Esperanto, la Lingvo Internaci.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, 1 September 1904, Page 466

Esperanto, la Lingvo Internaci.

By ROBERT COLQUHOUN.

ypjaiStHE average man's native A^lpSa language comes so readily v^fl^f t lO l l^ ton £" ue that be i s ry^J'. ncnnec^ to fo r g" e t it i s as fcijjljmy much an acquired art as ! |FT^" music or writing, and if ic^/AJ anyone were to speak to Vx(\ m a kout an artificial Stzk' language, he would say it \jjr was ridiculous, and have a good laugh at the idea. It -would really seem as absurd to him as it would be to suggest that he should stop talking altogether, and use signs instead. " Who would learn to speak another man's words and syllables ? Why if they start making new languages they will bring about a worse confusion of tongues than Babel I" he would remark scornfully, and then he might go on sarcastically to prophesy a time when every man would be talking his own artificial language, and trying with the aid of a gun to persuade his fellow-men to speak it also ; or he might cheerfully advise you not to trouble yourself about these things, as the great English language was bound to become the world's language in due time— " which won't be in our time, so we need not bother ourselves about it." Nevertheless, I shall try to prove in this article that the world stands urgently in need of a universal language, and can not afford to wait — it must have it immediately. I shall also endeavour to show that the universal language must be a scientifically constructed, artificial one, and I will introduce to my readers, or at all events, to those who have not yet heard of it, Es-

peranto, the heir-apparent to this honourable position. Regarding it from a commercial standpoint alone, the value of such a universal medium of speech would be very great. Every business man will admit that in these days of world-wide trading, when all enterprising commercial firms may truly be said to deal in everything everywhere, the greatest difficulty that a business man meets arises from the diverse languages of his clients and customers. All other things seem to be serving him and facilitating his transactions — telephones, typewriters, fountain pens and a thousand other things hurry to do his bidding and save his precious time, but the great multitude of the world's languages combine like a host of chattering imps to mock him and retard his progress. They must continue to do so, causing an increase of worry, irritation and misunderstanding, with the increase of liis foreign trade, until a universally accepted key language has been adopted, and it is but reasonable to expect that business men will seek this remedy before long.

Now, we who support Esperanto, believe that no natural language will ever become international for various reasons, the principal ones being: that the international language must be simple, perfect and complete ; and all natural tongues are decidedly lacking in the two first-mentioned qualities, therefore they may at once be scored off the list of possibilities.

They have all grown up in a haphazard fashion, beginning generally as corruptions of older languages

with no definite rules to train their growth, but simply borrowing or inventing words and grammatical forms as occasion seemed to require, until now that grammarians have fixed and crystalised them, we find they are all imperfect, and difficult to learn because of their faults. If these imperfections were removed from a language it would be completely changed, and would become a new tongue, bearing little resemblance to the original ; and we may be certain it would be wholly unlike any other language now spoken. What chance would such a corrected tongue have in competition with one which closely resembles all European languages both in its words and grammatical system ? These are the advantages we claim for Esperanto. To the student, Esperanto seems strangely familiar ; it is like something which has been thoroughly learned in childhood, half-forgotten, and which, therefore, has only to be revived, not relearnt. This is because it has caught up and embodied the spirit which runs through every modern tongue. It is the concentrated essence of all languages, and not merely an extract of one. To illustrate this clearly I will give a few ■examples of the rules and system of our " kara lingvo." The spelling is strictly phonetic, and the accent is always penultimate, therefore any Esperantist who learns from a hand-book can speak the words quite correctly, and will be understood by any other Esperantist no matter what his nationality is. The vocabulary consists of about 800 root wards, most of which are already international. One English paper commenting upon the "vocabulary, said : " Its meagre, scant array of words Could puzzle no beginner ; Untutored cannibals by herds Would learn them after cFlnner." Its array of words does look meagre and scanty, but, as I hope

to show, Esperanto with its 800 words can be made as expressive as English with its 319,000 words (Lav la '" Standard Dictionary "). The grammar is made up of a few simple rules for combining the root words into other words and into sentences.

These rules can easily be learnt in an hour's time. As an example of some of the rules, 1 give the following' :

All nouns end in 0. Thus, teatro, theatre : Nov-Zelando, New Zealand. The plural is always formed by adding j (j sounds like the English y). Thus, teatroj, theatres. Adjectives end in A. Thus, teatra, theatrical : " La Nov-Zelanda llustrita Gazeto," " The New Zealand Illustrated Magazine." Adverbs end in E. Thus, teatre, theatrically. Verbs form their tenses in a similar manner. There are about thirty affixes which greatly simplify the language, as knowing the affixes and a root word, one can easily form many other words from it.

To illustrate this, I give the word " father " as it may be modified.

Patro, father ; patroj, fathers ; patra, paternal ; patre, paternally ; patrino, mother ; bopatro, father-in-law ; gepatroj, parents ; patreco, fatherhood ; patrujo, fatherland ; propatroj, forefathers.

The affixes used in the foregoinglist are, in, indicating the feminine ; bo, relationship by marriage ; ge, both sexes together ; ec, abstract quality ; uj, land, country ; pra, used to indicate far out relationship.

This 'by no means exhausts the possibilities arising from the word " patro." All words derived from it may be changed by adding affixes, and when it is understood that every word used in the language may be changed in this way, the wonderful value of these definite and invariable affixes will be apparent. The student has the comparatively easy task of memorising 800 words, most of which he already knows ki some form, yet when he has learned them he can express any idea that

can find expression in any human language. This is entirely due to the expanding power given to the language by these thirty little syllables. If our ancestors had only, systematically arranged the affixes they adopted into English, how they would have simplified our language and reduced the size of our dictionaries ! One number of the " New Zealand Illustrated Magazine " would contain all the words and definitions given in the complete Esperanto-English dictionary. Two pages would easily hold all the root words— the only thing the student needs to learn in order to read Esperanto. Mark Twain, writing about languages, says : "My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barringspelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years." It is a pity he did not know Esperanto, for it would have helped to complete his list. T guess he would have put it down at thirty minutes, spelling, pronouncing and everything included.

I can imagine someone saying, " All this may be true enough, tout what is the present position of Esperanto ? and what is it likely to be in the immediate future ? Will it be of any use to me if T learn it V

To understand properly its present position we must briefly consider the birtli of the language. Seventeen years aso there was published in Poland a little brochure, entitled "An International Language, by Dr. Esperanto." This, .little 'book was published at his own expense by the author, Dr. Zamenhof, a Polish doctor who possessed neither money nor influence with which to back up his language. He published his book under an assumed name, fearing, that otherwise he might lose his practice through his patients thinking him eccentric, or a mere visionary busying himself with, side issues. It will therefore be seen that "Esperanto has had to de-

pend entirely upon its own merits, for whatever progress it has made in the world, it has had no backing by costly advertisements or highlypaid propagandists ; it wholly depended on its own power to rouse the interest and enthusiasm of the casual student.

]f Esperanto were going to die, it had ample opportunities to do so during the first half of its life. However, instead of going to join Latin and the other ancient languages which have gone to rest, Esperanto has now 100,000 adherents. With this number of active and enthusiastic propagandists — for we may reckon each one as sueh — scattered throughout the world, who can tell what the limits of its power will be in a few years ? Does it not look a bright, rosy future for " Nia kara lingvo ?" Do you wonder that we are optimistic ?

There are strong societies in every country in Europe, in Canada and in some of the republics of South America. At the end of 1903 the Esperanto cause was represented in Great Britain by thirteen societies, a monthly magazine and numerous text 'books, manuals,, etc., although twelve months before there were neither books nor societies in that country. As indicating the interest which has been aroused, 5000 text books were sold in Britain during that year.

An extensive literature has already grown up around the language, and as it has been contributed to by all nations, it is perhaps the most interesting of all literatures. Original work and translations are continually appearing, both in the form of books and in monthly periodicals. Among the English works which have been translated into Esperanto are several of Shakespeare's plays, Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," and many other standard works. Other nations have contributed similar gems from their classics, giving the foreign Esperantist privileges which hitherto only a few noted linguists have enjoyed.

There are now about eighteen monthly magazines published in various countries. Some of these are representative national organs, and are printed in the national language and Esperanto. The rest are international organs, and are printed wholly in Esperanto.

Among- these international orp-ans there is one for our scientists, " La Internacia Scienca Revuo " ("The Internationa] Scientific Eeview '"), and another for our young people, "La Juna Esperantisto " (" The Young Esperantist "). Both these journals appeal to large sections of our number, for scientists have been quick to see the practical uses of Esperanto, and young- people have been captivated by its beauty, simplicity, and, perhaps, also by its newness. Young people like to test new inventions.

All this goes to reveal the present position of Esperanto, and I do not think anyone will deny that it is a good position — in fact, we may now confidently predict that if it gains in the future as it lias done in the past, the time is not far off when it will be taught in every school throughout the world.

It is a healthy tree planted in a rich compost consisting of the needs of literature, science, commerce, international intercourse and the cause of universal peace— a very suitable compost for this kind of

tree. It has rooted well (100,000 little roots!) and now begins to grow, and it shall go on growing until it has covered the whole world, and all nations shall enjoy its fruits.

To the one who asks if Esperanto will he of any use to him if he should learn it, 1 answer " Yes, I believe it will." 1 shall indicate one or two ways that you might prove the uses of Esperanto. Even now you could travel through every country in Europe and find friends who are able to converse and correspond in this euphonious language — friends wlio would consider it a pleasure and a privilege to conduct you through their land. Co you collect stamps, post-cards or other foreign things ? There is published an " Adresaro " in which you will find the addresses of Esperantists in every part of the world who are willing to correspond, and with whom you could enter into communication with a view to exchange. If you learn Esperanto you will gain a knowledge of the. most (beautiful and most perfect language in existence, and, lastly, you will be able to share in and enjoy the great wealth of literature which each nation at present keeps to itself.

Bonan tagon, Nov-Zelandanoj ; Esperanto salutas yin !

(Good-day, New Zealanders ; Esperanto salutes you !).