This article is about the language. For other uses, see Esperanto (disambiguation).
Esperanto
Lingvo Internacia[1]
Esperanto[2]
Esperanto flag
Pronunciation
[espeˈranto]ⓘ
Created by
L. L. Zamenhof
Date
1887
Setting and usage
International: most parts of the world
Users
Native: c. 1,000 (2011)[3] L2: estimated 30,000 to 2 million
Sidney Culbert: Around 2 million
Amri Wandel: Above 2 million
Svend Vendelbo: 30,000–180,000 [4][5]
Purpose
Constructed language
International auxiliary language
A posteriori language
Esperanto
Early form
Proto-Esperanto
Writing system
Latin script (Esperanto alphabet) Esperanto Braille
Signed forms
Signuno
Sources
Indo-European languages of Europe,[clarification needed] vocabulary largely derived from Romance languages
Official status
Regulated by
Akademio de Esperanto
Language codes
ISO 639-1
eo
ISO 639-2
epo
ISO 639-3
epo
Linguist List
epo
Glottolog
espe1235
Linguasphere
51-AAB-da
Esperantujo: Number of individual UEA members per million population in 2020.
none
< 0.5
0.5
1
2–3
4–5
6–9
10+
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Part of a series on
Esperanto
Language
Grammar
Phonology
Orthography (Braille)
Vocabulary
Etymology
History
Zamenhof
Proto-Esperanto
Unua Libro
Dua Libro
La Esperantisto
Fundamento de Esperanto
Declaration of Boulogne
Montevideo Resolution
Manifesto of Rauma
Manifesto of Prague
Modern evolution of Esperanto
Culture
Esperanto movement
Esperantist
Esperantujo
Literature
Music
Film
La Espero
Libera Folio
Literatura Mondo
Native speakers
Libraries
Pop culture references
Publications
Symbols
Profanity
Zamenhof Day
Organizations and services
World Esperanto Congress
Akademio de Esperanto
Universal Esperanto Association
World Esperanto Youth Organization
International Youth Congress
Esperanto Youth Week
World Anational Association
Encyclopedia
Pasporta Servo
Plouézec Meetings
European Esperanto Union
Europe–Democracy–Esperanto
Panamerican Congress
Skolta Esperanto Ligo
By country
Austria
Bulgaria
China
Czech Republic
Hungary
Japan
Korea
Malaysia
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Soviet Union
Related topics
Auxiliary language
Constructed language
Ido
Homaranismo
Linguistic discrimination
Wikimedia
Constructed languages portal
Task force
Outline
Esperanto Wikipedia (Vikipedio)
Vikivortaro
Vikicitaro
Vikifontaro
Vikilibroj
Vikikomunejo
Vikispecoj
Vikinovaĵoj
Vikivojaĵo
v
t
e
Esperanto (/ˌɛspəˈrɑːntoʊ/, /-æntoʊ/)[7][8] is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it is intended to be a universal second language for international communication, or "the international language" (la Lingvo Internacia). Zamenhof first described the language in Dr. Esperanto's International Language (Esperanto: Unua Libro), which he published under the pseudonym Doktoro Esperanto. Early adopters of the language liked the name Esperanto and soon used it to describe his language. The word esperanto translates into English as "one who hopes".[9]
Within the range of constructed languages, Esperanto occupies a middle ground between "naturalistic" (imitating existing natural languages) and apriori (where features are not based on existing languages). Esperanto's vocabulary, syntax and semantics derive predominantly from languages of the Indo-European group. A substantial majority of its vocabulary (approximately 80%) derives from Romance languages, but it also contains elements derived from Germanic, Greek, and Slavic languages.[10] One of the language's most notable features is its extensive system of derivation, where prefixes and suffixes may be freely combined with roots to generate words, making it possible to communicate effectively with a smaller set of words.
Esperanto is the most successful constructed international auxiliary language, and the only such language with a sizeable population of native speakers, of which there are perhaps several thousand.[3] Usage estimates are difficult, but two estimates put the number of people who know how to speak Esperanto at around 100,000.[4] Concentration of speakers is highest in Europe, East Asia, and South America. Although no country has adopted Esperanto officially, Esperantujo ("Esperanto-land") is used as a name for the collection of places where it is spoken. The language has also gained a noticeable presence on the internet in recent years, as it became increasingly accessible on platforms such as Duolingo, Wikipedia, Amikumu and Google Translate.[11][12] Esperanto speakers are often called "Esperantists" (Esperantistoj).
^Zamenhof, Lazaro Ludoviko (1888). "Aldono al la Dua Libro de l' Lingvo Internacia". Dua Libro de l' Lingvo Internacia (in Esperanto) (2006 ed.). Project Gutenberg. Retrieved March 15, 2022. Rakontinte mallonge la tutan konstruon de l' "Lingvo internacia" kaj ĝian gramatikon,[...]
^"Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto 2020".
^ abHarald Haarmann, Eta leksikono pri lingvoj, 2011, archive date March 4, 2016: Esperanto. ... estas lernata ankaŭ de pluraj miloj da homoj en la mondo kiel gepatra lingvo. ("Esperanto has also been learned by several thousand people in the world as a mother tongue.")
^ ab63,000 −50%/+200%: "Nova takso: 60.000 parolas Esperanton" [New estimate: 60,000 speak Esperanto] (in Esperanto). Libera Folio. February 13, 2017. Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
^Wandel, Amri (2014). "HOW MANY PEOPLE SPEAK ESPERANTO? OR: ESPERANTO ON THE WEB". Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems. A simple calculation accompanied by reasonable refinements leads to a number of approximately two million Esperanto users within the internet community alone, probably significantly more worldwide
^What is UEA? Archived June 26, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Universal Esperanto Association, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
^Jones, Daniel (2003) [1917], Peter Roach; James Hartmann; Jane Setter (eds.), English Pronouncing Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 3-12-539683-2
^Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0
^"Doktoro Esperanto, Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof". Global Britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Archived from the original on May 29, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
^Puškar, Krunoslav (2015). Koutny, Ilona (ed.). "Common criticism of Esperanto: facts and fallacies" (PDF). Język. Komunikacja. Iinformacja (10). Poznań: 106. ISBN 978-83-63664-96-1. ISSN 1896-9585. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 18, 2016.
^Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Dean, Sam (May 29, 2015). "How an artificial language from 1887 is finding new life online". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
language in Dr. Esperanto's International Language (Esperanto: Unua Libro), which he published under the pseudonym Doktoro Esperanto. Early adopters of...
Native Esperanto speakers (Esperanto: denaskuloj or denaskaj esperantistoj) are people who have acquired Esperanto as one of their native languages. As...
Esperanto is written in a Latin-script alphabet of twenty-eight letters, with upper and lower case. This is supplemented by punctuation marks and by various...
The Esperanto Wikipedia (Esperanto: Vikipedio en Esperanto, IPA [vikipeˈdio en espeˈɾanto] or Esperanta Vikipedio [espeˈɾanta vikipeˈdio]) is the Esperanto...
Esperanto is the most widely used constructed language intended for international communication; it was designed with highly regular grammatical rules...
Esperanto symbols, primarily the Esperanto flag, have seen much consistency over the time of Esperanto's existence (namely in the consistent usage of the...
The Esperanto movement, less commonly referred to as Esperantism (Esperanto: Esperantismo), is a movement to disseminate the use of the planned international...
or Esperantio (IPA: [esperanˈtio]) is the community of speakers of the Esperanto language and their culture, as well as the places and institutions where...
Esperanto has a small presence in Malaysia although no Esperanto associations or clubs are there. A school club operated at the San Min Chinese Independent...
developed Esperanto in the 1870s and '80s. Unua Libro, the first print discussion of the language, appeared in 1887. The number of Esperanto speakers have...
An Esperantist (Esperanto: esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed...
transcription delimiters. Esperanto is a constructed international auxiliary language designed to have a simple phonology. The creator of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof...
Esperanto in Japan (in Japanese: 日本のエスペラント) dates back to the 19th century. Esperantists briefly increased in Japan in the 1880s, along with the interest...
The original word base of Esperanto contained around 900 root words and was defined in Unua Libro ("First Book"), published by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887...
The Akademio de Esperanto (AdE; English: Academy of Esperanto) is an independent body of Esperanto speakers who steward the evolution of said language...
Esperanto culture refers to the shared cultural experience of the Esperantujo, or Esperanto-speaking community. Despite being a constructed language,...
The use of Esperanto in the Korean Peninsula can be traced back to the early 20th century. The earliest record of Esperanto in the Korean peninsula is...
The Esperanto language has a dedicated braille alphabet. One Esperanto braille magazine, Esperanta Ligilo, has been published since 1904, and another,...
Esperanto in China dates back to the late Qing dynasty, and remains active in China. Esperanto was imported to the Qing dynasty along with other western...
measures against the Esperanto community, having Esperanto speakers imprisoned and killed as part of the Great Purge. The Esperanto community was restored...
adjective artificial, as this term may be perceived as pejorative. Outside Esperanto culture, the term language planning means the prescriptions given to a...
asymmetry is an aspect of the constructed international auxiliary language Esperanto which has been challenged by numerous proposals seeking to regularize...
Esperanto has been used in Hungary since its construction in the late-19th century. It saw notable use through the 20th century, though it was suppressed...
Literature in the Esperanto language began before the first official publication in Esperanto in 1887: the language's creator, L. L. Zamenhof, translated...
Fried was also a supporter of Esperanto. He is the author of an Esperanto textbook and an Esperanto-German and German-Esperanto dictionary, first published...