Language is the backbone of and an essential element of human communication and allows humans to express themselves. However, in a world with multiple languages, people have found it challenging to find one common language that can be spoken globally, helping to breach linguistic barriers and promote global understanding and unity. One language fronted and advocated by scholars and linguistics alike is the adoption of Esperanto, an artificial language, as an international auxiliary language. Created by Lazaro Ludoyiko Zamenhof in 1887, Esperanto is primarily based on the lexicons of several European languages, an alphabet language dominated by a relatively simple syntax and morphology and a learner-friendly phonology. Many opponents of the Esperanto language argue that introducing the Esperanto language would result in serious problems. For example, native English speakers who have invested much time, money, and energy in mastering it may lose their advantage and some of their privileges. However, despite these opponents’ views, adopting Esperanto as an auxiliary language will yield several advantages for speakers and the whole globe. This paper, therefore, seeks to examine various perspectives in support of why the world should adopt Esperanto as an auxiliary language from the point of view of language ideologies, including culture, identity, writing systems, education, language policies, economics, and social networks.
Linguistic Equality
Esperanto has been established to promote cultural unity and linguistic equality among many populations. Specifically, advocates of Esperanto argue that thanks to the language’s characteristics of being easily adapted to local, culturally specific meanings, there is practically no limit to the kinds of genres in which an individual may want to communicate in Esperanto, including literary genres such as poetry, promotional flyers of interest groups such as chess clubs, theatrical performance, and comics and others. It, therefore, means that regardless of the speaker affiliation, Esperanto offers a rich language vocabulary that can be modified to fit the speaker’s message, allowing the speaker to meet their aims and needs. Also, unlike English, Spanish, and French, Esperanto is no one’s first language, and thus no one will feel disadvantaged when communicating with other Esperantists. Such gives every speaker the right to modify the language how they wish it best fits their needs without many restrictions.
Promoting Cultural Unity
Amid the existence of many cultures worldwide, Esperanto acts as a medium for promoting cultural unity across diverse societies. Esperanto is intended to be an auxiliary
language facilitating interethnic encounters in international settings, which makes it an ideal choice for a non-hegemonic language for wider communication. With the possible exception of English-speaking communities, all countries, and speakers of other languages will benefit from creating a neutral artificial language, especially Esperanto. Speakers from diverse backgrounds can actively use the language without historical or political tensions between the native languages, exchanging cultural information such as traditions, customs, music, literature, and other aspects of culture with a wider audience. Through this auxiliary language, individuals can learn to appreciate and celebrate cultural diversity while embracing a common language for information exchanges. A typical example where there has been a success is the Esperanto movement in China. The advocates of communism greatly recognize the need to communicate with the people outside of China, recognizing that English may not be suitable for such purposes, especially because Chinese learners found it difficult to master. The outcome necessitated the adoption of Esperanto to attain a common communication medium that allowed the mainland Chinese to share their values and practices with others, ultimately enhancing cultural exchanges.
Redefining Individuals Identity
Contact languages are linked to community identity, which can be true of constructed and auxiliary languages such as the Esperanto community. Many Esperanto learners may learn to alter their worldviews as they appreciate the relationship between identity and language. Such a widening viewpoint makes people appreciate other real-world languages and cultures outside their reach. The outcome is that people learn to learn what forms their identity, creating a sense of belonging within a larger community forming a community of fervent true believers who do not care about what others think of them. Additionally, Esperantists perceive each other as members of the same Gemeinschaft community, comrades or ideological partners. This explains why the communication between the members is pervaded with strong sense of solidarity and communion. Their view of togetherness and unity helps create a sense of belonging within a larger group, helping define one’s identity.In addition, from an identity perspective, learning and using Esperanto can shape an individual’s identity in other ways. For some individuals, the learning experience of a neutral language can be a hobby that brings about self-fulfillment and joy. For others, the experience may be a form of personal growth, self-discovery, and self-expression. Ultimately, through such fulfilments, individuals and groups may feel connected to other like-minded individuals with the same aspirations and ambitions, which may form a sense of belonging to a certain group.
Writing Systems and Global Access
Esperanto allows for easy combinability of morphemes through productive word formation which may be absent in other languages that have distinct patterns and rules that need to be followed at any given. The ability to combine morphemes to create words in Esperanto is guided by the internal valency occurring between morphemes. This makes it easier for language learners create relevant words, making it easier to learn and communicate effectively. Additionally, the Esperanto language has word formation that constitutes an open system that is autonomous and does not depend on an external linguistic model as in other natural languages such as English, French, and Spanish. The feature gives the learners the ability to modify the language to fit a given word-formation that is easy to learn and comprehend. For this reason, the Esperanto word formation is very productive and elastic, making it a suitable language for learners to communicate and express themselves.
Education and International Economics Enrichment
The development of Esperanto as an auxiliary language will also have positive implications in the domains of education and international communication, especially regarding the economy of resources and time. This is especially so if the number of individuals conversant and literate in Esperanto has risen and reached a critical mass. For instance, scholars and researchers alike estimate that adopting Esperanto as an auxiliary language can save much of the learning time which could be put into meaningful use such as helping the younger generation to deepen knowledge in selected areas or develop certain practical skills. Such can help have a productive generation that may contribute to the general well-being of society. In addition, the expenses of translating different texts would be significantly reduced in the international space, such as in international conferences and meetings. Experts demonstrate that translation and interpretation services can be very costly, and it will be more cost-effective to use one shared language as a business lingua franca. Countries and international organizations will thus have an opportunity for cost savings and these saved costs can be redirected to other areas of the economy or organization departments. The People’s Republic of China clearly demonstrates this function during the Cold War between China and the Soviet Union. As it was impractical to publish and distribute materials in every Eastern European language, Esperanto provided a reliable and efficient language to disseminate information about the new China to various readers in the Eastern European bloc.
Creation of Social Networks
As an international auxiliary language, Esperanto has a global community of speakers who use various platforms and methods to create social networks through social media communities to connect with one another. Platforms like Reddit and Facebook host active Esperanto-speaking communities where people can discuss various topics, share resources, and connect with other Esperantists. The approach has long acted as a bridge joining the eastern, and western parts of the world in general and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in particular. The connection has acted as a means that different users can make new social connections with like-minded individuals with whom they can share various information. Esperanto communities and speakers like the BRICS Esperanto speaking community often organize and attend events, conferences, and gatherings worldwide. The events will provide opportunities for Esperantists to meet face to face, practice speaking the language, and form new friendship networks that will be key in social networking.
Easy of Learning
The Esperanto language has an easily grasped phonology that makes it easier for international learners to learn and adopt. The lexical structure, Latinate, is fairly simple for many learners, which also applies to phonology, specifically so for the speakers of European languages. The simple vowel system consisting of 5 vowels compared to English or French also allows a relatively easy acquisition for non-Europeans. In addition, even though the consonant systems present a few difficulties, the sound system is generally acceptable, which is also true for Africans of various linguistic backgrounds. Thus, adopting Esperanto will not limit the type of learners that can learn the language but will enhance those willing to effortlessly acquire a new language that is easy to acquire compared to other natural languages adopted globally. The easy-to-learn approach also allows speakers with no native language to adopt Esperanto as their first language and be able to connect with those speaking the same language without spending a substantial amount of time learning the hard-to-acquire languages.
Support for Minority Languages
There is a common belief that the use of Esperanto may hamper the use of other languages. However, contrary to this belief, Esperanto’s neutrality and inclusivity make it valuable tool for the preservation, supporting and promotion of minority languages that offers speakers a global platform to share their cultural and linguistic heritage. For instance, in Esperanto dominant communities, when children are born, they may acquire or be exposed to different other languages, especially from neighboring children, surrounding communities, and the childcare and school systems. However, a common language may offer concrete support for the children to learn how to speak one language while learning to use the other. This is also the case in the educational systems. Introducing Esperanto into the school curriculum may provide students with valuable cultural and linguistic skills, subsequently promoting multilingualism. Thus, with little effort to learn the language in school compared to other languages, learners learn to adopt a second language to support their information acquisition.
Conclusively, despite the use of Esperanto being criticized by some scholars, its use as an auxiliary language may offer scholars and speakers alike substantial benefits. Given that the language does not belong to one specific speaker, its use may entitle users to one common communication language that may help promote linguistic equality. Additionally, the language offers speakers a platform to exchange cultural information, helping promote global understanding among communities. Also, the language has helped create a common community keen on embracing shared beliefs and values which has helped redefine people’s identity. Moreover, adopting the Esperanto as an auxulliary language may offers users easy to learn language owing to its easy word formation, phonology and morphemes making it easier for speakers to forma and use words easily. In education and economics, the language may help promote easy acquisition of words eliminating the need to have translators who may be expensive to hire thus posing a major cost saving for countries and organization. In the social front, the language may help support minority languages helping speakers to connect with people from different backgrounds. Ultimately, Esperanto will pose major advantages to speakers and community, given the language simplicity, neutrality, ability to connect people from different backgrounds, its support for languages and education, redefining identity and culture.
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