Flags of constructed languages

Last modified: 2007-04-14 by antónio martins
Keywords: globe | novial | bolak | vikto | flower (orange) | sun: 8 rays | star: 8 points (multi-colored) | occidental | interlingue | yin yang | interlingua | latino sine flexione | map: world | eagle | quenya | europanto |
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Constructed languages:

• Introduction
• Active:
  • Esperanto (1 million speakers)
  • Interlingua IALA (10 000 speakers)
  • Ido (5000 speakers)
  • Volapük (10 000 speakers in 1888, curently 500)
  • Klingon (1000 speakers)
  • Quenya (1000 speakers)
  • Lojban (100 speakers)
  • Glosa (10 speakers?)
• Abandoned:
  • Bolak (no speakers, ever)
  • Interlingua L.S.F. (currently no speakers)
  • Novial (currently no speakers)
  • Occidental/Interlingue (currently no speakers)
  • Vikto (no speakers, ever)
• Other constructed languages (with unknown flags)

• Flags of languages

• Conlangs, a very comprehensive site about constructed languages
  reported by António Martins, 25 Aug 2004

Introduction

There are nowadays maybe six or seven “living artificial languages” — from a total of several hundered “dead” ones, with new ones popping every year. The other “living” ones (meaning that a speaker community, however small, do exists), as far as I know, are Interlingua (IALA), Klingon, Lojban, Quenya, Ido, Volapük (sort of), and, of course, Esperanto.
António Martins, 04 June 1999

Bolak

Leon Bollack published his language project in 1899, and insisted with some more learning and reading material for some two years, with limited success. The name "Bolak" meant "blue [language]", and it used this color as symbol, standing for the sky surrounding the earth. I don’t know of any specific logo.
António Martins, 04 June, 1999

Interlingua / Latino sine flaxione

Originally called Interlingua, this 1903 project by G. Peano is currently known by it’s alternate name, latino sine flaxione, due to another, later and more successful language of the same name. According to Rodríguez, it had a very classical symbol (in tune with the classical, as in latin, origin of the language project): an eagle (roman?) over the Earth globe, here in a conjectural black on white 2:3 logo flag.
António Martins, 05 Jun 1999

Novial

Novial, an acronym of Nova International Auxiliari Lingue was created in 1928 by Otto Jespersen, formerly esperantist and idist.
António Martins, 04 Jun 1999

As newly informed by Rodríguez (pers. comm.), the emblem of Novial is something like two superimposed quadrangles with inward curve edges of a light reddish hue, one of them symmetrical and standing on a side and the other, standing on a point, with the upper point clearly extended; the overlapping area is golden yellow. This emblem was usually set on a white background.
António Martins, 24 May 2003

Incorrect report

The article [rod97] reports a seven pointed star on a «dark» background. The author of this source, Rodríguez, informed me later that this vague description was wrong.
António Martins, 04 Jun 1999 and 24 May 2003

Occidental/Interlingue

Occidental was proposed by De Whal in 1922, renamed to Interlingue in 1945 for political correctness; in the early 80’ies all adepts had "upgraded" themselves to the very similar Interlingua. According to Rodríguez, they used as a symbol a “ying-yang” like device, standing for a world inter-relating and united.
António Martins, 05 Jun 1999

Rodríguez (pers. comm.) informs also that the usual colors used for the emblem of Occidental are red on white.
António Martins, 24 May 2003

Vikto

Rodríguez refers that this language was created by Bosz Vilmos, a Hungarian, but doesn’t give the date. It’s logo is an orange five petal flower contour with a large white V on it; under it the motto «Vivat vikto!» (meaning more or less «Long live vikto!»), composed with an ornamental face.
António Martins, 04 Jun 1999

Other constructed languages

Other currently active artificial language movements are not many, none of them with symbols (let alone flags) known to us:

Quenya, the High Elvish “tongue”

is the most popular and widely known of the many languages devised by J. R. R. Tolkien i.a. for his “Middle Earth” book series (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit etc.). This is mainly due to the fact that Quenya is the only language described fully enough to became “alive”. There might be around a thousand of speakers (all of them as second language, I guess). I don’t know of specific symbol for Quenya as a constructed language, its users giving probably only cursory importance to its real-world use: As a “re-enactors”’ language, the only flags used may be only those native to Middle Earth itself.
António Martins, 02 Sep 2004

Europanto

is not really a serious project of an international planned language (but then again, neither was Klingon!), rather a joke started by a Italian EU-translator making fun of the Euro-babylon at Brussels HQ, but it did became highly popular (as such). It may evolve as a half planned, serious pidgin, maybe into something more stable — who knows? As far as it goes any current symbol for Europanto would be some humourous version of the E.U. flag.
António Martins, 04 Jun 1999

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