Oh yeah, on the subject of universal languages, anyone familiar with Newspeak? That I think the Supreme Court narrowly averted Newspeak becoming our future universal language 
And it’s estimated that two million people worldwide speak Esperanto. This is probably more GD worthy than GQ, but I frankly find such closed-mindedness on the part of a self-professed polyglot rather disappointing.
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So how about us Esperantists who’ve never heard of Halpulaaren? Would you mind providing some background?
I deem living languages more worthy of study from a personal point of view. I don’t see Esperanto as particularly interesting, and can speak with most Esperanto speakers in any one of the major vehicular languages of the world which I know. As I said, Esperanto is based on false ideas about language universality. I’m sure it’s fun but I have no interest in it, nor do I think claims to universality etc. are well founded.
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West African language whose mother tongue speakers exceed Esperanto speakers.
OK, let me cite from the Mailbag article posted earlier by Shayna:
I think these facts indicate that Esperanto is indeed a living language. While it’s true this article dates from 1974, the facts that both World Congresses and national conferences continue to be held (as I’ve noted in a previous post), that periodicals continue to be published, and that new materials in Esperanto covering a wide range of subjects continue to appear, as our very own matt_mcl can attest, 
indicate that Esperanto is quite far from a dead language. You may not find it personally interesting, and I have no quarrel with that. Simply because you don’t find it interesting is no grounds for your blanket dismissal of Esperanto as entirely without use and doomed to failure.
Well, on that one numerical point, you’re quite right. According to this site, there are almost 2.7 million speakers of Pulaar (of which Haalpulaar is a dialect, as I understand). But then again, they are all concentrated in Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, the Gambia, Guinea, and Guinea Bissau. Not exactly widespread, is it? I think it’s great you’re learning a less commonly taught language, but it’s really of limited use once you’ve left the continent of Africa.
Esperantists, on the other hand, are not only spread across the world but go out of their way to make themselves available to tourists and other traveling Esperantists whose command of the local language(s) may not be fully fluent. Like speakers of any language, we welcome anyone and everyone who wants to learn the language, and we just as much resent being looked down upon for speaking what we choose to speak.
One last item. Esperanto has never made a claim to universality based on the sources it drew from for its creation. With so much material out there, you do kind of need to select what you want to work with. Plus the fact L.L. Zamenhof didn’t speak any Asian languages - how can you fault him for not working with material he knew nothing about?
Esperanto does make a claim to being universally usable due to its simplified grammar and one-to-one correspondence between its sounds and the letters that represent them. So again, I say, whether you’re personally interested in it or not, take the time to locate an Esperanto grammar and look at it; all I want to hear is your opinion on my claims as to the simplicity and learnability of Esperanto once you’ve actually taken time to examine the subject.
Depends on your definition. Not by mine. I find living natural languages more interesting.
Well, on that one numerical point, you’re quite right. According to this site, there are almost 2.7 million speakers of Pulaar (of which Haalpulaar is a dialect, as I understand). But then again, they are all concentrated in Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, the Gambia, Guinea, and Guinea Bissau.
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Wrong, Pulaar speakers range from the core homeland area noted through to Cameroun with speakers found throughout the Sahel, despite dialectal variations its mutually comprehensible across the spectrum. There is also a medieval literature written in it, with Arabic characters. I have a hobby interest in one day reading it.
True, but then the number of Esperanto speakers who are not also English or French or German speakers is vanishingly small. Since I have the above plus Arabic, I don’t see much use for Esperanto.
Nor African languages, nor any other non-European langauges. Its universaliity as claimed is based on false ideas as below:
Simplied indo-european based grammar is not a universal. It may have something to recommend itself for indo-european language speakers but presents no inherent advantages to that portion of the world which does not have inherent familiarity with the roots. Insofar as it is far more advantageous to learn an existing vehicular language such as Arabic, French or English, I see no utility.
Of course not everything has to be useful, Pulaar is only to me for personal reasons and the hobby of mine. But claims to simplicity and universality based on the above are simply European parochialism.
Thanks for not listening. Best of luck with the Pulaar.
Collounsbury, your description of (hal)Pulaar sounds like Fulani. Pulaar sounds like it’s related to the Peul of Senegal, which is a branch of Fulani (the pul- and ful- are interchangeable).
If you succeed in learning that, you have my respect. Fulani has one of the more complex and gnarly grammars of the world’s languages. That didn’t keep it from becoming a widespread lingua franca across the whole Sahel region. If I were going to learn a widespread Sahelian lingua franca, I would probably go for Hausa as its grammar appears easier to learn, and it too has a literature going back centuries.
I know Esperanto, but it doesn’t interest me. It took practically no effort at all to learn the grammar. The vocabulary is nothing but Latin and Greek with a dash or two of English and German (and a wee bit of Slavic). Aesthetically, it lacks the richness and depth and feeling of a natural language. I have traveled all around the world, including Europe and East Asia, but never encountered any situation Esperanto could be used. It’s easy to learn, but so what? The one value it could have is the offer of free hotel lodging. If I could get something like that out of it, I would use it.
I hang out at the sci.lang newgsgroup a lot, and frankly the real professional linguists there have no use for Esperanto. They are too much engaged with real languages to bother with a fake one.
Which is not to say that constructed languages can’t be fun! Tolkien did a far better job with them aesthetically. He constructed his Middle-earth languages not for any social reform but just for the sheer joy of language.
Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo
One in the same. Fulani is the Hausa corruption of Pullo. Halpulaaren is the dialect of the north-western tier. All quite closely related native speakers assure me.
Oh don’t I know it, but I have personal reasons to beat my head on it. Besides, I like it, for personal aesthetics, more than Hausa. And Hausa lacks the personal reason to learn it. Of course I don’t know how far this will go as work takes up so much time, but we gotta have our hobbies, no? So, while the pulaar/fulaa speakers probably are outnumbered easily by Hausa speakers (what maybe 100 mil Hausa speakers vs maybe 30/40 mill Fula speakers? numbers just guesses), other motivations override.
Precisely.
Same here.
Right, there’s so much to learn about natural languages and their development.