This volume has been prepared to meet a twofold need. An adequate
presentation of the International Language has become an imperative
necessity. Such presentation, including full and accurate grammatical
explanations, suitably graded reading lessons, and similarly graded
material for translation from English, has not heretofore been
accessible within the compass of a single volume, or in fact within the
compass of any two or three volumes.
The combination of grammar and reader here offered is therefore
unique. It is to furnish not merely an introduction to Esperanto, or
a superficial acquaintance with it, but a genuine understanding of
the language and mastery of its use without recourse to additional
textbooks, readers, etc. In other words, this one volume affords
as complete a knowledge of Esperanto as several years' study of a
grammar and various readers will accomplish for any national language.
Inflection, word-formation and syntax are presented clearly and
concisely, yet with a degree of completeness and in a systematic order
that constitute a new feature. Other points worthy of note are the
following:
The reasons for syntactical usages are given, instead of mere statements
that such usages exist. For example, clauses of purpose and of result
are really explained, instead of being dismissed with the unsatisfactory
remark that "the imperative follows 'por ke,'" or the "use of 'tiel ...
ke' and 'tia ... ke' must be distinguished from that of 'tiel ... kiel'
and 'tia ... kia,'" etc., with but little intimation of when and why
"por ke", "tiel ... ke" and "tia ... ke" are likely to occur.
Affixes are not mentioned until some familiarity with the general
character of the language is assured, as well as the possession of
a fair vocabulary. They are introduced gradually, with adequate
explanation and illustration. Of importance in connection with
word-formation is an element distinctly new--the explanation and
classification of compound words. Such words, like affixes, are
withheld until the use of simple words is familiar.
Another new feature is the gradual introduction of correlative words in
their logical order, and in their proper grammatical categories, before
they are called "correlatives," or tabulated. The tabulation finally
presented is a real classification, with regard to the meaning and
grammatical character of the words, not merely an arbitrary alphabetical
arrangement. The use of primary adverbs precedes the explanation of
adverb derivation; prepositions, especially "de", "da", "je", etc.,
receive careful attention, also the verb system, and the differentiation
of words whose English equivalents are ambiguous.
A general characteristic of obvious advantage is that almost without
exception new forms and constructions are illustrated by means of
words or roots already familiar. Likewise, the new words or roots of
each lesson recur at least once in the next lesson, and usually in
some lesson thereafter as well. Each reading exercise gives not only a
thorough application of the grammatical principles of the lesson, but a
review of those in the preceding lesson, and no use is made of words or
constructions not yet explained. The comparative ease of the language,
and the lack of necessity for reciting paradigms, permit the reading
exercises to be long enough for the student to feel that he has really
mastered something. These exercises are further unique, in that each
after the fifth is a coherent narrative, and nearly every one is a story
of genuine interest in itself. These stories, if bound separately, would
alone constitute a reader equivalent to those used in first and second
year work in national languages. (For list of titles, see Table of
Contents.)
The second element of the twofold need which this volume meets is the
necessity for a presentation of Esperanto, not as a thing apart, but
in that form which will make it most serviceable as an introduction to
national tongues. A stepping-stone to both ancient and modern languages,
Esperanto may render invaluable aid, and pave the way for surmounting
the many difficulties confronting both student and teacher. Through
Esperanto, the labor in the acquirement of these languages may be
reduced in the same proportion in which the pleasure and thoroughness
of such acquirement are increased. For this reason, the grammatical
constructions of Esperanto are here explained as consistently as
possible in accordance with the usage of national languages, especially
those in the school curriculum, and precise names are assigned to them.
Such matters as "contrary to fact conditions", "indirect quotations",
"clauses of purpose" and "of result", "accusatives of time" and
"measure", "expressions of separation", "reference", etc., thus
become familiar to the student, long before he meets them in the more
difficult garb of a national tongue, whose exceptions seem to outnumber
its rules, and whose idioms prove more puzzling than its exceptions,
unless approached by the smooth and gradual ascent of the International
Language, Esperanto.
Ivy Kellerman.
Washington, D. C.,
August 3, 1910.
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