ESPERANTO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14457, 25 February 1909, Page 11

ESPERANTO.

LECTURE BY MR- GEORGE ALDRIDGE. 'A meeting of ladies and gentlemen interested in Kspcratito was addressed in the Slriart Street Oddfellows' Hall on Tuesday night by -Mr 6, Aldridge, of Auckland, who proved himself to he a most able and Itieitl exponent of this remarkable system. The meeting was presided over by Mr \V. J. Morrell, M.A., who briefly introduced the lecturer and explained that Esneranlo was nn .•irt.irtei.il language—one of the not very numerous attempts to remove Iho traditional curse ol Babel. Mo confessed he had been one of the * coffers, but there was nowvery little doubt that Esperanto had shown by it? progress that it was a factor to be seriously reckoned with. Several verv successful international congresses of Ksperan-ti.-is had been held, awl the lamruage was now- recognised in (lie. examinations of the London Chamber of Commerce and at the Oxford University. Personally, he would define His position towards Esneranto as that, of a, willing inouirer with" somewhat floptical tendencies, tl would take a good deal |o convince him (hat Esperanto would ever become, a power in the. world on a large scale. He could never believe, for example, that any artificial language could ever nuile fulfil the functions of one of the great ancient or modern language?. He believed that it, could have a fairly large field of usefulness as a commercial instrument, and that it, would Facilitate intercourse between various nations, so to speak. Upon the lowest common (ennp. II". did nol believe that it could ever have a, (treat literature or become a medium for the exchange of thoughts upon a higher plane. It seemed to him also that, if Esperanto did succeed nn a large scale it v.ould be to a eerlain extent Unvaried by its own success, for international differences of idiom would develop as they had done V/ilh other languages in the past.

Mr Aldridge said he wished to deal with very plain matters of fad. lie believed the difficulties out forward could bo met by plain answers drawn from the region of the praetie.nl. Esperanto might bi looked upon as a living language, and •t was certainly becoming a potent factor m tho relationship of peoples to one another. . Ho had not como lo Duuedin specially to address, ihein, but while on a private visit Had acceded lo the request, of members of tho total Es|ieraiito Club, '.t'ho lecturer went on to point out. the difficulty of conversing readily in a. foreign language. Our grammar, lie said, was looked upon as o no of the simplest, but our vocabulary mid spelling and pronunciation were terrible things to persons of another nation. Sonio 200 different cri'orts had betni made, to bring about an easy menus of international communication, and some 50 or '111 of these were before ihe world at the present time. Ho went on to ictl the story of the origin of Esperanto v, it-li Dr Zatnenliof, of Bieloslock, who conceived the idea that the rioting and fighting that went on lielwccn the four nationalities of his nati've city were largely due. lo th(j dilFer?iices of language among them. He accordingly set iiWit invcnlinr; a universal language which should be a. harbinger of peace, and finally, after many years of discouraging labour, evolved tho system of Esperanto. The first piper issued in Iho language was suppressed by the Russian (joYcrnmenf, liecause it contained contribution;) from Count Tolstov. The movement was afterwards taken tip •very heartily j. n France, and there wvn now numerous reviews and journals published in the language. As far as he was Rble lo judge, H wius equal (o (he expression ol ideas on any given theme which any other language could express. There ivero now large international associations of purists and of teachers who wore discussing in Esperanto their professional Jiroblems. Proceeding to sneak of the language iisolf, tho study of winch ho had found particularly interesting, ho claimed that Esperanto complied with'all the conditions for a universal language as laid down by the celebrated nlii'lolivd.st Jacob flnmm. With tho uk\ of a blackboard tho lecturer briefly explained the principles of the alphabet, and went on to deal with the grammar, which ho showed was all contained in three Kinall pages of a pamphlet. It had no irregularities, no exceptions, and n 0 arbitr.'i.i'ics, and each part of speech was clearly distinguished by its termination. Taking the verb '-io 1,,-. - ' , is an illustration, he (mowed the tini|neslionably superior simplicity and orderliness of the Esperanto method of verb formation. The vocabulary was made up from roots carefully selected from live chief languages, in such a. manner that an Englishman would recognise at least 60 per cent, of the words; and if he bad in addition a knowledge, of French and Lit in, at least 85 per cent, of the roots would be known to him. The vocabulary wa s a dictionary not of wonts, hilt, of ideas, and so it, 100, could be contained in exceedingly small eompa.-.s. The inventor had also perfected a system of Millixus expressing contraries, the'feminine gembr. diminutives, and so on. ' The growih of the language within the last few years had been enormous, and a remarkable fact observed at the conventions was that it was impossible to tell, from their speech, lo what nationality the flickers it* Esperanto Ixdong-.vl. As illustrating the case with which th? language, might b? mastered, the lecturer told of a. minisler who had addressed Ihe Cambridge Conference in Esperanto with conspicuous success after only five weeks' study of the language.

The L'ltairiiitin, in expressing the thanks of die meeting io Jlr Aldridge. said there could be nu doubt J,bat Eiperanlo was a. marvellous effort of human thou.sbl- and ingenuity. Me fell Unit ibere was a great future iwfore it for commercial purjxscs, and for what he lr.iglrl call the ordinary li-is of tourists, if English had a system of phonetic snolliii!:, ho believed i|. would bo a formidable rival to Esperanto. The meeting concluded with a hearty voic of thanks lo the chairman for prcliding.

sta-rcs, ami thai Ins brother William was responsible [or ilic 30 pharos subscribed for by him. There was a diHiciilty in Retting a lease of the land as the ami applied for was within that pari sot apart for a national par!;.—To Mr AlacKregor: The fact of tho difficulty in connection with tho fretiinir of th<' ground was not conceal*--! from the The ease at llm stage was adjourned until Thursday next.