ENGLISH OR ESPERANTO AS A WORLD-LANGUAGE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6623, 12 September 1908, Page 5

ENGLISH OR ESPERANTO AS A WORLD-LANGUAGE

(By W. J. Clark and Brander Mathews.) There is a capital article iu the “W o«d mi lister Iteviovv” uy w. J. Clark on "An international Auxiliary Language. " lie inaiutains that- luo unXvcri.u introauciiou of L.-peranlo as an aux-ili.-iry lausuaso is uc:.U'al)io, firfifly, bocuus.j it is (oou'-i’ to acquire than any iiiu.onal loivigii language; secondly, becauno many people, all over the world, are constantly writing to one another uy means ol it, and .-speaking it with one iiiioihc-r when tncy meet, alter learning it at home for omy <a few months; ami thirdly, because of tho fact that over forty magamm s are now published inonihiy iu L-peraiuo, representing all the principal isurope.m and American Slate*, Japan, tho Fhdippiucs. etc. iiu is evidently muen moved by the rCiigxouy feu Vicea m Lsperumo, and b.jo.Lvs with euioUon concerning the taru.mg iiieei ox mo ne.v ahd sa-aiigo entuusia&ju mat pervaded the Esperanto Uui.igve66 when il uitendtd religious, yervioeo at Geuo\a ami Gambriage. xto ears Die marked and uniform accent of tne ianpcraiuo language, its full Italian vowels, iio rhytiuuic purasn.g sonorous lilt rentier it pcrieeiiy uuitabib lor iiitonihg ahd reciting in clioiius. iUr Giark conciuncrf.xus article by saying: “Let tne bonoois of elm cLiiLed world duvoxe a few early hour* oi meir cni.drou'rf senooi-timo to a simpimed auxiliary language, and their bro..u will return to them muuiiOAi m aider days;"' TilL CLAXiiS UF ENGLISH.

Mr Drander Mathews writes ia the “Ceutuiy'" on ino same suuject. lie tlot.-s not taiio much slock in voiaxwtK, \y> iucu is natural; or Jtaporaulo I wherein lit' J-S WiOUg/, OUL, lit* ivuoo, Cilo UGeU 10r a worm-ianguage is as obvious as ever, even if the futility oi any unuicial tongue is equally evident. And r* tao comins woridianguago is no, to bo an artihciai one, 1l iuu.jL be. Ho argots, an existing tongue already spoken oy millions ot people, iie* tuen prvoecds: “Uo may dismiss French at the start; it has had iw chance, and iost it. ’wo may regret the rant, but wo cannot deny it. Tne French have been beaten in tne race for expansion by tnoso who speax German, and by us who speak iniglish. There soon will bo twice as many men and women having Uennan for a mother-longue as now have French lor their native speech. There are already almost three times as many who have ilnglish for a mother-longue as now Lave Fiench for their native speech. “The x»b£sibiiitios of growth and expansion stilt lie bounciioss before the English longue. It has already tho support not ox one great nationality only, out of two. It is spoken by more people than speak its two chief rivals, and its rate od increase is more rapid than either of theirs. Tho two nations who claim lihigiish as their birthright arc at least as abundant in energy, in enterprise, and in determination as tho member> of any other race. It possesses a enkndid literature, holding its own in comparison with Greek and with French, lacking certain of their characteristics, no doubt, but making up for these by qualities of its own with which they are less richly endowed/' GKXMIFS TTtIBUTK.

Ho recalls tho prediction of Jacob Grimm, who declared that English has "a just claim to be called a language of tho world; and it appears to bo destined, like the English race, to a higher and broader sway in all quarters of tho earth." For English to become tho world-language does not, Jiowevcr, ho is careful to explain, mean tno suppression of other tongues;

“To predict the possible acceptance of English as a world-languago menus uo more than this: that English may in time become tho second language of all educated men every where, whether their native speech is French or Germnn, Spanish or Italian, Russian or Japanese."

GERMANIC. ROMANIC. AND-STILL GROWING.

Mr Mathews quotes again from Jacob Grimm where he said that the perfected development of English issued from a marvellous union of tho two noblest tongues of Europe—tho Germanic and the Romanic—and that in richness, in compact adjustment of parts, and in pure intelligence, none of tho living languages can lie compared with it. Mr Mathews adds another qualification:

"It must be noted also that the varied vocabulary of English, partly Teutonic and partly Eomanco, is _ likely to bo nourished and refreshed in the future, in consequence of the scattering of tho English-speaking race on all tho shorea of all tho seven seas, whereby now and expressive words, as well ns terse vernacular phrases, aro constantly called into existence to meet unexpected, needs, the best of these being sooner or later lifted into the statelier fipecch of literature.” Ho concludes with a wail over our barbarously complex spelling. English, ho says, is the easiest of languages to learn by word of mouth; and it is the hardest to acquire from the printed page. A HUNGARIAN VIEW. The other side of this rosy picture of our tongue is given by Count Joseph Malaith, writing in the "Westminster Heview” on racial strife in Hungary. Ho quotes Mezzofanti, a born Italian, one of the roost celebrated linguists, that "Hungarian is the most full-toned and tho best adapted _ for music and poetry.” The Hungarian Count proceeds; "Tho German language .as such belongs to the more beautiful and perfect of languages; but to compare Hungarian with French and English—tongues which are made up of Latin and Greek !”