Esperanto as natural language [was RE: Learning simplified versions]

From: Fred Cisin Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 1:19 PM That is a question that has arisen in the context of creole studies and the study of linguistic universals in linguistics. Esperanto as defined by Zamenhof violates several apparent universals of human language, and speakers have smoothed out some of those rough edges. In addition, there are reports of native speakers of Esperanto, defined as children for whom it is the first language, learned in environments in which only Esperanto was spoken. These reports have been questioned, as one might imagine, but I personally have not followed up on them as they fall outside my personal interests. So: If there are children who speak it natively, then the answer to Fred's question is certainly "yes". Given the very large community for whom it is a useful second language, with literature as well, then the answer is "yes, probably". If it were restricted (as it is not) to a minimal vocabulary with no potential for growth, then the answer would be "certainly not". I'm of the "yes, probably" camp most of the time. Rich Alderson Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer Vulcan, Inc. 505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900 Seattle, WA 98104 mailto:RichA at vulcan.com mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/