Esperanto | |||
---|---|---|---|
Lingvo Internacia[1] | |||
Esperanto[2] | |||
Pronunciation | [espeˈranto] ⓘ | ||
Created by | L. L. Zamenhof | ||
Date | 1887 | ||
Setting and usage | International: most parts of the world | ||
Users | Native: c. 1,000 (2011)[3] L2: estimated 30,000 to 2 million | ||
Purpose | |||
Early form | |||
Latin script (Esperanto alphabet) Esperanto Braille | |||
Signuno | |||
Sources | Indo-European languages of Europe,[clarification needed] vocabulary largely derived from Romance languages | ||
Official status | |||
Regulated by | Akademio de Esperanto | ||
Language codes | |||
ISO 639-1 | eo | ||
ISO 639-2 | epo | ||
ISO 639-3 | epo | ||
epo | |||
Glottolog | espe1235 | ||
Linguasphere | 51-AAB-da | ||
Esperantujo: Number of individual UEA members per million population in 2020.
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Esperanto |
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Esperanto (/ˌɛspəˈrɑːntoʊ/, /-æntoʊ/)[7][8] is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (la Lingvo Internacia), it is intended to be a universal second language for international communication. He described the language in Dr. Esperanto's International Language (Unua Libro), which he published under the pseudonym Doktoro Esperanto. Early adopters of the language liked the name Esperanto and soon used it to describe his language. The word translates into English as 'one who hopes'.[9]
Within the range of constructed languages, Esperanto occupies a middle ground between "naturalistic" (imitating existing natural languages) and a priori (where features are not based on existing languages). Esperanto's vocabulary, syntax and semantics derive predominantly from languages of the Indo-European group. A substantial majority of its vocabulary (approximately 80%) derives from Romance languages, but it also contains elements derived from Germanic, Greek, and Slavic languages.[10] One of the language's most notable features is its extensive system of derivation, where prefixes and suffixes may be freely combined with roots to generate words, making it possible to communicate effectively with a smaller set of words.
Esperanto is the most successful constructed international auxiliary language, and the only such language with a sizeable population of native speakers, of which there are perhaps several thousand.[3] Usage estimates are difficult, but two estimates put the number of people who know how to speak Esperanto at around 100,000,[4] while the number of learners in the last decade certainly amount to several million due to its availability on Duolingo.[11][12] Concentration of speakers is highest in Europe, East Asia, and South America. Although no country has adopted Esperanto officially, Esperantujo ('Esperanto land') is used as a name for the collection of places where it is spoken. The language has also gained a noticeable presence on the internet, as it is becoming increasingly accessible on platforms such as Wikipedia, Amikumu, Google Translate and Duolingo.[13][14] Esperanto speakers are often called Esperantists (Esperantistoj). A number of reforms, known as Esperantidos, have been proposed over the years.
Rakontinte mallonge la tutan konstruon de l' "Lingvo internacia" kaj ĝian gramatikon,[...]
A simple calculation accompanied by reasonable refinements leads to a number of approximately two million Esperanto users within the internet community alone, probably significantly more worldwide
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