The sun., 1907-03-24
Esperanto and Others.

A little while ago number Of earnest
and hopeful persons were grinding hard
at Volap1k, the universal tongue. Now
Volapuk is mute, and many of its former
devotees are working and playing at
Esperanto, the language of hope. That,
too, We may suppose, will have its des-
tined hour and 60 its way. It's great
merit, according to its propagandsts,
is the ease with which it can be learned;
but, as its critics say, that ease is only
for the persons who know a good deal or
little of French or some other Romance
language. We are not concerned, how
ever to deny the virtues of Espe-
ranto. We venerate it and hope it will
last and be quite as useful as il is
beautiful. Some observations made
by Professor WIENER of Harvard are
not without interest and must be our
apology to the faithful Esperantists
Professor WIENER insists that Malay
and Chinese are simpler than simple
Esperanto. This assertion might be
thought to smack of paradox, but the
Cambridge man says it is a matter of
arithmetic, Malay and Chinese having
no declensions or conjugatiOns. Pro-
fessor WIENER regards Esperanto as
too provincial of composition to serve
as a world language. He suggests that
Greek, Latin or Persian, purified of
Arabic Stag, would be better mediums
Moreover, there are difficulties of pro-
nunciation which the excellent ZAMEN-
HoF did not see:
For example, b. Is unpronounceable In modern
Greek, except after m and Sa1onlan Germans
pronounce It p In every position; d., as Intended
by Esperanto, does not exist in modern Greek
except after n and is greatly restricted In use In
Spanish, Danish, Norwegian; us din1cult sound
for Japanese. who can pronounce II only before
u and is greatly restricted In the Slavic languages
e does not exist in modern Greek, sounds varously
in many European tongues and is the shibboleth OF
German, sounding as y In Berlin. as X in SAGony
as 'ch' dn Scotch loch In the southwest: h does
not exist in Russian modern Greek Spanish Italian
and many other tongues 'ch' I'm loch Is un-
pronounceable 10 a FTenchmsn and an Engllshman;
tho Il OF the Esperanto Is indefinite. as there are
many totally unrelated rs when are utterly In.
accessible to other speakers. and Japanese changes
all rs 70 rs: r does not exist In Chinese and
German r stotalIy different from Russian r."
Professor WIENER holds that Volapuk,
which steers clear of consonants as much
as possible, is preferable to its successor.
If lay opinion may be tolerated, we
suggest that Standardization and codi-
fication of the organs of speech are the
conditions precedent Of a world lingo.
The reform should, and doubtless will,
be begun at Washington. Meanwhile,
there should be efforts for the standardi-
zation of so-called English speech, the
adoption Of a common English in the
States. In this State, in this town, for
instance, there are strange dialects Of
something resembling English and pro-
nunciations to make DR.. MURRAY stare
and gasp. Pronunciation in the public
schools in New York and New Jersey,
and presumably in other States, is really
directed and decided by the pupils, by
an unconscious majority vote. Vulgar
isms are multiplied. Pronunciation and
intonation are narrowing. Perhaps we
shall never know whether DR. WIENER is
right in asserting that there are twelve
particples in Esperanto. We put
aside that made-up language and ask:
What sort Of English are the public
school children and graduates talking?
Yes, and when you are about it: What
sort Of English do the public school
teachers use or know, since they seem
to permit without rebuke, perhaps with
out notice, the manned, deformed and
ear offending vulgar eiunciation Of their
scholars?
Poor old English languagel