Gesellschaft für Interlinguistik

The Gesellschaft für Interlinguistik (“GIL”; English: Society for Interlinguistics, Talossan: Società per els Înterlinguístiçeux) is a German society for “the study of all facets of international communication”. Its working language is German, and it was founded 1991 in Berlin, counting over 60 members, most of whom are linguists.

The GIL also organises annual conferences called Interlinguistische Informationen (IntI), where members can present scientific papers, which are then published in the so-called Beiheft zu Interlinguistischen Informationen (English: Supplement to Interlinguistische Informationen). In Supplement 18, Věra Barandovská-Frank published a paper in German about the Talossan langugage.

Purpose of the Society for Interlinguistics

According to the statement on their website, the “GIL analyzes possibilities for optimizing international communication using planned languages, which form the focus of its research”.

Beiheft 18: Paper about Talossan

In 2011, Dr. Věra Barandovská-Frank, a Latinist, published a paper in Supplements to IntI 18 with the title Spracherfindung und Nationalsprache: das Beispiel El Glheþ Talossan (English: Language invention and national language: El Glheþ Talossan as example). Dr. Barandovská-Frank has collected various data from the Kingdom and Republic, recapitulating the modern history of the Talossan People, including Penguinea, all Kingdoms and the Republic of Talossa.
Dr. Barandovská-Frank chronologically recounts the genesis and history of the Talossan language, naming following periods:

• Archaic Talossan (archaische Periode, 1980/I – 1981/II): This is classified as a “sort of pidgin” (p. 39), with words such as todayeu, happyeu, and the like.
• Pre-Classical Talossan (vorklassische Periode, a short period in 1981/II): Berendovská points out that in this period, different influences, such as from Finno-Ugric languages, find their way into Talossan. However, she fails to demonstrate this. Her example does include, however, words in Talossan from German, such as anstatt.
• Classical Talossan (klassische talossanische Periode, 1981/II – 1983/IV): It is pointed out that a dictionary with 1,700 entries was created, and that there were efforts to purge the Finno-Ugric influences.
• Late Classical Talossan (spätklassische Periode, 1983/IV – 1985/VI): Berendovská reports that King Robert I visited Switzerland in March 1983/IV, and subsequently was fascinated by the Rhaeto-Romance languages. She notes that the archaic suffix of abstract nouns -çau became -ziun (pronounced [t͡sjũ]), and that this was also the period in which the Comità per l'Útzil del Glheþ was established. With a following relocation to London for study purposes, King Robert I discovered his “love of European things”, and became fascinated with language retention and revival, such as for Cornish. Berendovská points out that this was when King Robert I turned away from the idea of an artistic constructed language, and instead started to “reconstruct” the Talossan language, trying to connect it with Celts that lived in modern-day Toulouse (Latin Tolossa).
• Celtic-Berber Period (keltisch-berberische Periode, 1985/VI): As King Robert I was trying to put together a connection between the Finnish word Talossa and the modern-day French city Toulouse, he came across German philologist Alfred Holder’s reference book “Alt-Celtischer Sprachschatz” (1961: 1875). In this book, which lists all words of Celtic origin, Holder lists the word Tŏl-ōs(s)a, which is the Latin form of today’s Toulouse:

  “?Tŏl-ōsa Tŏl-ōssa nach Zeuß celtisch, nach Hübner iberisch, cf. afric. Tolotae [...]”
  (English: “?Tŏl-ōsa Tŏl-ōssa according to Zeuß Celtic, according to Hübner Iberic, cf. Afric. Tolotae [...]”)

  While this is by no means a satisfactory proof of a European connection to the Berbers, it gave rise to the Berber hypothesis, forming even the most essential word in Talossan: glheþ (cf. Cornish yeth [(j)eːθ]).
• Pre-Modern Talossan (vormoderne Periode, 1985/VI – 1986/VII): King Robert I proposed that the Berbers in Gallia (i.e., France) never lost their identity, and, while the Gauls spoke a Romance dialect of the Oïl continuum, the Berbers in Gallia spoke a Romance dialect of the Òc continuum (→ Occitan). Hence, the Talossan language was heavily influenced by Occitan during this period, which gave rise to a dictionary with 4,300 words.
• Modern Talossan (moderne Periode, 1986/VII – 1990/XI): Due to John Jahn heavily lobbying for the inclusion of German as a second national language, King Robert I was under greater pressure to further and develop the Talossan language. With the release of a textbook and a dictionary in 1987/VIII, others started learning the language, and started adding to the Talossan language corpus. Barandovská gives a poem as example:

  Stiloûr
  Tú isch la mhà qi tent el stiloûr
  Qi scriua la stôriâ da vha vhiðâ.
  Cün 'n a verçâ da thú bPigñhetâ
  Tú fäts va vhiðâ a lerétz eða tristâ.
  Scriitzi várlegâ--Non dencida va c'hard!
  Scriitzi sovînt--Non me tenetz în eñclin!
  Scriitzi tú stôriâ, în lácrimâs, schi tú volt, sür va pháxhinâ
  Noi povent lirar
  Ensemblâ

• Neo-Classical or Harmonic Talossan (neoklassische oder harmonische Periode, from 1990/XI onward)

It should be noted that after Reunison and as of 2019/XL, the language is in a period of re-harmonising itself, with the Ladintsch community striving to make it more regular and integrate it more deeply into a natural shape of African Latin with Occitan and Celtic influences.

Barandovská also includes a short grammar section, which is somewhat out-of-date. Some IPA symbols she uses are furthermore incorrect, as she uses [ɜ] (open-mid central unrounded vowel) for [ʒ] (voiced postalveolar fricative).

Barandovská goes on to ask what constitutes a nation and a national language, including information about the Haxh of some European Talossans to Abbavillă for the annual Living Cosăs, where they can also use the language orally. The author concludes that the Talossan language is one of the most important parts of being a Talossan, and of belonging to Talossa, if not even the strongest and most important cultural tie of Talossans throughout the diaspora (p. 48).

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