Glosa

language
name=Glosa
caption=Flag/Symbol


creator=Ronald Clark and Wendy Ashby, based on the Interglossa of Lancelot Hogben
date=1972–1992
setting=international auxiliary language
speakers= ~10Fact|date=December 2007
fam2=auxiliary language
posteriori=vocabulary from Latin and Greek and grammatical influences from isolating languages and creole languages
iso3=igs

Glosa is an isolating international auxiliary language (sometimes called an "auxlang" or an "IAL"). "Isolating" means that there are no inflections - words remain always in their original form, no matter what function they have in the sentence. However, some grammatical functions are taken over by a small number of operator words and by the use of word order (syntax).

Overview

Professor Lancelot Hogben devised Interglossa while fire-watching on the roof of Aberdeen University during a war. [http://www.glosa.org/en/history.pdf] He was inspired to remove all inflections from Interglossa by the publication of Latino Sine Flexione by Peano in 1905 but thought that the list of vocabulary was too extensive to be of much use as an IAL. For this reason he made Interglossa's vocabulary much more basic. A draft of Interglossa was originally published by Hogben (by the publishing company Pelican Books in London) in 1943 as "Interglossa: A draft of an auxiliary for a democratic world order, being an attempt to apply semantic principles to language design". Hogben listed 880 classical words and roots that he believed would suffice for basic conversation.

After receiving Hogben's permission, Ronald Clark and Wendy Ashby worked to refine Interglossa in order to make it more easily usable in all possible forms of communication (id est: spoken, written, via telegram, etc.). In 1972, the first paper on Glosa was officially published. In this publication, Glosa, based on Interglossa, was intended to be used as a means of communication of and between the global scientific community. Hogben died in 1975. Clark and Ashby then decided to rename the language Glosa (because any changes that they made could not be approved by Hogben) and make the spelling phonetic, including making double vowels and consonants rarely occur.

Until about 1979, Ashby and Clark tested the use of Glosal using local volunteers in the town in which they were living. During this period, the vocabulary and some details of sentence formation were developed and revised. They had moved to another town by the time they had published the first Glosa dictionary.

In Glosa, words always retain their original form, regardless of their function in a sentence. Thus, the same word can function as a verb, noun, adjective or preposition. Grammatical functions are taken over by a limited number of operator words and by the word order (syntax). Subject-Verb-Object order is the standard word order, and "adjectives" usually precede "nouns", and the "verbs" follows the tense particles and the "adverbs". Glosa is written with the Latin alphabet and without special characters; there are no double vowels or consonants.

In order to ease recognition and use, the words of Glosa are taken almost exclusively from Latin and Greek.

Alphabet and phonology

Grammar and Word Formation

Glosa contains two major groups of words:

:Primitives: the small number of basic function words present in most languages - these allow us to describe the relationships between the major concepts we convey. These are basically prepositions and conjunctions, such as: de [of] , e [and] , pre [before] , supra [above] , sub [under; below; lower; beneath; lesser; somewhat] .

:Substantives: the list of words representing the more complex things, actions and descriptions (sometimes usable for all three) present in a language, such as: via [road] , kurso [run] , hedo [happy] , vide [see] , celera [swift] , tako [fast; quick; swift; brisk; hasty; prompt; hurry; nimble; rapid; rapidity; rate; speed; haste; sprint; quick; speedy; velocity] ; oku [eye] . Please note that many of these words have multiple meanings, based on how they are used in a sentence (verb, adjective, etc.)- exempli gratia: "oku" can mean "eye", "optical", "to notice with the eyes", "see (look)", "perceive (with the eyes)", or "to peep".

In order to form a composite word in Glosa, one just combines existing words. For example::pe - person who does/person (short form of persona):an - male (from "andros"):fe - female:do - place of/place (from "domo" meaning "house"):lo - location, place of
* Therefore a student is "stude-pe" (one who studies), a male student is "stude-an", a female student is "stude-fe" and a place of students (school, library, etc.) is a "stude-do". Likewise a hospital is "pato-do" (from the word "pathology" but meaning "sickness"), literally meaning a "house/place of disease".:tegu - cover; ceiling; (to)shutter; deck; lid (cover); eclipse; (to) shelter; casing:oku-tegu - eyelid:agri - field, countryside:agri-lo - farm:a-celera - accelerate (to [move, change] to [ward] swiftness)

Meals can also be formed by noun-compounding::evening = vespera:to eat, to devour = vora:dinner, supper = vespera-vora

Phrases, the basic unit of recognizable meaning in Glosa, follow a "Subject+Verb+(Object)" order but are also "Substantive Final", which means that they start with the least important word, and are followed by additional words combining progressively to extend the meaning of the substantive, which comes last.

Word Derivation [http://www.glosa.org/gid/gwds.htm]

Generally, the following derivation rules apply when forming new words in Glosa. Some basic words (often that act as specificational prefixes) are shortened (such as "an", "fe", or "pe").

Indefinite words remain as they are ("ad", "de", "si", "kata").

:What is the time? = Qo horo?:Which (of) = de qi
* To indicate that a statement is really an interrogative, one places "qe" at the beginning of the sentence.

Sample and Useful Words

:Hello, greetings, saltutations = Saluta! Ave!:Welcome = Bene-veni:Please! = Place!:Sorry! = Pardo! Penite!:What is your name? = Qo-mode nomina/nima vi? (literally: How are you named?):My name is... = Mi nomina/nima es...:Where am I = Qo-lo es mi?:How much? = Qanta?:Do you speak Glosa = (Qe) Dice vi Glosa? / Qe vi dice Glosa?:I don't understand you = Mi ne logi/kompreni vi.:Thank you = Gratia:You're welcome = De nuli. (literally: Of nothing):Here's to your health = A vi eu-sani.:Bless you!/Gesundheit! = Eu-sani (de vi)!:It is a nice day = Es u bene di.:I love you = Mi amo vi.:Goodbye = Vale.:What is that? = Qo(-id) es u-la?:That is...? = U-la es...?:How are you? = Qo-mode iti vi? (literally: In what way are you going?):Good morning! = Boni matina!:Good evening! = Boni po meso-di! (literally: Good after mid-day):Good night! = Boni noktu!:Good night, sweet dreams = Boni kli/Boni (plu) sonia.:I can't find an error = Ne pote detekti u defekti.

:Well/be well = Vale:Good/well = Boni/bene/eu:Well (healthy) = Sani

:Ki = movement, to go, to move

:A cat, the cat = U feli(s):Cats = Plu feli(s)

:Dog = Kanis:Pig = Sui:Bovine (cow/bull) = Bovi:Horse = Equs:Frog = Rana:Bird = Avi:Bee = Bombus:Spider = Aranea:Fish = Piski

:A/an/the (generally) = "U" (before all consonants but "h"); "un" (before vowels and "h"):The (only used when precise specification is necessary) = Les/plu

Prepositions

:notice that in Glosa the word "sky" is derived from Greek ("Ουρανός" (God of the sky) -> "Urani" (sky)) while the other language samples used a Latin derived word ("caelum-caeli")

References

External links

* [http://www.glosa.org/en/ Glosa, an International Auxiliary Language]