Talk:Modern evolution of Esperanto

Changes in root use

I have the impression that over time, Esperantists have increasingly used suffices (or rather infices, cause these roots must be followed by a grammatical suffix like -o) as words in their own right, a use that the fundaments of Esperanto allow but seems not to have been their original purpose. For example:

• For 'small', dictionaries give malgranda, but eta is often used;
• For 'inclination', inklino was adopted but emo seems to have replaced it completely;
• For 'tool', instrumento or laborilo became just ilo.

Can anyone confirm this usage has increased with the years? Has it ever been investigated? Steinbach (talk) 15:19, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

Those have all been common for many decades. I think you can find them in grammars from the 1960s, maybe earlier. I don't know about increasing over time. Eta, BTW, is closer to "slight" than "small" (it's the opposite of ega), but people use it loosely. — kwami (talk) 19:21, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

Yes, these changes were certainly well underway even before WWII. I happen to own a Dutch-Esperanto dictionary from 1927 (it's still useful to me, not just for historical purposes), and even there misschien "perhaps" is translated as eble. On the other hand, ilo is only one possible translation for werktuig "tool", and neither emo nor eta can be found.

This usage, which I think is peculiar to Esperanto, shows the versatility of the language and its roots, but obscures its otherwise obvious source material (instrumento is much more recognisable than ilo). To me, it seems therefore logicla to think that Esperantists only started using them later. Never mind, I'll ask an expert. :) Steinbach (talk) 21:57, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

(A little belatedly) I asked an expert, Marc van Oostendorp, and he conformed that the usage of these words has increased over time, while it is also true that some of these words have been around for a very long time. He also came up with a reference: Liberté ou autorité dans l'évolution de l'espéranto by François Lo Jacomo. I'm not sure how to check this reference, however; I would probably have to visit the Amsterdam University Library. Steinbach (talk) 10:21, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

Benoit Philippe. Sprachwandel bei einer Plansprache am Beispiel des Esperanto. 1991

Probably it would be a good idea to include this book. See the review by D. Blanke. --Lu Wunsch-Rolshoven (talk) 10:25, 17 February 2017 (UTC)