The Akademio's rulings, and where to check: PMEG, PIV, ReVo

Five decisions worth knowing

The Akademio rules rarely, and usually to settle an argument that was costing people time:

What each one looks like:

• 1967. Of the 31 members who voted, 26 held that only the aspect reading matches Zamenhof's usage: -at- under way, -it- finished. The passive has the full story.
• 1974. It withdrew the old disapproval of -io, called it a correct use of Zamenhof's method, and left the choice to usage. See countries and peoples.
• 2007. Where the hatted letters cannot be produced, the Fundamento's own ch gh hh jh sh u come first. Other substitutes are acceptable only where the h-system is impractical, and only as a technical means, not a reform. The ruling names no other system; the x-system is the one most people use.
• 2013 and 2021. Names are in personal names. On gender-neutral pronouns such as ri, it voted to take no position and to leave the question alone for at least ten years.

The reference shelf

None of these is official. They are where you check:

• Mi serĉis la vorton en la vortaro. - I looked the word up in the dictionary.

PMEG describes how careful writers use the language and says where usage is divided; it does not legislate. When the dictionaries disagree, the Tekstaro answers the question that finally settles most arguments: do people actually write it?

So: kiu decidas?

• Kiu decidas? La uzo. - Who decides? Usage.

The parts that are fixed are the parts a learner wants fixed: the endings, the sixteen rules, the core roots. The open part is the vocabulary. Nobody can tell you a sentence is illegal; they can only tell you nobody writes it that way.

Mistakes English speakers make