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Native Esperanto speakers ( Esperanto: denaskuloj or denaskaj esperantistoj) are people who have acquired Esperanto as one of their native languages. As of 1996, there were 350 or so attested cases of families with native Esperanto speakers. [1] [2] Estimates from associations indicate that there were around 1,000 Esperanto-speaking families, involving perhaps 2,000 children in 2004. [3] In the majority of such families, the parents had the same native language, though in many the parents had different native languages, and only Esperanto in common. [2] [4]
Raising children in Esperanto occurred early in the history of the language, notably with the five children of Montagu Butler (1884–1970). Owing to this, some families have passed Esperanto on to their children over several generations. [5] Also notable are young Holocaust victim Petr Ginz, [6] whose drawing of the planet Earth as viewed from the Moon was carried aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, and Daniel Bovet, [7] the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
In at least one instance, Esperanto was used as a bridge language for a family started by a couple who did not have a native language in common. [8]
Esperanto is not the primary language of any geographic region, though it is spoken at events such as conventions like the World Congress of Esperanto and isolated offices, such as the World Esperanto Association's central office in Rotterdam. Consequently, native speakers have limited opportunity to meet one another except where meetings are specially arranged. For that reason, many parents consider it important to bring their children regularly to Esperanto conventions such as the annual "Renkontiĝo de Esperanto-familioj" (or "Esperantistaj familioj"; REF, since 1979). Similarly, the annual Children's Congress of Esperanto happens alongside the largest Esperanto convention, the World Congress of Esperanto (Universala Kongreso).
Below is a list of noted native Esperanto speakers. The billionaire George Soros has often appeared on such lists, but Humphrey Tonkin, the translator of Soros' father's memoir Maskerado ĉirkaŭ la morto into English (under the title Masquerade: The Incredible True Story of How George Soros’ Father Outsmarted the Gestapo), has disputed this. He has made no statements either way concerning Soros' brother.
The Esperanto of native-speaking children differs from the standard Esperanto spoken by their parents. In some cases this is due to interference from their other native language (the adstrate), but in others it appears to be an effect of acquisition.
Bergen (2001) found the following patterns in a study of eight native-speaking children, aged 6 to 14, who were bilingual in Hebrew (two siblings), Slovak (two siblings), French, Swiss German, Russian, and Croatian. [2]
Among children that do use the accusative, its usage may be regularized from adult usage, at least at young ages. For example, when a screw dropped out of a lock, a young (≤ 5-year-old) child said it malvenis la pordon. Besides the novel use of mal- with veni 'to come' to mean 'come away from', the accusative is not used in adult speech for motion away, but only motion towards. However, in this case the child generalized the usage of the accusative for direct objects. [3]
Lindstedt, on the other hand, referencing Bergen's study, contends that "it is difficult to find convincing examples of changes introduced by the process of nativisation. All examples proposed seem rather to be due to (1) transfers from the children’s other native languages, (2) differences between the spoken and written register of Esperanto and, in some cases, (3) incomplete acquisition." Some of the features, such as phonological reduction, can be found in the speech of some fluent non-native speakers, while some other, such as the attrition of the accusative, are completely absent from the speech of some native-speaking children. [4]
Native-speaking children, especially at a young age, may coin words that do not exist in the speech of their parents, often for concepts for which Esperanto has a word they do not yet know, by exploiting the morphology of the language. This is analogous to what adult speakers do for concepts where Esperanto lacks a word, and indicates that some of the grammatical alterations that adult learners may find difficult come easily to native-speaking children. For example, [3]
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Part of a series on |
Esperanto |
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Native Esperanto speakers ( Esperanto: denaskuloj or denaskaj esperantistoj) are people who have acquired Esperanto as one of their native languages. As of 1996, there were 350 or so attested cases of families with native Esperanto speakers. [1] [2] Estimates from associations indicate that there were around 1,000 Esperanto-speaking families, involving perhaps 2,000 children in 2004. [3] In the majority of such families, the parents had the same native language, though in many the parents had different native languages, and only Esperanto in common. [2] [4]
Raising children in Esperanto occurred early in the history of the language, notably with the five children of Montagu Butler (1884–1970). Owing to this, some families have passed Esperanto on to their children over several generations. [5] Also notable are young Holocaust victim Petr Ginz, [6] whose drawing of the planet Earth as viewed from the Moon was carried aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, and Daniel Bovet, [7] the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
In at least one instance, Esperanto was used as a bridge language for a family started by a couple who did not have a native language in common. [8]
Esperanto is not the primary language of any geographic region, though it is spoken at events such as conventions like the World Congress of Esperanto and isolated offices, such as the World Esperanto Association's central office in Rotterdam. Consequently, native speakers have limited opportunity to meet one another except where meetings are specially arranged. For that reason, many parents consider it important to bring their children regularly to Esperanto conventions such as the annual "Renkontiĝo de Esperanto-familioj" (or "Esperantistaj familioj"; REF, since 1979). Similarly, the annual Children's Congress of Esperanto happens alongside the largest Esperanto convention, the World Congress of Esperanto (Universala Kongreso).
Below is a list of noted native Esperanto speakers. The billionaire George Soros has often appeared on such lists, but Humphrey Tonkin, the translator of Soros' father's memoir Maskerado ĉirkaŭ la morto into English (under the title Masquerade: The Incredible True Story of How George Soros’ Father Outsmarted the Gestapo), has disputed this. He has made no statements either way concerning Soros' brother.
The Esperanto of native-speaking children differs from the standard Esperanto spoken by their parents. In some cases this is due to interference from their other native language (the adstrate), but in others it appears to be an effect of acquisition.
Bergen (2001) found the following patterns in a study of eight native-speaking children, aged 6 to 14, who were bilingual in Hebrew (two siblings), Slovak (two siblings), French, Swiss German, Russian, and Croatian. [2]
Among children that do use the accusative, its usage may be regularized from adult usage, at least at young ages. For example, when a screw dropped out of a lock, a young (≤ 5-year-old) child said it malvenis la pordon. Besides the novel use of mal- with veni 'to come' to mean 'come away from', the accusative is not used in adult speech for motion away, but only motion towards. However, in this case the child generalized the usage of the accusative for direct objects. [3]
Lindstedt, on the other hand, referencing Bergen's study, contends that "it is difficult to find convincing examples of changes introduced by the process of nativisation. All examples proposed seem rather to be due to (1) transfers from the children’s other native languages, (2) differences between the spoken and written register of Esperanto and, in some cases, (3) incomplete acquisition." Some of the features, such as phonological reduction, can be found in the speech of some fluent non-native speakers, while some other, such as the attrition of the accusative, are completely absent from the speech of some native-speaking children. [4]
Native-speaking children, especially at a young age, may coin words that do not exist in the speech of their parents, often for concepts for which Esperanto has a word they do not yet know, by exploiting the morphology of the language. This is analogous to what adult speakers do for concepts where Esperanto lacks a word, and indicates that some of the grammatical alterations that adult learners may find difficult come easily to native-speaking children. For example, [3]
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