Re: Who castrated Esperanto?

On Feb 20, 11:58 am, Iain <iain_inks...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Feb 20, 5:17 am, Horace LaBadie <hwlabadi...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:



In article
<7bb3a0b2-2be0-4f13-b4a7-a9f5dc6ff...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,

 Iain <iain_inks...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Feb 19, 11:30 pm, Iain <iain inks...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Feb 19, 11:03 pm, Horace LaBadie

<hwlabadi...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article
<65339a0c-d3f5-4a6e-a2a5-01444a378...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,

 Iain <iain inks...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In English, for example, there is hardly any advantage in having
"autobiography" when "life story" will suffice.

Well, yes, there is. They mean different things.

Expand.

And even if they
didn't, why use two words when one will do?

Exactly!

Ok I see your point.

Presumably you meant: why use a phrase containing two words when a one-
word phrase will suffice?
The problem there is merely that it needs to be learned.
The three words "own life story" are closer to the cradle, and
"autobiography" is one thing more to learn.

--Iain

As learning division is one more thing to learn after subtraction, but
it makes things simpler. It's a bit idiotic not to learn new words,
especially useful ones.

Still missing the point. We're not talking about the wisdom of
forgetting English words. We're talking about how the smallness of
Esperanto's vocab is jolly nice.

Trying to limit the vocabulary of Esperanto is a losing battle. If
Esperanto is used as a language of general human-to-human
communication, it will necessarily become more and more similar to
natural languages and evolve in the same way they do. This will
involve the adoption of learned borrowings from the common vocabulary
of Western culture and, increasingly, from English (giko "nerd, geek"
is a case in point).

Contrary to the sort of linguists criticized by Piron, I do not think
Esperanto is somehow laughable, stupid, ridiculous or scary. But on
the other hand, I don't think Esperantists usually grasp how
preposterous the idea is that it could be possible to design a
language which is easier than national languages because it does away
with universal characteristics of natural languages. It is not
possible. That language will inevitably develop many of those
trappings which make your average national language a kind of inside
joke - idiomatic expressions, specific cultural references and so on.
Thus, the people who are told that you only need to master Zamenhof's
grammar to count as full-blood Esperantists are being had. The fact
is, that Esperanto is by now a language with a cultural package and a
history, very much like any national language.

I don't think it is a bad thing. I think that if anything it makes
Esperanto more interesting as a subject of study, in the same way that
national languages are interesting. But for people like you - and they
are found among opponents and proponents of Esperanto alike - the idea
of Esperanto as something fundamentally different from national
languages seems to be an axiom, and the thought of Esperanto as
essentially a natural human language with all the trappings, bells and
whistles of one is equally unsettling.
.

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