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.
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...
Fruaj esperantistoj en Bohemujo: Josef Grňa kaj Jakub Arbes
Pardubice. Kutná Hora. Svitavy. Jevíčko. Hradec Králové. Smíchov. Ĉu vi iam ajn aŭdis tiujn loknomojn? Ne zorgu, ankaŭ mi ne – krom nur lastatempe. Ni komencu per kaj en Smíchov. En 2020 ESF malavare subvenciis mian projekton “Ĉu loka internaciisto? Bohemujo kaj centr-eŭropaj esperantistoj inter la loka, nacia kaj tutmonda niveloj (1880-aj – 1920)”. En la malfrua parto de la tiujara aŭgusto mi...
From Esperanto to Dothraki: a book review (2)
Piperski, Aleksandr: Конструирование языков: от эсперанто до дотракийского ‘Constructing Languages: from Esperanto to Dothraki’. Moscow, Alypina Non-Fikšn 2017, 224 paĝoj. ISBN 978-5-91671-1. This is the second part of a lengthy article by Stanislav Košecký (Slovakia). We published the introduction in August. The book is split into six chapters. The first is entitled An unattainable ideal, and...
Bulletin · Bulteno
Short bilingual announcements of publications and projects
Mallongaj dulingvaj anoncoj pri eldonaĵoj kaj projektoj
Contribute an item · Kontribui eron
A brief history of Esperanto · Mallonga historio de Esperanto
Here is a useful article by Joshua Holzer, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Westminster College, Missouri, entitled “A brief history of Esperanto, the 135-year-old language of peace hated by Hitler and Stalin alike”. Jen utila anglalingva artikolo de Joshua...
Zamenhof comic strip · Bildstrio pri Zamenhof
Jean-Pierre Cavelan has started a comic strip in French and Esperanto about the life of L. L. Zamenhof. All Esperanto speakers are invited to assist the work with criticisms, corrections, suggestions, (en/dis)couragement, etc. Jean-Pierre Cavelan komencis...
Esperanto, The Aggressor Language
The book Readings in Language Studies, Volume 7: Intersections of Peace and Language, published in 2019, has a final chapter by Timothy Reagan on “Esperanto, The Aggressor Language”, a US Army handbook from the early 1960s. La libro Readings in Language Studies,...
IKIKO 2022
The International Congress of Intercultural Communication (IKIKO), a virtual world gathering of local/national meetings, will take place from 8 to 12 November 2022. The topic is intercultural communication, with the aim of collecting ideas and showing non-Esperantists...
“Women” and men · “Women” kaj viroj
A recent article from the New York Times explains the curious history of the words female and woman, which are not derived from male and man (at least not in its modern sense). Girl and lady are also discussed. Lastatempa artikolo el New York Times klarigas la...
The language of happiness · La lingvaĵo de feliĉo
This article in Nature examines the vocabulary used in descriptions of happiness and reveals that positive lexical items play only a limited role in such reports. It also shows that compact lexical families accurately reflect a semantic categorisation of sources of...
Plurilingual parenting · Plurlingva gepatreco
Linguists have long paid attention to the idea of bilingual parenting, but a new appreciation of linguistic and cultural complexity has brought about an alternative approach. This short article explains how what experts call “plurilingualism” views language use as...
Genetic linguistics tracks human migration · Genetika lingvoscienco spuras homan migradon
By applying methods from population genetics – but using linguistic data rather than genes – scientists at the École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne have produced a series of maps showing historical migration events, including the migration of mountain farmers...
Rapid phonemic learning in the first hours of life · Rapida fonema lernado en la unuaj vivhoroj
Human neonates can discriminate phonemes, but the neural mechanism underlying this ability is poorly understood. This recent article in the scientific journal Nature shows that the neonatal brain can learn to discriminate natural vowels from backward vowels, a...
Trade-off between complex words and complex grammar · Kompromiso inter kompleksaj vortoj kaj kompleksa gramatiko
According to a new study of patients with primary progressive aphasia, people who have difficulty producing complex words compensate by stringing together a sequence of simpler words to convey the idea they wish to express. Laŭ nova studo pri pacientoj kun fruastadia...
AILA Congress 2023 · AILA-Kongreso 2023
Lyon, France will, from the 17th to 21th of July 2023, play host to the 20th World Congress of AILA (the International Association of Applied Linguistics) with the theme of “Diversity and social cohesion in a globalized world: towards more committed language...
Online CEFR exams off to a good start · Sukcese debutis la retaj KER-ekzamenoj
For the first six months of thus year Katalin Kováts, head of the KER-Ekzamena Centro, and her team were busy relaunching UEA’s examination system, testing the new C2 level, laying the technical foundations for online examination, and organizing the first online...
Koutny spoke at FIPLV congress · Koutny prelegis ĉe FIPLV-kongreso
The World Congress of FIPLV (International Federation of Language Teacher Associations) took place from the 27th to 29th of July in Warsaw. There, Ilona Koutny gave a lecture on the subject of “Developing intercultural competence through an intercultural language”. La...
Madella to speak at AALA 2022 · Madella prelegos ĉe AALA 2022
ILEI’s vice-president, Alessandra Madella, will lecture on activity around Esperanto examinations in Italy at AALA 2022, the 8th annual international conference of the Asian Association for Language Assessment, at the end of October in Chennai, India. La...
UEA archive now at the Austrian National Library · Arkivo de UEA nun ĉe la Aŭstria Nacia Biblioteko
The World Esperanto Association (UEA) has recently handed over "one of the most extensive and important archives about Esperanto and the international Esperanto movement" to the Austrian National Library (ÖNB). We draw your attention to the relevant press releases...
Academy directors elected · Akademio-direktoroj elektiĝis
By 29 July, all 45 members of the Academy of Esperanto had voted to elect its board and sectional directors for the period 2022–2025. Elected as board members were: Probal Dasgupta (president), Brian Moon and Bertilo Wennergren (vice-presidents) and François Lo Jacomo...
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