International Language Part 15

He began to learn English at a comparatively advanced stage of his education, and the simplicity of its grammar and syntax was a revelation to him. It had a powerful influence in helping him to frame his grammar, which underwent a new transformation. Specimens of the language as Zamenhof used to speak it with his school and student friends show a wide divergence from its present form. He seems to have had cruel disappointments, and was disillusioned by the falling away of youthful comrades who had promised to fight the battles of the language they practised with enthusiasm at school. During long years of depression work at the language seems to have been almost his one resource. Its absolute simplicity is deceptive as to the immense labour it must have cost a single man to work it out. This is only fully to be appreciated by one who has some knowledge of former attempts. Zamenhof himself admits that, if he had known earlier of the existence of Volapuk, he would never have had the courage to continue his task, though he was conscious of the superiority of his own solution. When, after long hesitation, he made up his mind to try his luck and give his language to the world, Volapuk was strong, but already involved in internal strife.

Zamenhof's book appeared first in Russian, and the same year (1887) French and German editions appeared at Warsaw. The first instruction book in English appeared in the following year. The only name on the t.i.tle-page is "St. J.," and it pa.s.sed quite unnoticed.

Progress was at first very slow. The first Esperanto society was founded in St. Petersburg, 1892, under the name of _La Espero_. As early as 1889 the pioneer Esperanto newspaper, _La Esperantisto_[1] conducted chiefly by Russians and circulated mainly in Russia, began to appear in Nuremberg, where there was already a distinguished Volapuk club, afterwards converted to Esperanto. Since then Nuremberg has continued to be a centre of light in the movement for an international language.

The other pioneer newspapers were _L'Espirantiste_, founded in 1898 at Epernay by the Marquis de Beaufront, and _La Lumo_ of Montreal.

[1]Afterwards prohibited in Russia, owing to the collaboration of Count Tolstoi, and transferred to Upsala under the name _Lingvo Internacia_. Since 1902 it has been published in Paris.

In Germany in the early days of Esperanto the great apostles were Einstein and Trompeter, and it was owing to the liberality of the latter that the Nuremberg venture was rendered possible.

Somewhat later began in France the activity of the greatest and most fervent of all the apostles of Esperanto, the Marquis de Beaufront.

By an extraordinary coincidence he had ready for the press a grammar and complete dictionary of a language of his own, named _Adjuvanto_.

When he became acquainted with Esperanto, he recognized that it was in certain points superior to his own language, though the two were remarkably similar. He suppressed his own scheme altogether, and threw himself heart and soul into the work of spreading Esperanto. In a series of grammars, commentaries, and dictionaries he expounded the language and made it accessible to numbers who, without his energy and zeal, would never have been interested in it. Among other well-known French leaders are General Sebert, of the French Inst.i.tute, M. Boirac, Rector of the Dijon University, and M. Gaston Moch, editor of the _Independance Belge_.

In England the pioneer was Mr. Joseph Rhodes, who, with Mr. Ellis, founded the first English group at Keighley in November 1902.[1]

Just a year later appeared the first English Esperanto journal, _The Esperantist_, edited by Mr. H. Bolingbroke Mudie, London. Since 1905 it has been incorporated with _The British Esperantist_, the official organ of the British Esperanto a.s.sociation. The a.s.sociation was founded in October 1904.

[1]The foundation of the London Esperanto Club took place at practically the same time, and the club became the headquarters of the movement in Great Britain.

The first international congress was held at Boulogne in August 1905. It was organized almost entirely by the president of the local group, M.

Michaux, a leading barrister and brilliant lecturer and propagandist. It was an immense success, and inaugurated a series of annual congresses, which are doing great work in disseminating the idea of international language. The second was held in Geneva, August 1906; and the third will be held at Cambridge, August 10-17, 1907. It is unnecessary to describe the congresses here, as an account has been given in an early chapter (see pp. 9-12 and 14-15 [Part I, Chapter III]).

Within the last three or four years Esperanto has spread all over the world, and fresh societies and newspapers are springing up on every side. Since the convincing demonstration afforded by the Geneva Congress, Switzerland is beginning to take the movement seriously. Many cla.s.ses and lectures have been held, and the university is also now lending its aid. In the present year (1907) an International Esperantist Scientific Office has been founded in Geneva, with M. Rene de Saussure as director, and amongst the members of the auxiliary committee are seventeen professors and eight privat-docents (lecturers) of the Geneva University.

Its object is to secure the recognition of Esperanto for scientific purposes, and to practically facilitate its use. To this end the office carries on the work of collecting technical vocabularies of Esperanto, with the aid of all scientists whose a.s.sistance it may receive. This is perhaps the most practical step yet taken towards the standardization of technical terms, which is so badly needed in all branches of science.

A universal language offers the best solution of the vexed question, because it starts with a clean sheet. Once a term has been admitted, by the competent committee for a particular branch of science, into the technical Esperanto vocabulary of that science, it becomes universal, because it has no pre-existent rivals; and its universal recognition in the auxiliary language will react upon writers' usage in their own language.

The Geneva office will also aid in editing scientific Esperantist reviews; and the chief existing one, the _Internacia Scienca Revuo_, will henceforth be published in Geneva instead of in Paris, as. .h.i.therto.

The two princ.i.p.al objects of the Esperantist Scientific a.s.sociation are:

1. Scientists should always use Esperanto during their international congresses.

2. Scientific periodicals should accept articles written in Esperanto (as they now do in the case of English, French, German, and Italian), and should publish in Esperanto a brief summary of every article written in a national language.

A few weeks after the Geneva Congress there was a controversy on the subject of Esperanto between two of the best known and most widely read Swiss and French newspapers-the Paris _Figaro_ and the _Journal de Geneve_. The respective champions were the Comte d'Haussonville, of the Academie Francaise, and M. de Saussure, a member of a highly distinguished Swiss scientific family; and the matter caused a good deal of interest on the Continent. France was, in this case, reactionary and _ancien regime_: the smaller Republic backed Esperanto and progress.

M. de Saussure brought forward facts, and the count served up the old arguments about Esperanto being unpatriotic and the prejudice it would inflict upon literature. The whole thing was a good ill.u.s.tration of a fact that is already becoming prominent in the history of the auxiliary language movement-the scientists are much more favourable than the literary men. As regards educational reform, the conservative att.i.tude of the cla.s.sicists is well known, though there are many exceptions, especially among real teachers. But it is somewhat remarkable that, when the proposed reform deals with language, those whose business it is to know about languages should not take the trouble to examine the scheme properly, before giving an opinion one way or the other.

As this question of the att.i.tude of literary men has, and will have, a vital bearing upon the prospects of international language, and consequently upon its history, this is perhaps the place to remove a misunderstanding. A distinguished literary man objected to the foregoing pa.s.sage as a stricture upon men of letters. His point was: "_Of course_ literary men care less for Esperanto than scientific men do: it _must_ be so, because they _need_ it less." Now this is quite true: there is little doubt that to-day science is, perhaps inevitably, more cosmopolitan than letters, whatever people may say about "the world-wide republic of letters." But it does not meet the point. Esperantists do not _complain_ because men of letters are not interested in Esperanto.

They have their own interests and occupations, and n.o.body would be so absurd as to make it a grievance that they will not submit to have thrust upon them a language for which they have no taste or use. What Esperantists do very strongly object to is that some literary men lend the weight of their name and position to irresponsible criticism. Let them take or leave Esperanto as seems good to them. Their _responsible_ opinions, _based upon due study of the question_, are always eagerly welcomed. But do not let them misrepresent Esperanto to the public, thereby unfairly prejudicing its judgment. Such action is unworthy of serious men. When a man puts forward criticisms of Esperanto based upon elementary errors of fact, or complains that Esperantists will not listen to reason because they ignore proposals for change, which have long ago been threshed out and found wanting, or are obviously unpractical, he is merely showing that he has not studied the question.

A fair a.n.a.logy would be the case of a chemist or engineer who had recently begun to dabble in Greek in his spare moments, and who should undertake to emend the text of Sophocles. His suggestions would show that he knew no Greek, that he had never heard of Sir Richard Jebb, and that he was ignorant of all the results of scientific textual criticism.

But here comes in the difference. Such a critic would be laughed out of court, and told to mind his own business, or else learn Greek before he undertook to emend it. But as international language is a novelty to most people, it is thought that any one can make, mend, or criticise it. It is not, like Greek, yet recognized as a serious subject, and therefore irresponsible criticism is too apt to be taken at its face value, merely on the _ipse dixit_ of the critic, especially if he happens to be an influential man in some other line. n.o.body bothers about his qualifications in international language; n.o.body either knows or cares whether he has any claim to be heard on the subject at all.

The fact is that international language now has a considerable history behind it. A large amount of experience has been ama.s.sed, and is now available for any one who is willing and competent to go into the question. But, in order to do fruitful work in this field, it is just as necessary as in any other to be properly equipped, and to know where others have left off, before you begin.

At the first international congress at Boulogne the history of Esperanto was well summed up in a thoughtful speech by Dr. Bein, of Poland, himself a considerable Esperantist author, using the _nom de guerre_ "Kabe." He pointed out that we are still in the first or propaganda stage of international language, in which it is necessary to hold congresses, and the language is treated as an end in itself. There is good hope that the second stage may soon be reached, in which the language may be sufficiently recognized to take its proper place as a means.

Meantime, the first stage of Esperanto has been marked by three phases or periods-the Russian period, the French period, and the international period. Each has left its mark upon the language.

The Russian period is a.s.sociated with the names of Kofman, Grabowski, Silesnjov, Gernet, Zinovjev, and many other writers of considerable literary power. Being the pioneers, they had to prove the capabilities of the language to the world, and in doing so they took off some of the rough of the world's indifference and scepticism. The language benefited by the fact that the first authors were Slavs. The simplicity of the Slav syntax, the logical arrangement of the sentences, the perfectly free and natural order of the words, pa.s.sed unconsciously from their native language to the new one in the hands of these writers, and have been imitated by their successors.

The French period is a.s.sociated chiefly with the name of M. de Beaufront. In Russia, side by side with the good points named above, certain less desirable Slavisms were creeping in; also there were hitherto no scientific dictionaries or explanation of syntax. As Dr.

Bein says, de Beaufront may be called "the codifier of Esperanto." A goodly band of French writers now took the language in hand, and by their natural power of expression and exposition, which seems inborn in a Frenchman, and by their national pa.s.sion for lucidity, they have no doubt strengthened the impulse of Esperanto towards clear-cut, vigorous style.

Possibly theorizing has been overdone in France; for, after all, the strong point of Esperanto syntax is that there is none to speak of, common sense being the guide. It is a pity to set up rules where none are necessary, or to do anything that can produce an impression in the minds of the uninitiated that learning Esperanto means anything approaching the memory drudgery necessary in grasping the rules and constructions of national languages.

The third period began soon after the turn of the century, and is still in full force. Take up any chance number of any Esperanto gazette out of the numbers that are published all over the world; you will hardly be able to draw any conclusion as to the nationality of the writer of the article you light upon, save perhaps for an occasional turn of an unpractised hand. Esperanto now has its style; it is-lucidity based upon common sense and the rudiments of a minimized grammar.

This chapter would not be complete without some account of the _const.i.tution_ of Esperanto, and the means which have been adopted to safeguard the purity of the language. It will be well to quote in full the Declaration adopted at Boulogne, in which its aim is set forth, and which forms, as it were, its written const.i.tution. For the convenience of readers the Esperanto text and English translation are printed in parallel columns.

DEKLARACIO DECLARATION

Car pri la esenco de Esperantis...o...b..cause many have a very false multaj havas tre malveran idea of the nature of Esperanto, ideon, tial ni subskribintoj, therefore we, the undersigned, reprezentantoj de la Esperantismo representing the cause of en diversaj landoj de la mondo, Esperanto in different countries kunvenintaj al la Internacia of the world, having met together Kongreso Esperantista en at the International Esperanto Boulogne-sur-Mer, trovis necesa, Congress in Boulogne-sur-Mer, lau la propono de la autoro have thought it necessary, at the de la lingvo Esperanto, doni la suggestion of the author of the sekvantan klarigon: Esperanto language, to give the following explanation:

1. La Esperantismo estas penado 1. Esperanto in its essence disvastigi en la tuta mondo is an attempt to diffuse over la uzadon de lingvo neutrale the whole world a language homa, kiu, "ne entrudante sin belonging to mankind without en la internan vivon de la distinction, which, "not intruding popoloj kaj neniom celante upon the internal life of the elpusi la ekzistantajn lingvojn peoples and in nowise aiming to naciajn," donus al la h.o.m.oj drive out the existing national de malsamaj nacioj la eblon languages," should give to komprenigadi inter si, kiu men of different nations the povus servi kiel paciga lingvo possibility of becoming mutually de publikaj inst.i.tucioj en tiuj comprehensible, which might serve landoj kie diversaj nacioj batalas as a peace-making language for inter si pri la lingvo, kaj en public inst.i.tutions in those kiu povus esti publikigataj tiuj lands where different nations are verkoj kiuj havas egalan intereson involved in strife about their por ciuj popoloj. language, and in which might be published those works which possess an equal interest for all peoples.

Ciu alia ideo au espero kiun tiu Any other idea or hope which this au alia Esperantisto ligas kun la or that Esperantist a.s.sociates Esperantismo estos lia afero pure with Esperanto will be his purely privata, por kiu la Esperantismo personal business, for which ne respondas. Esperanto is not responsible.

2. Car en la nuna tempo neniu 2. Because at the present time no esploranto en la tuta mondo one who looks out over the whole jam dubas pri tio, ke lingvo world any longer doubts that internacia povas esti nur lingvo an international language can arta, kaj car, el ciuj multegaj only be an artificial one, and provoj faritaj en la dauro de because, of all the very numerous la lastaj du centjaroj, ciuj attempts made in the course of prezentas nur teoriajn projektojn, the last two hundred years, kaj lingvo efektive finita, all offer merely theoretical ciuflanke elprovita, perfekte solutions, and only one single vivipova, kaj en ciuj rilatoj language, Esperanto, has shown pleje tauga montrigis nur unu itself to be in practice complete, sola lingvo, Esperanto, tial fully tested on every side, la amikoj de la ideo de lingvo perfectly capable of living use, internacia, konsciante ke teoria and in every respect completely disputado kondukos al nenio kaj adequate, therefore the friends ke la celo povas esti atingita of the idea of international nur per laborado praktika, jam de language, recognizing that longe ciuj grupigis cirkau theoretical discussion will lead la sola lingvo, Esperanto, kaj to nothing and that the end can laboras por gia disvastigado kaj only be attained by practical ricigado de gia literaturo. and continuous effort, have long grouped themselves around one single language, Esperanto, and are labouring to disseminate it and to enrich its literature.

3. Car la autoro de la lingvo 3. Because the author of the Esperanto tuj en la komenco Esperanto language from the very rifuzis, unu fojon por ciam, beginning refused, once for all, ciujn personajn rajtojn kaj all personal rights and privileges privilegiojn rilate tiun lingvon, connected with that language, tial Esperanto estas "nenies therefore Esperanto is "the proprajo," nek en rilato property of no one," either from a materiala, nek en rilato morala. material or moral point of view.

Materiala mastro de tiu ci lingvo Materially speaking, the whole estas la tuta mondo, kaj ciu world is master of this language, deziranto povas eldonadi en au and any one who wishes can pri tiu ci lingvo ciajn verkojn publish in or about this language kiajn li deziras, kaj uzadi la works of any kind he wishes, and lingvon por ciaj eblaj celoj go on using the language for kiel spiritaj mastroj de tiu ci any possible object; from an lingvo estos ciam rigardataj intellectual point of view those tiuj personoj kiuj de la mondo persons will always be regarded as Esperantista estos konfesataj kiel masters of this language who shall la plej bonaj kaj la plej talentaj be recognized by the Esperantist verkistoj de tiu ci lingvo. world as the best and most gifted writers in this language.

4. Esperanto havas neniun personan 4. Esperanto has no personal legdonanton kaj dependas de neniu law-giver and depends upon aparta h.o.m.o. Ciuj opinioj kaj no particular person. All verkoj de la kreinto de Esperanto opinions and works of the creator havas, simile al la opinioj kaj of Esperanto have, like the verkoj de ciu alia Esperantisto, opinions and works of any other karakteron absolute privatan kaj Esperantist, an absolutely private por neniu devigan. La sola, unu character, and are binding upon fojon por ciam deviga por ciuj n.o.body. The sole foundation of Esperantistoj, fundamento de la the Esperanto language, which is lingvo Esperanto estas la verketo once for all binding upon all _Fundamento de Esperanto_, en Esperantists, is the little work kiu neniu havas la rajton fari _Fundamento de Esperanto_, in sangon. Se iu deklinigas de la which no one has the right to make reguloj kaj modeloj donitaj en any change. If any one departs la dirita verko, li neniam povas from the rules and models given pravigi sin per la vortoj "tiel in the said work, he can never deziras au konsilas la autoro justify himself with the words de Esperanto." Ciun ideon, kiu "such is the wish or advice of ne povas esti oportune esprimata the author of Esperanto." In the per tiu materialo kiu trovigas case of any idea which cannot be en la _Fundamento de Esperanto_, conveniently expressed by means of ciu havas la rajton esprimi en that material which is contained tia maniero kiun li trovas la in the _Fundamento de Esperanto_, plej gusta, tiel same kiel estas every Esperantist has the right to farate en ciu alia lingvo. Sed express it in such manner as he pro plena unueco de la lingvo, considers most fitting, just as is al ciuj Esperantistoj estas done in the case of every other rekomendate imitadi kiel eble plej language. But for the sake of multe tiun stilon kiu trovigas perfect unity in the language, it en la verkoj de la kreinto de is recommended to all Esperantists Esperanto, kiu la plej multe to constantly imitate as far as laboris por kaj en Esperanto, kaj possible that style which is found la plej bone konas gian spiriton. in the works of the creator of Esperanto, who laboured the most abundantly for and in Esperanto, and who is best acquainted with the spirit of it.

5. Esperantisto estas nomata 5. The name of Esperantist is ciu persono kiu scias kaj uzas given to every person who knows la lingvon Esperanto, tute egale and uses the Esperanto language, por kiaj celoj li gin uzas. no matter for what ends he uses Apartenado al ia aktiva societo it. Membership of some active Esperantista por ciu Esperantisto Esperanto society is to be estas rekomendinda, sed ne deviga. recommended for every Esperantist, but this is not compulsory.

By the wise provision of Article 4, that the entire grammar and framework of Esperanto, as contained within one small book of a few pages, is absolutely unchangeable, the future of the language is secured. The _Fundamento_ also contains enough root words to express all ordinary ideas. Henceforth the worst thing that can happen to Esperanto by way of adulteration is that some authors may use too many foreign words. The only practical check upon this, of course, is the penalty of becoming incomprehensible. But as men are on the whole reasonable, and as the only object of writing in Esperanto presumably is to appeal to an Esperantist international public, this check should be sufficient to prevent the use of any word that usage is not tending to consecrate.

A certain lat.i.tude of expansion must be allowed to every language, to enable it to move with the times; but beyond this, surely few would have any interest in foisting into their discourse words which their hearers or readers would not be likely to understand, and those few would probably belong to the cla.s.s who do the same thing in using their mother-tongue. No special legislation is needed to meet their case.

For a few years (1901-1905) the publishing house of Hachette had the monopoly of official Esperanto publications, and no work published elsewhere could find place in the "Kolekto Esperanto aprobita de D-ro Zamenhof." But at the first congress Zamenhof announced that he had given up even this control, and Esperanto is now a free language.

The official authority, which deals with all matters relating to the language itself, is the _Lingvo Komitato_ (Language Committee). It was inst.i.tuted at the first congress, and consists of persons appointed for their special competence in linguistic matters. The original members numbered ninety-nine, and represented the following twenty-eight countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chili, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, j.a.pan, Mexico, Norway, Persia, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

This committee decides upon its own organization and procedure.

In practice it selects from among the points submitted to it by Esperantists those worthy of consideration, and propounds them to its members by means of circulars. It then appoints a competent person or small committee to report upon the answers received. Decisions are made upon the result of the voting in the members' replies to the circulars, as a.n.a.lyzed and tabulated in the report. The functions of the committee do not include the making of any alteration whatever in the Esperanto part of the _Fundamento de Esperanto_, which is equally sacrosanct for it and for all Esperantists. But there is much to be done in correcting certain faulty translations of the fundamental Esperanto roots into national languages, in defining their exact meaning and giving their authorized equivalent in fresh languages, into which they were not originally translated. Also the constantly growing output of grammars and instruction books of all kinds in every country, to say nothing of dictionaries, which are very important, has to be carefully watched, in order that errors may be pointed out and corrected before they have time to take root.

Thus the Lingva Komitato is in no sense an academy or legislative body, having for object to change or improve the language; it is the duly const.i.tuted and widely representative authority, which watches the spread and development of the language, maintaining its purity, and helping with judicious guidance.

From this sketch it ought to be clear that Esperanto is no wild-cat scheme of enthusiasts or faddists, but a wisely organized attempt to wipe out the world's linguistic arrears. Its aim is to bring progress in oral and written communication into line with the progress of material means of communication and of science.

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