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.

 Grammar 

 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.

+ Glosa alphabet (and the digraph sc) Letter abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxz(sc) IPA phonemekwks

 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 
+Personal Pronouns Person  English  Glosa  English  Glosa 1  I, me  mi  we, us  na 2  you (s.)  tu  you (pl.)  vi 3  she, her  fe they, them 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).

 Example of Verb Tenses Tense  Prior Word  Glosa Text  English Translation 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 
 Question(what)Indefinite(some)Very indefinite(any)Universal(every)Negative(no)qo–uno–ali–panto–nuli––ra (thing)qo-ra?(what thing?)uno-ra(something)ali-ra(anything)panto-ra(everything)nuli-ra(nothing)–pe (individual)qo-pe?(who?)uno-pe(someone)ali-pe(anyone)panto-pe(everyone; all)nuli-pe(no one)Individualqo?(what [horse]? which [horse]?)uno(some [horse])ali(any [horse])panto(every [horse])nuli, zero(no [horse])–lo (place)qo-lo?(where)uno-lo(somewhere)ali-lo(anywhere)panto-lo(everywhere)nuli-lo(nowhere)–mode (manner)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)–ka (cause)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)–te (intention)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)–metri (quantity)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 (abduct)
 ad – to / towards (advance)
 ana – up (anabolic)
 anti – against (antibiotic)
 de – of / about / pertaining to (describe)
 dextro – (on the) right (ambidextrous)
 dia – through (diagonal)
 epi – on (epicentre)
 ex – out (of) / by (agent) (exterior)
 infra – below / under / lesser (infrared, inferior)
 intra – inside (intracloud)
 kata – down (catastrophe)
 ko – with (coöperate)
 kontra – counter / opposite (counter, contrast)
 laevo – left (levorotation)
 margina – edge / side (margin)
 meso – middle (Mesopotamia)
 minus – without / lacking (minus)
 para – beside (parallel)
 per – by (instrumental) (per)
 peri – around (pericarp)
 po – after (post scriptum)
 pre – before (previous)
 pro – for (pro or con)
 proxi – near (proximity)
 supra – over / above (supranational)
 te – in order to... (tendency)
 tem – for a period of time (temporary)
 tele – far (telephone)
  – at place (topology)
 trans – across (transition)
 ultra – beyond (ultrasophisticated)
 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:

NumberGlosa nameExact 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 versionInterglosaHogben (p. 242).Frater versionEnglishPraying Together  (ELLC – 1988)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.

 References 

 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

Category:Glosa
Category:Constructed languages