Esperanto and why it's problematic
Esperanto is haled as a Potential Lingua Franca, but the Idea of Esperanto being used as one is Problematic
Esperanto is a Constructed language, meaning for all intents and purposes, its a "fake" language. In the sense that it carries no culture, religious or Ethno-historical significance with it. It was created much like many constructed languages with the intent of being a Linguistic experiment, an experiment of creating a language that was easier to learn for as many people as possible. It reduced the stress of learning appropriate grammar, syntax, etc. As Esperanto grew into what it is today, it garnered more and more support from Political circles as a possible lingua franca or "bridge language" for the world. However, this concept although a good idea, I personally don't think Esperanto is a good choice, both Historically and practically.
Esperanto is made up of Vocabulary from Germanic and Romance languages like German and French whilst having the grammar and semantics of Slavic Languages. Many of the peoples to which the root languages belong, were colonial if not explicitly Imperialistic in the past. The idea of a Lingua Franca is a Language that can be used by anyone of any cultural, religious or Social background. Its meant as a Language of common ownership and one that is easy to learn and doesn't carry historical baggage with it.
Now, Esperanto indeed doesn't carry historical baggage with it, but pushing Esperanto, a language constructed from European Languages on non-European and certainly historically colonised countries in the Global south, will definitely send the wrong message. The intent might be pure, but the connotations that can and will be drawn from the idea, will be problematic, if not insulting.
Aside from the colonialistic misunderstandings Esperanto as a Lingua Franca can bring, It also has another issue, which is actually caused by one of the reasons it was created. It doesn't have Cultural baggage. Cultural baggage is kind of important in Languages. Because with Cultural baggage there is Body language.
Body Language and Cultural baggage
Body language is key to communication, 70 to 93% of Communication is non-verbal, almost exclusively through body language. Non-verbal cues like intent, proxemics (how close two people get to each other), Postural, gestures and emotions are lost when there isn't cultural baggage associated with a Language. I can think of one group of people who might be excluded from Esperanto if it were to take off as a Lingua Franca.
Autistic people, Autistic people are some of the first people to loose out on communication. Especially Autistic adults, they've had to teach themselves the body language of their native tongue and now they have to learn the body language of a constructed language where the answer to why is "Cos we felt like it".
Not to mention, the idea of replacing the body language of a language that's been around for thousands of years is going to be insulting to a lot of people. Like for sure, English does not have good baggage with it, nor is it a particularly good language linguistically speaking, but with English you have the joys of hearing different accents and having the occasional funny hiccup in language that being bi-lingual has. And I think that those hiccups and imperfections in the way things are now add a certain charm to the Linguistic reality of today.
Closing thoughts
Ultimately, I fear that adding a constructed language, especially Esperanto to the pool of possible Lingua Franca's. Will lead to more misunderstandings, more confusion and more tension with the Global south and also leave a lot of people behind due to adaptability issues. Like I make reference to, I'm not against Lingua Franca's I just think Esperanto isn't it and the possibility of a Lingua Franca is off the table for at least a few decades until we can bring all countries and languages to the table for a proper, respectful conversation on a real, inclusive, lingua franca.
About the Creator
Quaker-nomics
My name is Abe, I'm a 3rd year Business Economics student mainly specialising in Alternative Business structures like Co-operatives and Accessibility. I mainly write about Business, Politics, Sociology and some personal stuff.
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