Missatges: 100
Llengua: English
Tempodivalse (Mostra el perfil) 15 de juny de 2015 21.54.31
So the question, why Esperanto is the way it is, is a very valid one.Well, the only way to explain "why" a language is the way it is, involves technical and arcane etymological and historio-linguistic analyses - e.g., this Russian declension uses this ending because it is derived from the Old Slavonic dual number; the nominative and accusative cases in the neuter always use the same endings because of the way inanimate nouns worked in Proto-Indo-European, etc.
This doesn't help the learner, unless maybe he is a specialist in etymology and dead languages related to the studied language.
In Esperanto's case, I think virtually everything in Esperanto is included to fulfill some function. There is surprisingly little "dead weight" - i.e., features that do not usefully increase expressive power.
However, why Zamenhof decided that or the other function was necessary to include in the first place, really can't be answered other than by saying: "Well, he thought it ought to be included, and included in this particular way."
boooman (Mostra el perfil) 12 d’agost de 2015 5.33.44
Armand6 (Mostra el perfil) 12 d’agost de 2015 6.15.25
boooman:The -n gives Esperanto some freedom in terms of expression.That is a bad argument to promote it, as the freedom of expression directly lead to the freedom of confusion. If it gives advantages to the sender, it puts extra strain on receiver, and vice versa. The accusative exist in Esperanto by design, and we should not reason for or advocate its existence at all.
Alkanadi (Mostra el perfil) 12 d’agost de 2015 7.29.01
Armand6:The accusative exist in Esperanto by design, and we should not reason for or advocate its existence at all.Don't worry. After you study Esperanto for a little while, you will get used to it. It isn't that difficult. It is a very useful tool, as you will learn in time.
boooman (Mostra el perfil) 12 d’agost de 2015 19.41.44
Armand6:I agree, in a chance conversation with a fellow esperantist who doesn't speak your native language you should use a simple way of speaking to make certain the desired meaning is conveyed. Language is an extension of the soul. The -n is there simply because it was put there but it does a lot for the language and your mind: Park your car in different spots, eat new foods, walk a different trail, play around with word order and the accusative because it's good to keep your brain on its toes and break routinesboooman:The -n gives Esperanto some freedom in terms of expression.That is a bad argument to promote it, as the freedom of expression directly lead to the freedom of confusion. If it gives advantages to the sender, it puts extra strain on receiver, and vice versa. The accusative exist in Esperanto by design, and we should not reason for or advocate its existence at all.
Learning Esperanto can teach you much more than Esperanto. Armand6 (Mostra el perfil) 13 d’agost de 2015 3.42.59
diplox (Mostra el perfil) 14 d’agost de 2015 13.09.43
deltasalmon (Mostra el perfil) 14 d’agost de 2015 13.11.44
mbalicki (Mostra el perfil) 14 d’agost de 2015 13.50.39
deltasalmon:The only problem I see with the accusative is that some people don't want to learn it. The language is already super easy to learn, I don't see any reason why anyone should have to make it easier.Leaving the accusative aside, I do think there should be a movement of making Esperanto easier. Words like teologio, geologio should, in my opinion, be rejected in favour of easier to understand discienco, terscienco &c. In general someone should do something with words ending with -logo and -logio.
Words with Greek provenance should preserve the letter χ using ĥ, as it's more international, since many languages pronounce these words differently than words with κ, or at least the provenance is maintained in different spelling. There should also be more vocal condemnation of the unofficial pseudo-suffix -i-, which all it does, is making recognition of the category of a country name almost impossible.
So, generally speaking, I see many reasons or rather opportunities to make Esperanto easier.
Tempodivalse (Mostra el perfil) 14 d’agost de 2015 15.12.18
deltasalmon:The only problem I see with the accusative is that some people don't want to learn it. The language is already super easy to learn, I don't see any reason why anyone should have to make it easier.Due to the highly regular nature of the accusative (1 declension for everything, with only some minor caveats, like no accusative for nominal adverbs or pronomial unu), it is actually no harder to learn than a preposition - just think of it as being a postposition which morphs into the final vowel of the word.
Most people who complain about the accusative, in my experience, are monolingual anglophones (occasionally Romance-language speakers), and usually those who have a less-than-firm grasp of grammatical concepts like direct object. And if you don't have that kind of entry-level knowlege, you're not going to find Esperanto easy anyway - or any other language.