Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2017 August 8

= August 8 =

How much of Esperanto was created by Zamenhof
and how much developed / was created after him? --Daffodilll (talk) 08:16, 8 August 2017 (UTC)
 * We have a page called Modern evolution of Esperanto. The first few sentences broadly answer your question:
 * Esperanto has been remarkably stable since its creation compared to other planned languages. This is due to the Declaration of Boulogne in 1905, which made the early works of Zamenhof binding; most attempts at change have been therefore seen as distinct language projects (so-called esperantidos), and in the main the Esperanto community has ignored them. The main change in the language has been a great expansion of the vocabulary, largely driven by translations of technical jargon, which is explicitly allowed for by Boulogne.
 * According to History of Esperanto, "Zamenhof declared that 'Esperanto belongs to the Esperantists', and moved to the background once the language was published, allowing others to share in the early development of the language." As a result, "Changes could and did occur in the language, but only by acquiring widespread popular support; there was no central authority making arbitrary changes, as happened with Volapük and some other languages."  You might want to read both of those articles. --Antiquary (talk) 18:58, 8 August 2017 (UTC)