Esperantic Studies Foundation (ESF) was established in 1968 as a vehicle for promoting scholarly research and dialogue on issues concerned with world language problems and language policy and planning. It works to promote the understanding and implementation of linguistic justice in a multicultural world through three priority areas: Research, Conservation and Education, supported by a system of grants and awards. This blog, ESF Connected, showcases recent activities and achievements within ESF’s priority areas, and the work of ESF and others more generally.
The early days of Esperanto in Bohemia
Prague is a stunningly beautiful city. When you wander around the city centre you will hear a myriad of languages. Perhaps not Esperanto, yet it is there if you look for it. If you walk across the Old Town Square towards the Powder Tower you will see the Charles University Bookshop on the right-hand side. It is a gem of a bookshop. Whenever I visit, my first stop is the history section, then...
La fruaj tagoj de Esperanto in Bohemujo
Prago estas mirinde bela urbo. Kiam oni vagas tra la urbocentro, oni aŭdas miriadon da lingvoj. Eble ne Esperanton, sed ĝi tamen ĉeestas, se oni serĉas ĝin. Se oni transiras la Malnovurban Placon direkte al la Pulva Pordego, oni vidas dekstre la Librovendejon de la Karola Universitato. Tiu librovendejo estas juvelo. Kiam ajn mi vizitas, mi iras unue al la sekcio pri historio, poste al la sekcio...
Conlang Excursions 7: Esperanto in a parallel universe
Just a few steps away in the infinite multiverse, a version of you is reading this in Volapük. Volapük was the first international language to achieve any noticeable success. A German Catholic priest called Johann Martin Schleyer (rhymes with “higher”) devised it on a sleepless night in 1879, attributing the idea to divine inspiration. He published the following year. According to Charles E....
Planlingvaj ekskursoj 7: Esperanto en paralela universo
Nur kelketajn paŝojn for en la senlima multuniverso, varianto de vi legas ĉi tion en Volapuko. El la internaciaj lingvoj Volapuko estis la unua, kiu atingis ian rimarkeblan sukceson. Germana katolika pastro nomita Johann Martin Schleyer (“Ŝlajer”) elpensis ĝin en sendorma nokto en 1879, atribuante la ideon al dia inspiro. Li publikigis en la posta jaro. Laŭ la Man-libro de Volapuko de Charles E....
The Esperanto World Congress that almost did not happen: Barcelona, 1909
Since their origins, Esperanto World Congresses have been more than a celebration. They are living proof of Esperanto’s success and popularity. The benefits congresses bring to the movement are beyond question and have been thoroughly discussed within both Esperantism and academia. Yet there is more to them. Like Eurovision or the Olympic Games, the World Congresses offer the hosting nation a...
El Congreso Mundial de Esperanto que casi no sucede: Barcelona, 1909
Desde sus orígenes, los Congresos Mundiales de Esperanto han sido más que una celebración. Son la prueba viviente del éxito y la popularidad del Esperanto. Los beneficios que los congresos aportan al movimiento están fuera de toda duda y han sido discutidos a fondo tanto en el esperantismo como en la academia. Sin embargo, es mucho más que eso. Al igual que Eurovisión o los Juegos Olímpicos, los...
La Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, kiu preskaŭ ne okazis: Barcelono, 1909
Jam de siaj originoj la Universalaj Kongresoj de Esperanto estas pli ol festo. Ili estas vivanta pruvo pri la sukceso kaj populareco de Esperanto. La avantaĝoj portataj de la kongresoj al la movado estas nekontesteblaj kaj oni ĝisfunde diskutis ilin en Esperantujo same kiel en universitatoj. Ili tamen enhavas pli. Kiel Eŭrovido aŭ la Olimpiaj Ludoj, la Universalaj Kongresoj proponas al la...
Early Esperantists in Bohemia: Josef Grňa and Jakub Arbes
Pardubice. Kutná Hora. Svitavy. Jevíčko. Hradec Králové. Smíchov. Have you ever heard of any of these places? Worry not, me neither – at least not until recently. Let us start with and in Smíchov. In 2020, the ESF generously funded my project “Local Internationalist? Bohemia and Central European Esperantists between the local, national and global (1880s-1920)”. In late August that year, I...
Bulletin · Bulteno
Short bilingual announcements of publications and projects
Mallongaj dulingvaj anoncoj pri eldonaĵoj kaj projektoj
Contribute an item · Kontribui eron
How language evolved in Africa · Kiel lingvo evoluis en Afriko
When did humans first begin to speak, which speech sounds were uttered first, and when did language evolve from those humble beginnings? George Poulos, interviewed here, has spent most of his academic career researching the phonetic and linguistic structures of...
The BBC on Interlingua · BBC pri Interlingua
The BBC published a video in Spanish about the constructed language Interlingua on its YouTube channel on 26 January 2023. Journalist Laura García talks concisely and positively about the history and grammar of Interlingua. Linguist Professor Carlos Valcárcel Riveiro...
Algorithmic detection of Alzheimer’s by analysis of speech · Algoritma detektado de la alchejmera malsano per parolanalizo
The artificial intelligence algorithms behind the chatbot ChatGPT may one day be able to help doctors detect the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Recent research has demonstrated that OpenAI's GPT-3 program can identify clues from spontaneous speech that are 80%...
The universal sound of swearing · La universala sono de sakrado
Swear words across different languages tend to lack certain sounds such as L, R and W, suggests new research. These sounds may appear less offensive to listeners. Sakrovortoj en diversaj lingvoj emas malhavi iujn sonojn kiel L, R kaj Ŭ, laŭ sugesto de nova esploro....
The future of linguistic diversity · La estonteco de lingva diverseco
Language diversity is under threat. While each language is subject to specific social, demographic and political pressures, there may also be common threatening processes. This article in Nature uses an analysis of 6,511 spoken languages with 51 predictor variables...
Master’s programme in Poznań · Magistra programo en Poznano
November 2022 saw the start of the 2-year Master’s programme in interlinguistics as a specialist field of linguistics and information management at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. The roadmap for these unique studies includes subjects from linguistics...
Belarta rikolto 2022
From November the World Esperanto Association (UEA)’s bookshop has been offering the book “Belarta rikolto 2022” (Harvest of Fine Arts 2022), containing the prize-winning works from UEA’s 73rd Fine Arts Contest, as announced this year during the 107th World Congress...
Why does language diversity matter? · Kial gravas lingva diverseco?
This recent article in The New Indian Express summarises the history of India as a linguistically plural nation: “Language is one issue for governments, quite another for the people. Governments look at language as a burden on the exchequer, a potential trigger for...
Introductory book on language politics · Enkonduka libro pri lingvopolitiko
Published very early this year is the book Epistemological and Theoretical Foundations in Language Policy and Planning by Michele Gazzola, Federico Gobbo, David Cassels Johnson and Jorge Antonio Leoni de León. It is a short introductory book on language politics for...
The 2nd Conference of the Academy · La 2-a Konferenco de la Akademio
Zamenhof Day, 14 December, was originally Esperanto Book Day, and it was the date chosen by the Esperanto Academy for its second conference and the announcement of its laureate for the year. Ten members of the Academy spoke via Zoom about ten aspects of Esperanto that...
International Conference on Psychology, Language and Teaching · Internacia Konferenco pri Psikologio, Lingvo kaj Instruado
The International Conference on Psychology, Language and Teaching (ICPLT-2023) will be held in Istanbul, Turkey from 20 to 21 January 2023. Sponsored by the International Institute of Engineers and Researchers (IIER), it aims to be one of the leading international...
Power, lust and zinc · Povo, volupto kaj zinko
From 4 to 12 December 2021 the Dutch city of Maastricht hosted an exhibition entitled Macht, Wellust en Zink (“Power, Lust and Zinc”), which used historical documents and modern installations to recount the history of the industrial landscape and of Neutral Moresnet....
The power of language planning · La potenco de lingvoplanado
An article entitled “Before there was Language Policy, there was Language Planning”, posted in September last year, discusses the goals and consequences of language planning. Artikolo sub la titolo “Antaŭ ol ekzistis lingvopolitiko, ekzistis lingvoplanado”, afiŝita en...
Linguistics and fake news · Lingvistiko kaj falsaj novaĵoj?
A team of linguists at the University of Oslo is working with computer scientists and artificial intelligence researchers to see whether there are linguistic differences between real and fake news texts in Norwegian, English and Russian. Their goal is to improve...
“Baby talk” similar across many languages · Albeba parolado similas en multaj lingvoj
A recent study has revealed that baby talk, also known as infant-directed speech, displays similar properties across 36 languages. Caregivers generally talk to very young children in a high-pitched, slow-paced, animated manner. Lastatempa esploro malkovris, ke albeba...
AI raises questions about innate grammar · AI starigas demandojn pri denaska gramatiko
For years, many linguists have believed that learning language is impossible without a built-in grammar template. But new AI models such as GPT-3 prove otherwise, demonstrating that the ability to produce grammatical language can be learned from linguistic experience...
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