Glosa (auxiliary language)

**Glosa** is an international auxiliary language. Glosa is an isolating language, which means that words never change form, and spelling is completely regular and phonetic.

As an isolating language, there are no inflections, so that words always remain in their dictionary form, no matter what function they have in the sentence. As a result, grammatical functions, when not clear from the context, are taken over by a small number of operator words and by the use of word order (syntax).

Glosa takes most of its vocabulary from Greek and Latin roots, seen by the authors as international in a sense by their usage in science.

## History

Glosa is based on an older draft auxiliary language from 1943 called Interglossa, which was developed by Lancerot Hogben in 1943.

Ron Clark discovered Interglossa in 1960. He joined Hogben to develop the language. Wendy Ashby joined them in 1972. After Hogben's death in 1975, Ron and Wendy made many changes in the language and they renamed it Glosa.

In 1979, they tested the language with volunteers from the city they were living in. Also, the first dictionary was published.

Since 1987, the NGO Glosa Education Organisation (GEO) promotes the language. Its official website was created in 1996 by Paul O. Bartlett. Later, Marcel Springer became the person in charge of it.

In 2021, a wiki in Glosa was created by Vicente Costalago.

### Alphabet and spelling

Glosa spelling is completely regular and phonetic: one spelling always represents one sound, and one sound is always represented by one spelling. With the sole exception of _SC_ which represents the sound  (as “sh” in _short_), every letter just represents one sound, and vice versa. Glosa is written with the Latin letters.

|Letter||a||b||c||d||e||f||g||h||i||j||k||l||m||n||o||p||q||r||s||t||u||v||w||x||z||(sc)|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|||style="background-color:#fcc"|||||||||||||||style="background-color:#fcc"|kw|||||||style="background-color:#fcc"|ks||style="background-color:#fcc"|||||||||||||||||||||||||

### Word classes

Glosa contains two major groups of words:

#### Primitives

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

#### Substantives

Substantives here are the group of words that represents 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; prompt; hurry; rate; speed]; **oku** [eye].  Please note that many of these words have many meanings, based on how they are used in a sentence (verb, adjective, etc.), for example: "_oku_" can mean "_eye_", "_optical_", "_see (look)_", "_perceive (with the eyes)_", or "_to peep_".

## Parts of speech

Glosa words can often serve as more than one part of speech. Thus part of speech is a role that the word plays in a sentence, not a property of a word.

### Personal pronouns

|Person|English|Glosa|English|Glosa|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|I, me|**mi**|we, us|**na**||
|you (s.)|**tu**|you (pl.)|**vi**||
|she, her|**fe**|they, them || rowspan="4" |**mu**|||
|he, him|**an**||||
|it|**id**||||
|he/she/one|**pe**||||

The reflexive pronoun ”oneself” is **se**, the reciprocal pronoun **alelo** means ”each other”, and the emphatic **auto** is used for “self, own“.

### Verbs

Most words can act as verbs, depending on their places in the sentence (usually in the middle).

|colspan="4"|**Example of Verb Tenses**|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Infinitive|-|Mi volu lekto u bibli.|I want to read the book.|
|Simple Past|pa|Mi pa lekto u bibli.|I (did) read the book.|
|Imperfect|pa du|Mi pa du lekto u bibli.|I was reading the book.|
|Past Participle|ge-|U ge-lekto bibli|The read book / The book that has been read|
|Simple Present|(nu)|Mi (nu) lekto u bibli.|I (do) read the book / I am reading the book.|
|Continuous Present|du|Mi du lekto u bibli.|I am reading the book.|
|Present Perfect|nu pa|Mi nu pa lekto u bibli.|I have (just) read the book.|
|Future-in-Present|nu fu|Mi nu fu lekto u bibli.|I am just about to read the book / I am just going to read the book.|
|Future-in-Past|pa fu|Mi pa fu lekto u bibli.|I was about to read the book / I was going to read the book.|
|Simple Future|fu|Mi fu lekto u bibli.|I shall/will read the book.|
|Future Perfect|fu pa|Mi fu pa lekto u bibli.|I shall/will have read the book (by tomorrow).|
|Conditional|sio|Mi sio lekto u bibli...|I would read the book...|
|Imperative|-!|Lekto!|Read!|
|Negative|ne|Mi ne lekto u bibli.|I do not read the book/I am not reading the book.|
|Interrogative|qe|Qe mi lekto u bibli?|Am I reading the book? / Do I read the book?|
|Passive|gene|U bibli gene lekto ex mi.|The book is/gets read by me.|
|Gerund|-|(U) lekto (de bibli).|(The) reading (of the book...)|

"Prior word" here means a word used immediately before the verb of the sentence or clause in order to show its tense. For example:
- To show that a verb is in the past tense, add _pa_ before the verb.
- To indicate the future tense, add _fu_ before the verb.
- To indicate the conditional, add _sio_ before the verb.

### Adjectives

Adjectives, like the rest of the language do not change. They are generally placed before the word that they modify.

To create "opposites", one just places "_no-_" as a prefix to the adjective. It is the equivalent of some of the uses on in- or un- in English.
- _kali_ – beautiful
- _no-kali_ – ugly
- _termo_ – hot, heat
- _meso-termo_ – warm
- _no-termo_ – cold

### Conjunctions

- _akorda-co_ – accordingly
- _alo_ – or
- _alo...alo_ – either...or
- _alora_ – in that case...
- _anti-co_ – however
- _e_ – and
- _fini-co_ – finally
- _hetero-co_ – otherwise
- _jam_ – already
- _kaso_ – case...
- _ko-co_ – also
- _klu_ – even...
- _ni....ni_ – neither...nor
- _pene_ – almost
- _po-co_ – after that
- _posi_ – perhaps
- _plus-co_ – moreover
- _qasi_ – as if...
- _sed_ – but
- _si ne..._ – unless
- _vice_ – instead of...

### Question and answer words

|qo–|uno–|ali–|panto–|nuli–|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="2"||Question (what)|Indefinite (some)|Very indefinite (any)|Universal (every)|Negative (no)|
|_qo-ra?_ (what thing?)|_uno-ra_ (something)|_ali-ra_ (anything)|_panto-ra_ (everything)|_nuli-ra_ (nothing)|||
|_qo-pe?_ (who?)|_uno-pe_ (someone)|_ali-pe_ (anyone)|_panto-pe_ (everyone; all)|_nuli-pe_ (no one)|||
|***qo?*** (what [horse]? which [horse]?)|***uno*** (some [horse])|***ali*** (any [horse])|***panto*** (every [horse])|***nuli, zero*** (no [horse])|||
|_qo-lo?_ (where)|_uno-lo_ (somewhere)|_ali-lo_ (anywhere)|_panto-lo_ (everywhere)|_nuli-lo_ (nowhere)|||
|_qo-mode?, komo?_ (how, in what way)|_uno-mode_ (somehow)|_ali-mode_ (in any way)|_panto-mode_ (in every way)|_nuli-mode_ (in no way, no-how)|||
|_qo-ka?_ (why; for what cause)|_uno-ka_ (for some cause)|_ali-ka_ (for any cause)|_panto-ka_ (for all causes)|_nuli-ka_ (for no cause)|||
|_qo-te?_ (why; with what intention)|_uno-te_ (with some intention)|_ali-te_ (with any intention)|_panto-te_ (with all intentions)|_nuli-te_ (with no intention)|||
|_qo-metri?, qanto?_ (how much)|_uno-metri_ (some)|_ali-metri_ (any)|_panto-metri_ (all)|_nuli-metri_ (none)|||

In addition to the above, there is the prefix/beginning _singu-_ (each), and the suffixes/endings _-numera_ (amount/number), _-speci_ (quality/kind of) and _-kron_ (time), which can be used in the same way as the above.

_Qo horo?_ can also be used for “What time?” or “What is the time?”.

#### Demonstratives

The basic demonstratives are:

- _ci_, here
- _u-ci_, this, this one, this [X]
- _plu-ci_, these
- _la_, there
- _u-la_, that, that one, that [X]
- _plu-la_, those

The demonstratives can also be used in the same way as the words in the table above: _u-ci mode, u-la mode_ (thus; in this way, in that way), _u-ci ka, u-la ka_ (for this cause, for that cause), _u-ci te_ (with this intention), etc.

For “this time”, there's also _nu_ (now), and for “that much/that many”, you can say _tanto_; for “that kind” _talo_.

To change a phrase into a question, _qe_ is placed at the beginning of the sentence.

### Prepositions

- **ab** – away from (_ab_duct)
- **ad** – to / towards (_ad_vance)
- **ana** – up (_ana_bolic)
- **anti** – against (_anti_biotic)
- **de** – of / about / pertaining to (_de_scribe)
- **dextro** – (on the) right (ambi_dextro_us)
- **dia** – through (_dia_gonal)
- **epi** – on (_epi_centre)
- **ex** – out (of) / by (agent) (_ex_terior)
- **infra** – below / under / lesser (_infra_red, _infer_ior)
- **intra** – inside (_intra_cloud)
- **kata** – down (_cata_strophe)
- **ko** – with (_co_öperate)
- **kontra** – counter / opposite (_counter_, _contra_st)
- **laevo** – left (_levo_rotation)
- **margina** – edge / side (_margin_)
- **meso** – middle (_Meso_potamia)
- **minus** – without / lacking (_minus_)
- **para** – beside (_para_llel)
- **per** – by (instrumental) (_per_)
- **peri** – around (_peri_carp)
- **po** – after (_po_st scriptum)
- **pre** – before (_pre_vious)
- **pro** – for (_pro_ or con)
- **proxi** – near (_proxi_mity)
- **supra** – over / above (_supra_national)
- **te** – in order to... (_te_ndency)
- **tem** – for a period of time (_temp_orary)
- **tele** – far (_tele_phone)
- **** – at place (_to_pology)
- **trans** – across (_trans_ition)
- **ultra** – beyond (_ultra_sophisticated)
- **vice** – instead of (_vice_-president)

### Numbers

The numbers from 0–10 are: _ze, mo, bi, tri, tet, pen, six, seti, ok, nona, deka_. For 0, 4, 5, 7 and 8 (ze, tet, pen, seti, ok), there's also the longer forms _zero, tetra, penta, septi_ and _okto_. Higher numbers are formed by combining the numerals in the number, and in some cases by proper names:

|**Number**|**Glosa name**|**Exact translation**|
| --- | --- | --- |
|11|mo-mo|one-one|
|12|mo-bi|one-two|
|20|bi-ze|two-zero|
|22|bi-bi|two-two|
|100|hekto (mo-ze-ze)|(one) hundred (one-zero-zero)|
|101|mo-ze-mo|one-zero-one|
|1.000|(mo-)kilo|(one) thousand|
|1.000.000|(mo-)miliona|(one) million|

Note that some use _centi_, the older form of _hekto_, for “hundred”. _Centi_ is now used as “hundredth” in accordance with the ISO standard usage.

When numbers are placed before the noun, they are cardinal; when they are placed after the noun, they are ordinal:
- _Mi fu lekto mo bibli_ – I will read one book
- _Mi fu lekto bibli mo_ – I will read the first book

_Mo_, _bi_ and _tri_ also means single, double and triple, respectively.

## Sample

The following is the Lord's Prayer in Glosa, compared with Interglossa, Frater and English versions, respectively:

|**Glosa version**|**Interglosa**|**Frater version**|**English**|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
||||<poem>Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.</poem>|

## Writings on the subject

- Ashby, Wendy & Clark, Ronald: _Glosa 6000: 6000 Greek and Latin words and roots which occur in the Euro-languages and international scientific terminology._ London: 1983 (48 p.)
- Ashby, Wendy & Clark, Ronald: _Glosa 1000._ Richmond: Glosa, 1984
- Ashby, Wendy & Clark, Ronald: _Basic dictionary of the international language Glosa._ Richmond [Surrey]: Glosa, 1987 (44 p.)
- Ashby, Wendy: _18 steps to fluency in Euro-Glosa._ Glosa, 1989 (2nde edition)
- Ashby, Wendy & Clark, Ronald: _Introducing Euro-Glosa._ Richmond: Glosa, 1990 (36 p.)

## Other websites

- Official website
- Wiki
- Reddit
- U Glosa Jurnali
- MiSimpliBio YouTube
- MiSimpliBio blog

## Infobox (language)

- **name**: Glosa
- **nativename**: _Glosa_
- **creator**: Ronald Clark and Wendy Ashby, based on the Interglossa of Lancelot Hogben
- **created**: 1972–1992
- **setting**: international auxiliary language
- **fam2**: International auxiliary language, auxiliary language
- **posteriori**: Interglossa
- **iso3**: none
- **glotto**: none
- **ietf**: [https://www.kreativekorp.com/clcr/ art-x-glosa]
- **notice**: IPA