Ch 28 · Lesson 16Esperanto · Chapter 28 · Lesson 16 · Grammar primer
Esperantismo: -ism-, -ist- and the Declaration of Boulogne
is the movement, an the person: -ism- and -ist-. Then the 1905 Declaration point by point: a neutral language, nobody's property, and an Esperantist is anyone who uses it.
The short version
-ism- is the movement, -ist- the person
, .
Why?Hide
is the movement: -ism- makes a doctrine, as in . is a person: -ist- makes someone who follows a doctrine () or does a job (). The 1905 Declaration settles which: an is anyone who knows and uses the language, whatever for.
What
i on .
Why?Hide
The 1905 Declaration of Boulogne defines as the effort to spread a neutrally human language - and then adds that everything beyond that is a private matter for each Esperantist. The movement wrote its own limits into its founding document: use the language for anything, but the movement itself asks only that you use it.
esperantismo, esperantisto: -ism- and -ist-
The title words are built, and the suffix tells you what kind of thing each one is. -- makes a doctrine or movement; -- makes the person who follows it, or does it as a job; -- makes a member.
| Word | The suffix makes | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| a movement | |
| its person | an |
| a doctrine | |
| an adherent | a communist |
| a job | a |
| a member | a fellow |
.- Esperantism is a movement..- She is an Esperantist.
A follows a doctrine; a does a job. The Declaration (below) makes an neither: just someone who uses the language.
The Declaration of Boulogne, point by point
Its full title is Deklaracio . The first congress adopted it on 9 August 1905, on Zamenhof's proposal, because, says its preamble, many people had an , a very false idea, about what Esperantism is.
| Point | What it says | Key phrase |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the definition, and a private-affair clause | |
| 2 | is the one finished, tested language | |
| 3 | nobody owns it | nenies o |
| 4 | no personal lawgiver; the binds | |
| 5 | an is anyone who uses it | |
Point 1: the definition, and the door it closes
i on ...Esperantism is an endeavour to spread throughout the world the use of a neutrally human language...
- Declaration of Boulogne, point 1, 1905
The same point ends:
, , , .Every other idea or hope which this or that Esperantist associates with Esperantism will be his purely private affair, for which Esperantism is not answerable.
There is no separate point about neutrality. The famous disclaimer is a clause tacked to the end of the definition.
Points 3 and 4: nobody's property, nobody's lawgiver
Point 3 gives a reason, and the grammar shows it: (because) the author renounced every personal right, (therefore) the language is:
"nenies o", , ."nobody's property", neither materially nor morally.
- Declaration of Boulogne, point 3, 1905
Nenies is the correlative for nobody's, as is whose (the correlative table).
Point 4 opens leĝdonanton, Esperanto has no personal lawgiver. Then it demotes its own author: the creator's opinions and works are , absolutely private and binding on nobody. Only the binds (a story of its own).
Point 5: who counts
nomata , .Anyone is called an Esperantist who knows and uses the language Esperanto, quite regardless of the purposes he uses it for.
Joining a society is a, , recommendable but not obligatory. No oath, no register, no belief.
Going further: The stanza Boulogne did not hear and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
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