International Language, Past, Present & Future / With Specimens of Esperanto and Grammar

by Walter John Clark

This chapter would not be complete without some account of the constitution 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 constitution. For the convenience of readers the Esperanto text and English translation are printed in parallel columns.

Deklaracio	Declaration
Ĉar pri la esenco de Esperantismo multaj havas tre malveran ideon, tial ni subskribintoj, reprezentantoj de la Esperantismo en diversaj landoj de la mondo, kunvenintaj al la Internacia Kongreso Esperantista en Boulogne-sur-Mer, trovis necesa, laŭ la propono de la aŭtoro de la lingvo Esperanto, doni la sekvantan klarigon:	Because many have a very false idea of the nature of Esperanto, therefore we, the undersigned, representing the cause of Esperanto in different countries of the world, having met together at the International Esperanto Congress in Boulogne-sur-Mer, have thought it necessary, at the suggestion of the author of the Esperanto language, to give the following explanation:
1. La Esperantismo estas penado disvastigi en la tuta mondo la uzadon de lingvo neŭtrale homa, kiu, "ne entrudante sin en la internan vivon de la popoloj kaj neniom celante elpuŝi la ekzistantajn lingvojn naciajn," donus al la homoj de malsamaj nacioj la eblon kompreniĝadi inter si, kiu povus servi kiel paciga lingvo de publikaj institucioj en tiuj landoj kie diversaj nacioj batalas inter si pri la lingvo, kaj en kiu povus esti publikigataj tiuj verkoj kiuj havas egalan intereson por ĉiuj popoloj.	1. Esperanto in its essence is an attempt to diffuse over the whole world a language belonging to mankind without distinction, which, "not intruding upon the internal life of the peoples and in nowise aiming to drive out the existing national languages," should give to men of different nations the possibility of becoming mutually comprehensible, which might serve as a peace-making language for public institutions in those lands where different nations are involved in strife about their language, and in which might be published those works which possess an equal interest for all peoples.
Ĉiu alia ideo aŭ espero kiun tiu aŭ alia Esperantisto ligas kun la Esperantismo estos lia afero pure privata, por kiu la Esperantismo ne respondas.	Any other idea or hope which this or that Esperantist associates with Esperanto will be his purely personal business, for which Esperanto is not responsible.
2. Ĉar en la nuna tempo neniu esploranto en la tuta mondo jam dubas pri tio, ke lingvo internacia povas esti nur lingvo arta, kaj ĉar, el ĉiuj multegaj provoj faritaj en la daŭro de la lastaj du centjaroj, ĉiuj prezentas nur teoriajn projektojn, kaj lingvo efektive finita, ĉiuflanke elprovita, perfekte vivipova, kaj en ĉiuj rilatoj pleje taŭga montriĝis nur unu sola lingvo, Esperanto, tial la amikoj de la ideo de lingvo internacia, konsciante ke teoria disputado kondukos al nenio kaj ke la celo povas esti atingita nur per laborado praktika, jam de longe ĉiuj grupiĝis ĉirkaŭ la sola lingvo, Esperanto, kaj laboras por ĝia disvastigado kaj riĉigado de ĝia literaturo.	2. Because at the present time no one who looks out over the whole world any longer doubts that an international language can only be an artificial one, and because, of all the very numerous attempts made in the course of the last two hundred years, all offer merely theoretical solutions, and only one single language, Esperanto, has shown itself to be in practice complete, fully tested on every side, perfectly capable of living use, and in every respect completely adequate, therefore the friends of the idea of international language, recognizing that theoretical discussion will lead to nothing and that the end can only be attained by practical and continuous effort, have long grouped themselves around one single language, Esperanto, and are labouring to disseminate it and to enrich its literature.
3. Ĉar la aŭtoro de la lingvo Esperanto tuj en la komenco rifuzis, unu fojon por ĉiam, ĉiujn personajn rajtojn kaj privilegiojn rilate tiun lingvon, tial Esperanto estas "nenies propraĵo," nek en rilato materiala, nek en rilato morala.	3. Because the author of the Esperanto language from the very beginning refused, once for all, all personal rights and privileges connected with that language, therefore Esperanto is "the property of no one," either from a material or moral point of view.
Materiala mastro de tiu ĉi lingvo estas la tuta mondo, kaj ĉiu deziranto povas eldonadi en aŭ pri tiu ĉi lingvo ĉiajn verkojn kiajn li deziras, kaj uzadi la lingvon por ĉiaj eblaj celoj kiel spiritaj mastroj de tiu ĉi lingvo estos ĉiam rigardataj tiuj personoj kiuj de la mondo Esperantista estos konfesataj kiel la plej bonaj kaj la plej talentaj verkistoj de tiu ĉi lingvo.	Materially speaking, the whole world is master of this language, and any one who wishes can publish in or about this language works of any kind he wishes, and go on using the language for any possible object; from an intellectual point of view those persons will always be regarded as masters of this language who shall be recognized by the Esperantist world as the best and most gifted writers in this language.
4. Esperanto havas neniun personan leĝdonanton kaj dependas de neniu aparta homo. Ĉiuj opinioj kaj verkoj de la kreinto de Esperanto havas, simile al la opinioj kaj verkoj de ĉiu alia Esperantisto, karakteron absolute privatan kaj por neniu devigan. La sola, unu fojon por ĉiam deviga por ĉiuj Esperantistoj, fundamento de la lingvo Esperanto estas la verketo Fundamento de Esperanto, en kiu neniu havas la rajton fari ŝanĝon. Se iu dekliniĝas de la reguloj kaj modeloj donitaj en la dirita verko, li neniam povas pravigi sin per la vortoj "tiel deziras aŭ konsilas la aŭtoro de Esperanto." Ĉiun ideon, kiu ne povas esti oportune esprimata per tiu materialo kiu troviĝas en la Fundamento de Esperanto, ĉiu havas la rajton esprimi en tia maniero kiun li trovas la plej ĝusta, tiel same kiel estas farate en ĉiu alia lingvo. Sed pro plena unueco de la lingvo, al ĉiuj Esperantistoj estas rekomendate imitadi kiel eble plej multe tiun stilon kiu troviĝas en la verkoj de la kreinto de Esperanto, kiu la plej multe laboris por kaj en Esperanto, kaj la plej bone konas ĝian spiriton.	4. Esperanto has no personal law-giver and depends upon no particular person. All opinions and works of the creator of Esperanto have, like the opinions and works of any other Esperantist, an absolutely private character, and are binding upon nobody. The sole foundation of the Esperanto language, which is once for all binding upon all Esperantists, is the little work Fundamento de Esperanto, in which no one has the right to make any change. If any one departs from the rules and models given in the said work, he can never justify himself with the words "such is the wish or advice of the author of Esperanto." In the case of any idea which cannot be conveniently expressed by means of that material which is contained in the Fundamento de Esperanto, every Esperantist has the right to express it in such manner as he considers most fitting, just as is done in the case of every other language. But for the sake of perfect unity in the language, it is recommended to all Esperantists to constantly imitate as far as possible that style which is found 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 ĉiu persono kiu scias kaj uzas la lingvon Esperanto, tute egale por kiaj celoj li ĝin uzas. Apartenado al ia aktiva societo Esperantista por ĉiu Esperantisto estas rekomendinda, sed ne deviga.	5. The name of Esperantist is given to every person who knows and uses the Esperanto language, no matter for what ends he uses it. Membership of some active Esperanto society is to be 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 latitude 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 class 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 instituted 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, Japan, 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 analyzed 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 constituted 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.