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| − | Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto, the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887 | + | [[File:Unua Libro.jpg|thumb|The first Esperanto book by [[L. L. Zamenhof]]]] |
| + | '''Esperanto''' is the most widely spoken [[constructed language|constructed]] [[international auxiliary language]]. Its name derives from ''Doktoro Esperanto'' (Dr. Hopeful), the [[pseudonym]] under which [[L. L. Zamenhof]] published the first book detailing Esperanto, the ''[[Unua Libro]],'' in 1887. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy-to-learn and politically neutral language that would serve as a universal [[second language]] to foster peace and international understanding. | ||
| − | Esperanto was used during the [[ | + | Esperanto has had continuous usage by a community estimated at between 100,000 and 2 million speakers for over a century, and approximately one thousand native speakers. It is the only constructed language with [[Native Esperanto speakers|native speakers]], that is, people who learned it from their parents as one of their native languages. Usage is particularly high in eastern and northern Europe, eastern Asia, Brazil, and Iran. A [[World Congress of Esperanto]] was organized in France in 1905, and since then has been held in various countries every year apart from during the world wars. Although no country has adopted it [[official language|officially]], Esperanto was recommended by the [[French Academy of Sciences]] in 1921, was recognized by [[UNESCO]] in 1954, and is currently the language of instruction of a university in [[San Marino]]. There is evidence that learning Esperanto may provide a superior foundation for learning languages in general, and some primary schools teach it as preparation for learning other foreign languages. |
| + | Esperanto was used during the [[Spanish revolution]] by anarchists in the conviction that, after the revolution, all national barriers would fall away and human beings would speak a common language and share a common cultural tradition. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==History== | ||
| + | {{Main|History of Esperanto}} | ||
| + | |||
| + | Esperanto was created in the late 1870s and early 1880s by [[L. L. Zamenhof|Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof]], a Russian-Jewish [[ophthalmology|ophthalmologist]] from [[Bialystok]], at the time part of the [[Russian Empire]]. According to Zamenhof, he created this language to foster harmony between people from different countries. His feelings and the situation in Bialystok may be gleaned from an extract from his letter to Nikolai Borovko:<ref name=E->The letter is quoted in [http://books.google.com/books?id=bSghSZV054UC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false Esperanto - The New Latin for the Church and for Ecumenism], by Ulrich Matthias. [http://www.u-matthias.de/latino/latin_en.htm Translation from Esperanto by Mike Leon and Maire Mullarney]</ref> | ||
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| + | {{cquote|The place where I was born and spent my childhood gave direction to all my future struggles. In Bialystok the inhabitants were divided into four distinct elements: Russians, Poles, Germans and Jews; each of these spoke their own language and looked on all the others as enemies. In such a town a sensitive nature feels more acutely than elsewhere the misery caused by language division and sees at every step that the diversity of languages is the first, or at least the most influential, basis for the separation of the human family into groups of enemies. I was brought up as an idealist; I was taught that all people were brothers, while outside in the street at every step I felt that there were no people, only Russians, Poles, Germans, Jews and so on. This was always a great torment to my infant mind, although many people may smile at such an 'anguish for the world' in a child. Since at that time I thought that 'grown-ups' were omnipotent, so I often said to myself that when I grew up I would certainly destroy this evil.- L. L. Zamenhof, in a letter to [[N. Borovko]], ca. 1895<ref name=E-/>}} | ||
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| + | After some ten years of development, which Zamenhof spent translating literature into Esperanto as well as writing original [[prose]] and [[Poetry|verse]], the [[Unua Libro|first book of Esperanto grammar]] was published in [[Warsaw]] in July 1887. The number of speakers grew rapidly over the next few decades, at first primarily in the [[Russian Empire]] and [[Eastern Europe]], then in [[Western Europe]], the [[Americas]], [[China]], and [[Japan]]. In the early years, speakers of Esperanto kept in contact primarily through correspondence and [[magazine|periodicals]], but in 1905 the first [[World Congress of Esperanto|world congress of Esperanto speakers]] was held in [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]], [[France]]. Since then world congresses have been held in different countries every year, except during the two [[world war|World Wars]]. Since the Second World War, they have been attended by an average of over 2,000 and up to 6,000 people. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Zamenhof's name for the language was simply ''La Internacia Lingvo'' "the International Language".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~hana/esr/ |title=Esperanto |publisher=Ling.ohio-state.edu |date=2003-01-25 |accessdate=2010-12-05}}</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Reception by 20th-century states == | ||
| + | As a potential vehicle for international understanding, Esperanto attracted the suspicion of state supporters everywhere. The situation was especially pronounced in [[Nazi Germany]], [[Imperial Japan]] and the [[Soviet Union]] under [[Joseph Stalin]]. Capitalist state patriots for the most part used noncooperation and relied on apathy to do the rest, but occasionally took to their most efficient vehicle of prevention, sneering, and appealing to nationalism, war glorification, xenophobia, and ruling class identity:<ref name=Enyt/> | ||
| + | :''Even an endless chain of interpreters is better than this pallid tongue which has no past, no memories, no rich terrible and beautiful associations, which has been taught by no mothers and lisped by no babes, which has never been loved and made immortal by the poets, for whose song and meaning and music men have never died and gone gladly to battle - New York Times''<ref name=Enyt>[http://books.google.com/books?id=l9qBJCMjfNcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Esperanto in The New York Times] front cover and Introduction, page -iii- (1887 - 1922) by Ulrich Becker</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | Well, one, as the dolphins say in ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', that last part is the very reason we make claim to be more advanced, and two, none of the good things about that are irreparably exclusive to other languages. | ||
| + | |||
| + | In Germany, there was additional motivation to persecute Esperanto because Zamenhof was Jewish. In his work, ''[[Mein Kampf]],'' [[Hitler]] mentioned Esperanto as an example of a language that would be used by an [[International Jewry|International]] [[Jewish conspiracy|Jewish Conspiracy]] once they achieved [[world government|world domination]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch11.html |author= Adolf Hitler |title= Mein Kampf |work= Volume 1, Chapter XI |year= 1924 |accessdate= 2007-05-22}}</ref> [[Esperantist]]s were killed during [[the Holocaust]], with Zamenhof's family in particular singled out for murder.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://esperantodc.org/esw6.html |title=About ESW and the Holocaust Museum |publisher=Esperantodc.org |date=1995-12-05 |accessdate=2010-12-05}}</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | In the early years of the Soviet Union, Esperanto was given a measure of government support, and the [[Soviet Esperanto Association]] was an officially recognized organization.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/EBook/chap07.html |title=Donald J. Harlow, The Esperanto Book, chapter 7 |publisher=Donh.best.vwh.net |date= |accessdate=2010-12-05}}</ref> However, in 1937, Stalin reversed this policy. He denounced Esperanto as "the language of spies" and had Esperantists exiled or executed. The use of Esperanto was effectively banned until 1956.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> | ||
| + | |||
| + | After the [[Spanish Civil War]], [[Francoist Spain]] persecuted the [[Anarchism in Spain|Anarchists]] and [[Catalan nationalist]]s among which Esperanto was extended<ref name="Del Barrio">''[http://www.nodo50.org/esperanto/artik68es.htm La utilización del esperanto durante la Guerra Civil Española]'', [[Toño del Barrio]] and [[Ulrich Lins]]. Paper for the International Congress on the Spanish Civil War, (Madrid, 27–29 November 2006).</ref> but in the 1950s, the Esperanto movement was tolerated again. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Official use== | ||
| + | Esperanto has never been a secondary official language of any recognized country. However, there were plans at the beginning of the 20th century to establish [[Neutral Moresnet]] as the world's first Esperanto state. [[Qian Xuantong]], a Chinese linguist, promoted the replacement of Chinese with Esperanto.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CYqFKrihrgMC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=esperanto+language+china&ots=_bW7CG6d6x&sig=bYzZvplZGxRcn9YweXWIfNpN7Nw The Languages of China] by S. Robert Ramsey</ref> In addition, the self-proclaimed [[artificial island]] [[micronation]] of [[Republic of Rose Island|Rose Island]] used Esperanto as its official language in 1968. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The U.S. Army has published military phrase books in Esperanto,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kafejo.com/lingvoj/auxlangs/eo/maneuver/ |title=''The Maneuver Enemy'' website |publisher=Kafejo.com |date=2004-06-02 |accessdate=2010-12-05}}</ref> to be used in [[Military simulation|war games]] by mock enemy forces. In the summer of 1924, the [[American Radio Relay League]] adopted Esperanto as its official [[international auxiliary language]], and hoped that the language would be used by [[Amateur radio|radio amateurs]] in international communications, but its actual use for radio communications was negligible. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Esperanto is the working language of several [[non-profit organization|non-profit]] international organizations such as the ''[[Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda]]''; most others are specifically Esperanto organizations. The largest of these, the [[World Esperanto Association]], has an official consultative relationship with the [[United Nations]] and [[UNESCO]], which recognized Esperanto as a medium for international understanding in 1954.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uea.org/info/angle/an_ghisdatigo.html |title=Unesco and Esperanto |publisher=Uea.org |date=2010-06-08 |accessdate=2010-12-05}}</ref> Esperanto is also the first language of teaching and administration of one university, the [[Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino|International Academy of Sciences San Marino]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ais-sanmarino.org/ |title=Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj (AIS) San-Marino |publisher=Ais-sanmarino.org |date= |accessdate=2010-12-05}}</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | ''This article contains content from Wikipedia. Current versions of the article on WP may contain information useful to the improvement of this article'' | ||
| + | == Citations == | ||
| + | {{reflist|2}} | ||
| + | [[Category:Language]][[Category:Communication]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[de:Esperanto]][[it:Esperanto]][[fr:Espéranto]][[es:Esperanto]] | ||
Latest revision as of 00:31, 21 January 2011
Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto (Dr. Hopeful), the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy-to-learn and politically neutral language that would serve as a universal second language to foster peace and international understanding.
Esperanto has had continuous usage by a community estimated at between 100,000 and 2 million speakers for over a century, and approximately one thousand native speakers. It is the only constructed language with native speakers, that is, people who learned it from their parents as one of their native languages. Usage is particularly high in eastern and northern Europe, eastern Asia, Brazil, and Iran. A World Congress of Esperanto was organized in France in 1905, and since then has been held in various countries every year apart from during the world wars. Although no country has adopted it officially, Esperanto was recommended by the French Academy of Sciences in 1921, was recognized by UNESCO in 1954, and is currently the language of instruction of a university in San Marino. There is evidence that learning Esperanto may provide a superior foundation for learning languages in general, and some primary schools teach it as preparation for learning other foreign languages. Esperanto was used during the Spanish revolution by anarchists in the conviction that, after the revolution, all national barriers would fall away and human beings would speak a common language and share a common cultural tradition.
History[edit]
Esperanto was created in the late 1870s and early 1880s by Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof, a Russian-Jewish ophthalmologist from Bialystok, at the time part of the Russian Empire. According to Zamenhof, he created this language to foster harmony between people from different countries. His feelings and the situation in Bialystok may be gleaned from an extract from his letter to Nikolai Borovko:[1]
After some ten years of development, which Zamenhof spent translating literature into Esperanto as well as writing original prose and verse, the first book of Esperanto grammar was published in Warsaw in July 1887. The number of speakers grew rapidly over the next few decades, at first primarily in the Russian Empire and Eastern Europe, then in Western Europe, the Americas, China, and Japan. In the early years, speakers of Esperanto kept in contact primarily through correspondence and periodicals, but in 1905 the first world congress of Esperanto speakers was held in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. Since then world congresses have been held in different countries every year, except during the two World Wars. Since the Second World War, they have been attended by an average of over 2,000 and up to 6,000 people.
Zamenhof's name for the language was simply La Internacia Lingvo "the International Language".[2]
Reception by 20th-century states[edit]
As a potential vehicle for international understanding, Esperanto attracted the suspicion of state supporters everywhere. The situation was especially pronounced in Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. Capitalist state patriots for the most part used noncooperation and relied on apathy to do the rest, but occasionally took to their most efficient vehicle of prevention, sneering, and appealing to nationalism, war glorification, xenophobia, and ruling class identity:[3]
- Even an endless chain of interpreters is better than this pallid tongue which has no past, no memories, no rich terrible and beautiful associations, which has been taught by no mothers and lisped by no babes, which has never been loved and made immortal by the poets, for whose song and meaning and music men have never died and gone gladly to battle - New York Times[3]
Well, one, as the dolphins say in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that last part is the very reason we make claim to be more advanced, and two, none of the good things about that are irreparably exclusive to other languages.
In Germany, there was additional motivation to persecute Esperanto because Zamenhof was Jewish. In his work, Mein Kampf, Hitler mentioned Esperanto as an example of a language that would be used by an International Jewish Conspiracy once they achieved world domination.[4] Esperantists were killed during the Holocaust, with Zamenhof's family in particular singled out for murder.[5]
In the early years of the Soviet Union, Esperanto was given a measure of government support, and the Soviet Esperanto Association was an officially recognized organization.[6] However, in 1937, Stalin reversed this policy. He denounced Esperanto as "the language of spies" and had Esperantists exiled or executed. The use of Esperanto was effectively banned until 1956.[6]
After the Spanish Civil War, Francoist Spain persecuted the Anarchists and Catalan nationalists among which Esperanto was extended[7] but in the 1950s, the Esperanto movement was tolerated again.
Official use[edit]
Esperanto has never been a secondary official language of any recognized country. However, there were plans at the beginning of the 20th century to establish Neutral Moresnet as the world's first Esperanto state. Qian Xuantong, a Chinese linguist, promoted the replacement of Chinese with Esperanto.[8] In addition, the self-proclaimed artificial island micronation of Rose Island used Esperanto as its official language in 1968.
The U.S. Army has published military phrase books in Esperanto,[9] to be used in war games by mock enemy forces. In the summer of 1924, the American Radio Relay League adopted Esperanto as its official international auxiliary language, and hoped that the language would be used by radio amateurs in international communications, but its actual use for radio communications was negligible.
Esperanto is the working language of several non-profit international organizations such as the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda; most others are specifically Esperanto organizations. The largest of these, the World Esperanto Association, has an official consultative relationship with the United Nations and UNESCO, which recognized Esperanto as a medium for international understanding in 1954.[10] Esperanto is also the first language of teaching and administration of one university, the International Academy of Sciences San Marino.[11]
This article contains content from Wikipedia. Current versions of the article on WP may contain information useful to the improvement of this article
Citations[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The letter is quoted in Esperanto - The New Latin for the Church and for Ecumenism, by Ulrich Matthias. Translation from Esperanto by Mike Leon and Maire Mullarney
- ↑ Esperanto. Ling.ohio-state.edu. URL accessed on 2010-12-05.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Esperanto in The New York Times front cover and Introduction, page -iii- (1887 - 1922) by Ulrich Becker
- ↑ Adolf Hitler (1924). Mein Kampf. Volume 1, Chapter XI. URL accessed on 2007-05-22.
- ↑ About ESW and the Holocaust Museum. Esperantodc.org. URL accessed on 2010-12-05.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Donald J. Harlow, The Esperanto Book, chapter 7. Donh.best.vwh.net. URL accessed on 2010-12-05.
- ↑ La utilización del esperanto durante la Guerra Civil Española, Toño del Barrio and Ulrich Lins. Paper for the International Congress on the Spanish Civil War, (Madrid, 27–29 November 2006).
- ↑ The Languages of China by S. Robert Ramsey
- ↑ ''The Maneuver Enemy'' website. Kafejo.com. URL accessed on 2010-12-05.
- ↑ Unesco and Esperanto. Uea.org. URL accessed on 2010-12-05.
- ↑ Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj (AIS) San-Marino. Ais-sanmarino.org. URL accessed on 2010-12-05.
