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Native speakers traditionally occupy a special position in foreign language teaching and learning because their language use is norm-providing. In linguistic studies they are crucial as informants because they decide whether an utterance is correct or incorrect. Although Esperanto as a planned language aims at facilitating international communication by means of a common second language, there are also people who speak this language as a mother tongue, a fact that has recently received growing attention both within and beyond the Esperanto-speaking community. The phenomenon deserves attention because it throws light on the character of the speech community, and especially on questions of language loyalty and speaker identity. In addition, the use of Esperanto as a family language stimulates the development of the language. However, the status of Esperanto native speakers cannot be equated with the status of native speakers of an ethnic language both because of their limited number and also because Esperanto is only one of their mother tongues among several. Above all, native Esperanto speakers do not decide on the standard of the planned language.

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This paper is concerned with Esperanto, the only planned language system that has managed the successful transition from the status of a mere project to a full-fledged language. This is partly due to linguostructural properties, but above all to extralinguistic factors. Esperanto has found a su‰ciently diverse and productive speech community which guarantees the constant and sustained dissemination of the language. This paper describes Esperanto as a planned language of the autonomous a posteriori subgroup. Its linguistic norm, which is documented in the Fundamento de Esperanto (1905), has developed steadily and become stable. It is supervised by the Akademio de Esperanto. Self-regulation takes place in a field of tension between diversifying forces (e.g. di¤erent linguistic and cultural influences because of the speakers' native backgrounds) and unifying forces (e.g. application during international meetings, literature, and radio programs). Its productive and flexible word formation system and syntax make Esperanto a means of communication with high expressive quality and stylistic variation. The main reason for the ease of Esperanto communication, however, is its democratic character: the lack of a native speaker whose competence decides on the language standard facilitates symmetrical communication.