The characteristics of Esperanto
Esperanto was presented in Warsaw in 1887 as a 40-page brochure: International Language. Foreword and Complete Grammar, written by "Dr. Esperanto", a pseudonym of Ludwig Lazar Zamenhof. “Esperanto” means “he who hopes”.
The contents: an essay on the language problem and on the question of a world auxiliary language, a grammar with 16 basic rules, a list of about 900 internationally used words in a unified spelling system, and some specimen texts. Of course no 40-page brochure can contain a whole language. It was only the starting point for the genesis of Esperanto. Esperanto in its present form is the result of a century of development in the framework of a quickly formed international language community. Today we can draw up a first resume:
- Esperanto has not disintegrated into regional variants, but has conserved its unity. Historical developments often bring irregularities into a language system. But that is not true of Esperanto. The requisites of regularity and ease of learning are fulfilled today just as they were in 1887.
- Esperanto has proved to be a flexible and adaptable language that can cope with new demands and needs.
The reason for that positive development is probably the grammar consisting of 16 basic rules, and a productive system of word-building that allows the construction of many new words from relatively few elements.
