Introduction
Among constructed languages, Interlingua occupies a unique and often misunderstood position. It is neither radically simplified like Toki Pona, nor logically engineered like Lojban, nor artistically fictional like many artlangs. Instead, Interlingua is built on a bold premise:
> A large part of humanity already shares a common international vocabulary — it only needs to be revealed, not invented.
Interlingua is a naturalistic auxiliary language, designed to be immediately readable by speakers of many European languages, especially Romance languages. Its goal is not to reshape thought, but to bridge cultures through linguistic familiarity.
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Historical Background
Interlingua was developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA), a research organization dedicated to finding the most suitable international language.
Unlike Esperanto or Ido, IALA did not begin with a fixed ideology. Instead, it conducted extensive linguistic research, analyzing vocabulary shared across major European languages such as:
Latin
Italian
Spanish
French
Portuguese
English
The result was Interlingua, officially published in 1951, designed to look and feel like a “natural” language rather than a constructed one.
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The Core Philosophy of Interlingua
Interlingua is based on three fundamental principles:
1. Recognition Over Learning
Interlingua minimizes memorization by using words that already exist in international vocabulary.
A reader who knows English, Spanish, French, or Italian can often understand Interlingua without formal study.
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2. Naturalism
Unlike schematic languages, Interlingua embraces irregularity, historical forms, and natural grammar patterns — because these feel intuitive to human speakers.
Its creators believed that naturalness improves acceptance.
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3. Neutral Mediation
Interlingua avoids national identity. It is not “Latin reborn” nor a Romance language clone, but a neutral extract of shared linguistic heritage.
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Grammar and Structure
Interlingua’s grammar is intentionally simple but natural.
Key characteristics include:
no grammatical gender agreement complexity,
minimal verb conjugation,
absence of complex case systems,
flexible sentence structure close to Romance norms.
Importantly, Interlingua avoids artificial rules that conflict with intuition.
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Vocabulary Design
Vocabulary is the heart of Interlingua.
Words are selected based on:
international usage,
presence in multiple major languages,
historical continuity.
Examples:
information
communication
scientia
international
cultura
This makes Interlingua particularly effective in:
science,
medicine,
academia,
diplomacy.
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Interlingua as a Written Language
One of Interlingua’s greatest strengths is its passive intelligibility.
Many people can read Interlingua texts with little to no prior exposure. This makes it especially useful for:
multilingual publications,
summaries,
technical documentation,
international communication where clarity matters.
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Community and Usage
Interlingua has a small but dedicated community worldwide.
It is used in:
newsletters and magazines,
scientific abstracts,
online forums,
educational material,
translation projects.
Its use is pragmatic rather than ideological.
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Comparison with Other Auxiliary Languages
Language Approach Naturalness Learnability
Esperanto Schematic Medium High
Ido Reformed Esperanto Medium Medium
Volapük Artificial Low Low
Interlingua Naturalistic High Very High (passive)
Interlingua trades grammatical regularity for immediate comprehension.
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Criticism and Limitations
Interlingua is not without criticism.
Common critiques include:
Eurocentric vocabulary,
limited accessibility outside Indo-European languages,
weaker spoken adoption compared to Esperanto.
However, supporters argue that its clarity and elegance outweigh these limitations.
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Why Interlingua Still Matters
In a globalized world dominated by English, Interlingua offers an alternative vision:
multilingual without domination,
international without artificiality,
neutral without abstraction.
It demonstrates that shared linguistic heritage can be a foundation for communication.
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Conclusion
Interlingua is not a language of revolution — it is a language of recognition.
It does not ask speakers to abandon their linguistic instincts, but to embrace what they already know. In doing so, Interlingua stands as one of the most intellectually honest attempts at an international auxiliary language.