Esperanto

Esperanto (; Esperanto: [espeˈranto]) is the world's most widely spoken constructed auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 as 'the International Language' (la Lingvo Internacia), it is intended to be a universal second language for international communication. Esperanto culture is grounded in the idea that people can interact on an equal footing across language barriers, without linguistic hierarchies, and with respect for linguistic and cultural diversity. He described the language in Dr. Esperanto's International Language (known as Unua Libro, the 'first book'), which he published under the pseudonym Doktoro Esperanto. Early adopters of the language liked the name Esperanto ('one who hopes') so much, they soon used it to describe the language itself. Within the range of constructed languages, Esperanto occupies a middle ground between "naturalistic" (imitating existing natural languages) and a priori (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. 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 (denaskuloj), of which there are an estimated 2,000. Esperanto speakers are often called Esperantists (Esperantistoj). Usage estimates are difficult, but two estimates put the number of Esperantists at around 100,000. 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...