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.
Decoloniality “against” and “for” in English language teaching
Ingapirca Archeological Site, Ecuador. Inca’s Face (Cara del Inca). Photo by the author. English language educators in postcolonial countries such as Ecuador face two challenges. Firstly, they need to embrace the fact that they teach a colonial language using teaching methodologies developed by scholars from English-speaking former colonizers such as UK or US. The second challenge is that they...
“kontraŭ” kaj “por” Malkolonieco en anglalingva instruado
Ingapirca Arkeologia Ejo, Ekvadoro. Inkaoj Vizaĝo (Cara del Inca). Fotumite de la aŭtoro. Edukistoj de la angla en postkoloniaj landoj kiel Ekvadoro alfrontas du defiojn. Unue, ili devas akcepti la fakton, ke ili instruas kolonian lingvon pere de instrumetodaroj kiuj evoluiĝis el akademiuloj de anglalingvaj koloniistoj kiel la Unuiĝinta Reĝlando aŭ Usono. La dua defio estas, ke ili devas preni...
New Audio Guide for the Esperanto Museum of the Austrian National Library
The Esperanto Museum of the Austrian National Library, founded in 1927, is one of the most traditional language museums in the world. The museum not only presents the Esperanto language and topics from the history of the Esperanto movement, it also deals with people's relationship to languages and the language problem in general. The exhibition shows that Esperanto arose in specific and...
Nova aŭdgvidilo por la Esperantomuzeo de la Aŭstria Nacia Biblioteko
La Esperantomuzeo de la Aŭstria Nacia Biblioteko, fondita en 1927, estas unu el la plej tradiciriĉaj lingvomuzeoj en la mondo. La muzeo ne nur prezentas la lingvon Esperanto kaj temojn el la historio de la Esperanto-movado, ĝi ankaŭ pritraktas ĝenerale la rilaton de homoj al lingvoj kaj al la lingva problemo. La ekspozicio montras, ke Esperanto ekestis en specifaj kaj konkretaj, historiaj kaj...
Ĝisdatigo pri la Tekstaro kaj PIV
La laboroj pri la Tekstaro de Esperanto (la Tekstaro), kaj pri la estonta versio de la Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto (PIV) progresas intense. La du projektoj, ambaŭ financataj de Esperantic Studies Foundation, praktike kunfandiĝis en unu projekton, ĉar la tekstoj en la Tekstaro estas abunde uzataj por provizi PIV-on per ekzemploj de reala uzo. Ambaŭ projektojn gvidas Bertilo Wennergren....
Update on la Tekstaro and PIV
Work on the Textbook of Esperanto (la Tekstaro), and on the future version of the Full Illustrated Dictionary of Esperanto (PIV) is fiercely progressing. The two projects, both funded by the Esperantic Studies Foundation, have merged into one project, because the texts in la Tekstaro are used abundantly to provide PIV with real-use examples. Both projects are led by Bertilo Wennergren. The work...
The Esperanto Textbooks That Never Were
Among the many joys of doing research, my favourite is best described as “archival serendipity” – to find something you were not actually looking for. Few things are more attractive than pulling on a thread you never knew was there, just to see what might unravel. This is one of the reasons I tend to get particularly excited when the Special Collections catalogue describes an item as [place of...
La Esperantaj Lernolibroj Kiuj Neniam Estis
Esplorado alportas multajn momentojn da ĝojo, kaj mia preferata el tiaj momentoj plej bone priskribeblas per la esprimo “hazarda neplanita eltrovo en arkivoj”: trovi ion, kion oni fakte ne serĉis. Apenaŭ ekzistas io pli alloga ol tiri fadenon, pri kies ekzisto oni ne konsciis, nur por vidi, kio malnodiĝos. Tial mi sentas apartan eksciton, kiam la priskriboj en la Specialaj Kolektoj entenas...
Bulletin · Bulteno
Short bilingual announcements of publications and projects
Mallongaj dulingvaj anoncoj pri eldonaĵoj kaj projektoj
Contribute an item · Kontribui eron
ChatGPT: Advantages and Dangers of Artificial Intelligence – La Aplikaĵo ChatGPT: Avantaĝoj kaj Danĝeroj de Artefarita Inteligenteco en la Socio
The Costa Rican Spanish-language online newspaper Delfino.cr published an article by Professors Jorge Antonio Leoni de León (Computational Linguistics) and Edgar Casasola Murillo (Computer Sciences), both from the University of Costa Rica, in which they discuss the...
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...
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