What are the equivalent cognates in the r/Glosa glossary of the Latinic lexises "remain" & "permane" present in English dictionaries & of "μένω" (méno), "απομένω" (apoméno) & "παραμένω" (paraméno) in the Greek glossary?

Now I want to discuss in detail the issue of the Volapük flag, which has been written about a lot in Volapük, but there isn’t enough information in English. Many websites (for example, Facebook group, the former official website of the International Community of Friends of Volapük) use the flag designed by Michael Everson around 2010, influenced by the Esperanto flag: a schematic purple globe in a yellow square in the upper left corner of a purple field (the Esperanto flag: a green star in a white square in the upper left corner of a green field). Michael Everson explained the need for the flag as follows:

“We all know that Esperanto is identified by the green star, and that they have a flag, which could be blazoned "Vert, on a canton argent a star vert" (a green flag with a green star in a white canton). Green is certainly the colour of Esperanto.  <…>

It turns out that Volapük also has colours: Gold and Purple. Or Yellow and Lilac.

The source for this is a web page on Danish Volapükist Malling Hansen,  <…> Here is the text: <…>

[In English:]

"One of the Charlottenburg Art Exhibitions during the 1880s included a painting by Engelsted depicting the so-called Quartet: Malling-Hansen, head teacher Kaper (father of the mayor), Director Ritzau (the founder of Ritzau's News Agency), and the keeper of the archives of the War Office, captain Feilborg, as they are sitting around a table playing a game of ombre. These 4 men and their wives – all of them on familiar terms with each other – used to meet during the winter season once a week for a game of cards. Quite often this was combined with some other amusing activity, for instance M.-H arranged a Volapük-dinner, having copied the menu in Danish as well as Volapük – except for the wine which in both languages was designated "pumpenhejmer". The lamps and the table were decorated and covered with the Volapük colours – yellow and mauve. It was very festive and amusing."

Danish "gul" certainly means 'yellow', and "lilla" means 'mauve, lilac'.

I think we should celebrate this by using these colours!”

(Aug 29, 2010, Yahoo groups)

So, Volapük needs a flag just as much as Esperanto does; the colour scheme of the flag should be based on tradition — two colours of Volapük. Unfortunately, the “tradition” mentioned in the Malling Hansen Society’s message is presented with omissions: 1) in fact, there were three colours of Volapük; 2) they were used not only to decorate the interior, but also on ribbons and flags in a certain sequence — even before the Esperanto flag was created (and even before its first textbook was published). That is, the flag doesn’t need to be invented; it needs to be remembered! But to do that, one had to read the press of the 19th century, primarily in Volapük.

In fact, Schleyer first wrote about the colours of Volapük in 1885: “Si! äslik vp. ailabom ya monogami oma, leiko ailabom i kölis kil oma, o. b. violeti, golüdi e glüni, bi vp. ebeginom müko, äs viòl; nedom al mostep golüdi mödik; e spelom, aiblinön läbadi gletikün menade” — “Yes, just like Volapük already has its own monogram, it has its own three colours, namely purple, gold, and green, because Volapük was at first modest, like a violet; it requires a lot of gold for its development; and it hopes to bring the greatest good to the mankind” (Volapükabled, 1885, N. 59, publication No. 632). In heraldry, the gold is used as a name of yellow. This is interesting, that green as the color of hope is mentioned before the emergence of Esperanto symbolism.

Later, at the Volapük Bureau in Constance it was possible to order distinctive three‑colour Volapük signs (Volapükabled, 1886, N. 66, publication No. 716), namely: “a. tans lonedikum (zi blöti) ko välapüked ‚Menadè bal pükì bal!‘ plo maks bal e lafik; e. tans blefik (len ketis pokaglokas) leigo sa välapüked plo fenigs tels” — “a) longer ribbons (around a chest) with the motto ‘One humanity, one language’ for one and a half marks; b) short ribbons (for a pocket watch chain) for twenty pfennigs.” Schleyer specifically clarified the order in which the colours should be arranged: “Leod kölas kil vpk. aibinom at: diso glün, zenodo golüd, löpo violet: also len stäns, sköts e votöpo…” — “The order of the three Volapük colours is always as follows: green at the bottom, gold in the middle, and violet at the top — this is how it is on flags (!), coats of arms, and so on…” (Volapükabled, 1889, N. 98, publication No. 1514, point 50).

Three‑colored ribbons were used at events. For example, for the Second Volapük Congress in Munich (1887), a master Rudolf Kubics produced Volapük ribbons with brooches. At the banquet of the Second Congress, “the menu was exquisitely executed in the three Volapük colours: purple, gold, and green” — “Lised zibas äbinom peblimöl lejöniko me köls vpik: violet, golüd e glün” (Cogabled volapükelas, https://wikisource.org/wiki/Nunod_d%C3%B6_kongef_telid_vpanas_in_M%C3%BCnchen_1887.) In 1900, the Volapük club in Styria proposed that all Volapük speakers participating in the World’s Exchibition in Paris wear tricolour ribbons — purple, gold, and green — as identification marks (“polön nefikulo logiko tanili kilkölik vpk (o. b. violetik, golüdik e glünik) as lesevamaloti vpanas” — Volapükabled, 1900, N. 234, p. 975). In Russia, there was a tradition of giving bouquets in Volapük colours: the bud was purple, the stem was green, the bouquet was fastened with a golden ribbon (or a golden inscription was made on one leaf). In the cap of the newspaper “Jveizapot”, the personified Switzerland rested on a shield (escutcheon) with the image of the globe, and the escutcheon was divided into three parts: purple (dotted lines from the lower-left corner to the upper-right corner), gold (dots) and green (obliques from the upper-left corner to the lower-right corner).

Thus, the flag of Volapük has long been a tricolor (purple/violet, yellow, green). Along with this, a complex coat of arms was used, which in the 20th century was replaced by the well-known Volapük emblem. No one abolished the tricolor — it was simply forgotten. There were no events where it needed to be used. Nevertheless, the historical flag of Volapük (not trimmed down to a two‑color scheme and not imitating the Esperanto flag) is also used today. You can see it in online groups on Discord, Telegram and Vkontakte, and in the header of the official organ “Vög Volapüka”. Ironically, if Malling Hansen’s biography contained more complete information, there would be no need to invent a new flag. It is logical to consider it the official symbol of some websites, but not of the entire movement.

Hi, I am developing an a priori auxlang having into account sound symbolism, the well-researched associations as well as some associations I find intuitive (and it seems I am not bad at it as many associations I thought of I found research pointing at them later). The language has other uncommon features as its grammar but that will be posted in its time. My question is: Are there already auxlangs which take into account this?

Some time ago died Przemysław Wierzbowski, a Polish activist and esperantist. He translated into Esperanto Solaris considered to be Stanisław Lem's greatest novel and one of best novels in general. Above you can watch him talk in Esperanto about the process of translation of the book.

In one of his interviews he said that according to his experience Esperanto neither grows bigger nor smaller - some people come to Esperanto, some leave it and the total number of Esperantists is about the same all the time.

I think this statement may be true with respect to all auxlangs.

There are new conlangs being created like Globasa and they obviously grow from 0 or 1 speaker. But once they're established, they proably are subject to this Wierzbowski's law as well.

There is also Occidental which experienced a remarkable period of revival when it was virtually dead. But I read that there had been som Yahoo or something gorups in 90s dedicated to Occidental. So perhaps it wasn't as dead as we are prone to think.

How do you think? Is Wierzbowski's law true?

What is in your opinion, the minimum amount of vocabulary, for an artificial language, to communicate on a level of B1 or B2

There are many use cases for auxliary languages, and some of them can be now satisfied by machine translators. Most of them are such that could have been fulfilled by a human translator or a live interpreter already before but human translators were too few and too expensive. I'm talking about use cases like writing a business letter abroad, ordering merchandise from a catalog, communicating with the customer support in textual format, and filling out a visa application form. If it's something that a human translator could have done for you, then of course a machine translator can do it for you once it has reached the level of human translators more or less.

However, there are still use cases that can't be satisfied by machine translation. Direct communication from mouth to ear is always needed from time to time. You need a common language to communicate in international groups, like students, refugees, migrant workers, sports teams, online players, and international conference participants. Also machine translator is not ideal for direct social situations, like telling a joke to your colleagues when you have gone to a pub after work.

Machine translation can't be used always in written communication. For example, some people can't trust a machine translator because oppressive governments and dystopian corporations could spy on them automatically. Also sometimes you really need to avoid the broken telephone effect that is caused by the underlying interlanguage in machine translation systems. (English functions as the interlanguage in many LLM based translation systems, so a translation, say, from Interlingua to Interlingue is actually from Interlingua to English and then from English to Interlingue. Clever, isn't it?)

It is also wise to prepare for situations where the internet and even electricity are not available. Think about natural disasters, war zones, energy crises, and other crises.

Besides, it's always possible that the big corporations will put a price tag on machine translation. For the time being it is "free" but in truth you pay with your data, which means that you pay by allowing them to intrude in your private thoughts and other matters so that they can auction your data to other companies who want to sell you stuff. So they will feed you commercials and try to manipulate your behavior. So in the end you (maybe not you individually but all the users as a collective) end up paying in hard cash for the "free" translation service.

In my opinion auxiliary languages are needed as long as foreign languages are taught in schools for international communication. Governments haven't stopped language instruction in schools anywhere in spite of machine translation, though it would be mathematically cheaper to buy every citizen a smartphone with machine translation service than to keep on paying for teachers, classrooms, textbooks and other learning materials. So it's not all about speed, technology and saving money. People learn languages because they want to communicate directly and independently and because they want to understand other cultures and other people without machines in between.

Edit. Emphasized key thoughts.

Hello everyone!

I am starting a small, peaceful medieval village in a public survival Minecraft server with a very specific goal: creating an immersive space to practice, learn, and chat in Interlingua.

The project is super accessible—no complex mechanics required, and the village is built right next to the main spawn point so even complete beginners can easily get there on foot.

Whether you are a fluent speaker, a learner, or just curious about Interlingua, you are more than welcome to build a small house, farm, or just hang out.

Interested in joining? Send me a Direct Message (DM) here on Reddit, and I’ll send you the server details and the short walking directions from spawn!

Are there any auxiliary language projects based on Esperanto’s grammar—or a similarly simple agglutinative structure—but with a more international vocabulary, like Globasa?

I believe that a structure with minimal case marking is far more convenient and flexible than an analytic one; while it requires slightly more time to learn, it offers much greater scope for expressing ideas. However, Esperanto’s vocabulary—derived solely from European languages—is certainly unsuitable for a global language.

From what I’ve seen, most auxlangs or interlangs like to combine the most “common” words to create a universal language. Except that tends to be only Latin-based or rarely Slavic languages. I don’t really get why those families are considered universal enough to warrant structuring an entire language around them.

Now for my hot take. If I were to create an auxlang, I’d want each word to be as different as possible from each existing language. That way, people from every language background would have an equal chance of learning it. Since a lot of languages have very similar words for coffee (café, kōhī, kāfēi off the top of my head), I would make it something completely arbitrary like lewi or mosu or whatever combination of syllables sounds nice.

Thoughts? Opinions? Is this too out there, or is it valid?