From: 72627.2647@compuserve.com (Don HARLOW)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.esperanto
Subject: Re: Interlingua
Date: 28 Aug 92 02:47:23 GMT
Distribution: inet
Organization: The Internet

To: Esperanto >INTERNET:esperanto@rand.org

Dato: 920827

Paul Denisowski on ...

>        Don Harlow's comments about the ELNA convention are well-taken, esp.
>concerning the issue of certain prominent members of the Esperanto
>community who had not recalled meeting me (although I did take part in
>several meetins and skits).  At the risk of making a somewhat pointed
>observation, I felt that more could have been done to bring newcomers
>"into the fold", so to speak, rather than have the conference dominated by
>"old-timers".

Paul, I don't find you listed as an ELNA member in this year's 
_adresaro_, for which I'm sorry -- I would very much like to see you 
express that opinion (in the last sentence) in a letter-to-the-editor of 
"Esperanto U.S.A." Mainly, because I agree (at least to some extent) 
with what you say. It is an unfortunate characteristic of long-time 
organizations, and not only those involved with Esperanto, that they 
tend to become somewhat ingrown -- social groups rather than what 
they were originally intended to be. ELNA (and a few local groups 
with which I'm acquainted) both suffer from this problem. _But_ it 
should be recognized that this has nothing to do with Esperanto _per 
se_ -- it's just the way such things seem to work. (And it should also 
be recognized that there are those who recognize the problem and 
are working to change it. Note that this year ELNA elected three 
completely new faces to its _Estraro_ -- one of them from your own 
state.)

And it's a two-edged problem. If the old-timers should do more to 
bring newcomers into the fold, the newcomers should also do their 
damn'dest to get into the fold without waiting for an invitation. (If 
you're not sure of the quality of your Esperanto, don't worry about it 
-- remember, it's a second language for all of us [with a very few 
exceptions], and we all make mistakes from time to time. Even the 
old-timers.)

>        It would seem that Zamenhof's instistance on the "netusebleco" of
>Esperanto has extended into the mentality of some of its adherents.  If
>Esperanto is to survive and prosper, movado or no, serious changes need
>to be made in both the way its used and, with all due respect, in the
>way Esperantists present themselves to others.  

Zamenhof insisted on the "netusxebleco" of the "Fundamento de 
Esperanto", not of the lagnuage itself. Within a year after the 
"Fundamento" was published he presented a program for modifying 
Esperanto's lexicon through a system of what he called "archaisms 
and neologisms" -- which system, since it simply reflects the 
processes that go on in any spoken language, has been followed 
ever since, though perhaps not intentionally. As to his reasons for 
insisting upon the (only provisional) "netusxebleco" of the 
language's structure ... I recommend reading the entire "Preface" to 
the "Fundamento" to understand his reasoning there. (Given the 
earlier example of Volapuk, and the later example of Ido, his 
reasoning seems well motivated.)

>        It would please me greatly to see 100 million speakers of Esperanto.  I
>would hope that constructive criticism is not wholly unwelcome in
>Esperantujo.

Certainly not. It is just that most such criticism that we hear, 
complaining about the stridency of the Esperantists, is even more 
strident than anything the Esperantists have said. See the last section 
of the recent anonymous broadside from Rick Harrison for a good 
example.

=============================================
Don HARLOW                                Redaktoro Esperanto U.S.A.
tel. (1 510) 222 0187
CompuServe [72627,2647]
Internet 72627.2647@compuserve.com

"To discipline Esperantists is to eat soup with chopsticks."
                                                          Confucius
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