Ĉu infana Esperanto estas natura Esperanto?

Abstract

The fact that Esperanto has native speakers proves that its structure is not significantly different from that of natural languges. However, native speakers of Esperanto have not initiated changes in the language, nor do they have a central role in the speech community. As Esperanto does not possess a real community of native speakers, it is not a creole. Rather there have been spontaneous changes in the structure of the language that are similar to those taking place in natural languages, and which were initiated by anonymous, probably non-native speakers. For the proper understanding of the roles of native speakers and the speech community of Esperanto, an interesting parallel is presented by the minority languages being revitalized, especially those which can be sociolinguistically characterized as in-group second languages.