CORRESPONDENCE NOTES.

Dear Sir,—A matter which requires the careful attention of those who desire to make themselves perfectly intelligible to all, irrespective of nationality, is the correct use of prepositions. In English the same preposition is often employed to express many diverse ideas, and it therefore becomes desirable to consider this when translating prepositions into Esperanto.

Of course it is often possible to evade the difficulty by using the accusative without a preposition, and one is often tempted to employ the invaluable "je." As, however, this latter practice should not be indulged in too frequently, it may be of interest to many of your readers to consider some phases of our preposition "of."

  1. The first word of the line.
    La unua vorto de la linio.
  2. One of us will be chosen.
    Unu el ni estos elektata.
  3. Do not think of it.
    Ne pensu pri ĝi.
  4. The best means of obtaining it.
    La plej bonaj metodoj por ricevi ĝin.
  5. The Professor of the school.
    La Profesoro ĉe la lernejo.
  6. A great number of ideas.
    Granda nombro da ideoj.
  7. The largest room of the house.
    La plej granda ĉambro en la domo.
  8. The largest of all the trees in the garden.
    La plej granda inter ĉiuj la arboj en la ĝardeno.

When in doubt as to which preposition should be used, try the sentence with all the possible forms, and the correct, logical, preposition will almost always be obvious.

Esperantisto, 8105.

Several friends have called attention to the apparent misprint in the word Trinki, thinking it should be Drinki. There is, however, an important difference between the two. Trink’ (as "made in Germany") is used for the ordinary drinking of man and beast; but with shame we admit that our own vocabulary provided Dr. Zamenhof with the drink’ which represents the excessive tipplings of men and beasts. Let us beware of calling our friends "Drinkuloj" during the dog-days. Trinkulo is the more usual and agreeable word.

Having had occasion to write to the Remington firm on a matter of business, a reply was received in Esperanto, concluding with a question of general interest regarding the sound of "Scii." This word, represented phonetically, does present some difficulty. S-ts-ee-ee is not easy to pronounce. In practice one should elide the first "s" on to the vowel immediately preceding. Thus mi scias is pronounced mis cias.

The pronunciation of the vowels in Esperanto still seems to give some difficulty, for a correspondent queries the sounds of vowels when followed by "r."

Esperanto is a phonetic language. "One letter, one sound," is one of its invariable rules. Therefore, no matter what the letters adjacent to those vowels may be, their value is invariable. Take the word "per" for example. This is sounded as the English "pay," followed by "r," which is slightly trilled, and not silent, as it often is in English. The writer was once talking in Esperanto with a French expert, and at the termination of the conversation asked if there were any noticeable differences between the English and French methods of pronunciation. "None whatever" was the reply, except perhaps in the value of the letter "r."

Beginners must therefore be careful to sound this letter; and, with regard to the vowels, students cannot dwell too much on them at first. Dr. Lloyd, in his most able article on Esperanto, in the current Westminster Review, says that the vowels are neither long nor short, but have a middle value. This is a very happy description of Esperanto vowels as they are spoken, and if beginners are careful to keep them long at first the middle value will assert itself as fluency is attained.

Some of the suffixes are very difficult to define. Many learners have believed that only concrete substances could be represented by the use of the suffix "aĵ." Such words as bonaĵoj, amikaĵoj, etc., they would do away with, and replace by boneco, amikeco, etc. On giving the matter a little thought, however, it is quite clear that there is a distinct difference between amikaĵoj and amikeco. Whereas the latter means friendship pure and simple, amikaĵoj represent the friendly actions which are the outcome of the state of friendship. The nearest English equivalent to define amikaĵoj is friendlinesses. Similarly bonaĵoj are goodnesses, or good actions, which necessarily arise from the state of goodness, as represented by the abstract suffix "ec."