDOORZLQJPHWR ORRNLQWRWKLVVXEMHFW ,ZRXOGDOVROLNHWRWKDQN6DQQHIRUKHUFRQWLQXRXVVXSSRUWDQGPRWLYDWLRQWKURXJKRXWP\ VWXGLHVDQGWKHPDNLQJRIWKLVGLVVHUWDWLRQ 0\VLQFHUHJUDWLWXGHJRHVRXWWR+XJR5DXRIWKH(VSHUDQWRIRQGVLQ.RUWULMNZLWKRXWZKRP, FRXOGKDYHQHYHUILQLVKHGP\ZRUN+LVHQWKXVLDVPLQVSLUHGPHWRSURFHHG+HVKRZHGPHWKH GLIIHUHQWDVSHFWVRI(VSHUDQWRDQGKHOSHGPHILQGP\ZD\0RVWRIDOO,ZRXOGOLNHWRWKDQN KLPDQGKLVFROOHDJXH-RRVW9DQGHU%DXZKHGHIRUWKHLUWLPHXQFRQGLWLRQDOKHOSDQGIRU UHQGHULQJP\UHVHDUFKPXFKPRUHHIILFLHQW )LQDOO\,ZRXOGDOVROLNHWRWKDQNP\SDUHQWVIRUWKHLUPRUDOVXSSRUWWKURXJKRXWP\VWXGLHV DQGIRUJLYLQJPHWKLVRSSRUWXQLW\ 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................5 PREFACE...................................................................................................................................6 Motivation ..............................................................................................................................6 Aim and Method.....................................................................................................................7 1 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGES ...................................9 1.1 Previous history ...............................................................................................................9 1.2 Other Artificial International Languages.......................................................................11 1.2.1 Volapük ..................................................................................................................11 1.2.2 Ido...........................................................................................................................14 1.2.3 Interlingua...............................................................................................................15 2 ESPERANTO .......................................................................................................................18 2.1 Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof ..............................................................................................18 2.2 The history of Esperanto................................................................................................19 2.3 The main features of Esperanto .....................................................................................22 2.3.1 Esperanto orthography............................................................................................22 2.3.2 Esperanto phonology ..............................................................................................22 2.3.3 Esperanto vocabulary .............................................................................................25 2.3.4 Esperanto grammar.................................................................................................28 3 LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY..................................................................................................32 3.1 The myth of Babel .........................................................................................................32 3.2 Linguistic diversity today ..............................................................................................33 4 TRANSLATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS........................................34 4.1 An example: the United Nations ...................................................................................34 4.1.1 Finances ..................................................................................................................35 4.1.2 The exclusion of languages ....................................................................................36 4.1.3 The knowledge of languages ..................................................................................37 4.2 Esperantists’ view on the UN ........................................................................................38 4 5 ENGLISH AS THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE......................................................39 5.1 The relay race of languages ...........................................................................................39 5.2 English in today’s world................................................................................................40 5.3 The advantages of English as an international language...............................................44 5.4 The other side of the coin ..............................................................................................44 5.4.1 The introduction of a national language, such as English, as a universal language implies the discrimination of other national languages ....................................................44 5.4.2 Fewer people actually know English than is generally believed............................45 5.4.3 English is a difficult language after all...................................................................47 5.4.4 Which English is the correct one............................................................................48 5.5 The future of English.....................................................................................................49 6 ESPERANTO AS THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE................................................50 6.1 Esperanto in today’s world ............................................................................................50 6.2 Misconceptions on Esperanto........................................................................................52 6.3 Advantages of Esperanto ...............................................................................................53 6.4 Disadvantages of Esperanto...........................................................................................54 6.5 The future of Esperanto .................................................................................................55 7 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................57 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................59 INFORMANTS ....................................................................................................................77 TELEVISION BROADCAST..............................................................................................79 Appendices ...............................................................................................................................80 Descartes...............................................................................................................................81 Zamenhof’s pronunciation....................................................................................................82 Language employees in the UN............................................................................................83 E-mail Hugo Rau ..................................................................................................................85 Variants of English ..........................................................................................................86-87 Quotations from famous people supporting Esperanto ........................................................88 SCRIPTIEFICHE ................................................................................................................90-90 5 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Volapük orthography and sounds .............................................................................12 Figure 2: Volapük declensions .................................................................................................13 Figure 3: Ido consonant phonology..........................................................................................14 Figure 4: Interlingua verbs .......................................................................................................17 Figure 5: Esperanto alphabet ....................................................................................................22 Figure 6: More elaborate description of the Esperanto alphabet.........................................23-24 Figure 7: Esperanto consonant phonology ...............................................................................24 Figure 8. Esperanto vowel phonology......................................................................................25 Figure 9: Esperanto suffixes................................................................................................26-27 Figure 10: Esperanto prefixes...................................................................................................27 Figure 11: Esperanto verbs .......................................................................................................29 Figure 12: English as a first and second language in the world ...............................................40 Figure 12: Number of native speakers 2002.............................................................................41 Figure 14: Three most widely known languages among Europeans ...................................41-42