AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE 287 



formations upon the letter m: mdb, "mankind"; mac, "monkey"; 

 mad, " cat " ; maf, " dog " ; mag, " bear " ; mas, " horse " ; me, " bird " ; 

 mi, " reptile " ; mo, " fish," etc. Quite the opposite of these are the 

 a 'posteriori languages, based upon the principle of borrowing, select- 

 ing and simplifying from already existing languages. This latter 

 method, with a negligible admixture of the a priori, proves the only 

 sound one, and all projects meeting with the slightest favor have been 

 of this class. Among the numerous languages proposed, two alone have 

 succeeded in obtaining any prominence or general publicity. The first 

 of these was Volapiik, published in 1880. Societies for its propaganda 

 were organized, some instruction books and several magazines pub- 

 lished. The success of the language, in spite of its crudities and too 

 great difficulty, afforded proof that an international language was de- 

 sired. But dissensions arose, chiefly as to whether numerous proposed 

 changes should be introduced, with or without the consent of the author, 

 who had assumed an unfortunate attitude of ownership of the language. 

 By giving attention to discussion of such matters instead of to propa- 

 ganda work, the Volapiikists lost all they had gained. 



Their bitter experience taught a lesson to the promulgators of the 

 only other important project for an international language, the only 

 one which to-day receives general attention. When overzealous theor- 

 ists proposed changes in Esperanto, and insisted upon the adoption of 

 their " improvements " the great majority of Esperantists refused 

 to countenance any sudden or radical changes, declaring instead 

 for a unity and stability. Their action was the more decisive in 

 that the proposed improvements appealed to them as simply the mar- 

 ring of a language already proved satisfactory and practicable, and 

 already existing as a living language, in which any changes should 

 come gradually and systematically. The smaller restless and theorizing 

 element attempted to create a schism through the use of various publi- 

 cations attacking Esperanto or Esperantists, and arrived at a somewhat 

 unstable idiom of their own, which was called simplified Esperanto by 

 some and a new language by others, among its advocates. A certain 

 amount of newspaper notoriety was obtained in both Europe and 

 America, but no definite or serious results. 



The wisdom of the Esperantists as a whole is apparent in the progress 

 due to their steadfastness and united effort. Those who know more or 

 less of the language are reckoned by hundreds of thousands, judging by 

 the number of text-books sold by responsible publishing houses, but the 

 number of persons announced as being in the actual propaganda move- 

 ment consists only of those who are registered and paying members of 

 some official organization, such as the national associations, British, 

 French, German, Japanese, American, 3 and various international or- 



3 Esperanto Association of North America, headquarters, 3981 Langley 

 Avenue, Chicago. 



