BENEFITS OF A PRIORI AUXLANGS

August 10, 2026 - Published

- last edited August 14, 2026

Despite designing multiple a priori auxlangs, there's been a hilariously small amount of writing I've done on actually defending the concept.

A priori auxlangs are basically languages designed for world-wide communication with a vocabulary made from scratch. The words (or at least most of the words; stuff like country names are generally kept intact) are designed to be completely unrecognizable to everyone on the planet.

Based on that description alone, you might think, "Wait, what's the point of that? Who would want to learn it if it's both more difficult and less helpful in the real world?" And you wouldn't be alone!

A priori auxlangs have essentially always been the black sheep of the auxlang community. In my upcoming list, most people always think of #1 as the one sole benefit of an auxlang being a priori, but in my time supporting and learning my own a priori auxlang, I've gathered a number of benefits that keep the idea appealing to me.

It is important to note that I still don't consider an a priori auxlang to be the most practical type of auxlang, and this is probably why I haven't written an article on this yet -- I still feel that worldlangs are best in terms of balancing both ideals and practicality, but I don't think it's a bad thing to consider our options.

Anyway, let's start! (Note that this article will feature a lot less citations than usual because the subject has a lot less research I can actually pull from, so take these points with that in mind!)

#1: A priori auxlangs have no bias towards any country or language.

Barring inevitable accidental bias (through either bad luck, human influence, etc.), a priori auxlangs are the most neutral option in terms of vocabulary sourcing.

Eurolangs have obvious bias towards Europe, and worldlangs will generally have to have some amount of bias towards some country or set of countries. This is usually also Europe, because worldlangs tend to use the most universal vocabulary possible, and Europe happens to control a lot of universal vocabulary.

Pretty much everyone agrees on this point -- there are some naysayers that emphasize that no human-created language can be free of bias, but there are obviously ways around this (e.g. a simple script that can create randomized words). Even if those aren't used, it will still be a lot more neutral than most auxlang attempts, outside the most well-controlled worldlangs.

This appeals to people's ideals in that an auxlang shouldn't be biased towards any country, but it has the obvious downside that a language "equally easy for everyone" is also "equally hard for everyone." When this is the only benefit to your language's design, it is a bit of a hard sell. So, let's look at some other ones!

#2: A priori auxlangs are unique.

This sounds like a silly rewording of the last point, but it's actually a common point I hear from interested learners.

Many auxlangers get fatigued from the many similar-looking auxlangs, and it's understandable. There are a lot of European-based auxlangs, and a lot of them have similar vocabularies, sound similar, or both.

Even for worldlangs, all the ones I've seen after Globasa just feel like "Globasa, but a different flavor," even though I know they're varied, complex, and diverse -- you just get fatigued at some point and don't even want to read through the documentation.

Outside of zonelangs (which are only applicable to certain areas), there's only really a priori auxlangs to look for some variety. They do trend towards simple phonology since they don't need to resemble real words, but otherwise they'll appear very different from each other, and their low popularity means that most people won't be very familiar with any others.

The sourcing of the vocabulary can also generate some interest -- I've designed my own conlang around sound symbolism, and from Youtube videos I've seen people's interest in an auxlang designed around e.g. averaged words where every word is constructed from the averaged sounds from every language.

While these are technically sourcing from real languages, the end result are words indecipherable by any existing language, so they would still generally be considered a priori, and I have seen them generate hype. Any interest, hype, or attention cannot be underestimated, and I've often see it be the #1 thing auxlangers would love to have for their auxlang.

#3: A priori auxlangs aren't as confusing with other languages.

Let's be real -- most people studying auxlangs are also interested in 3+ other languages at the same time. It's very common that they'll learn multiple ones simultaneously, so being able to differentiate them can actually be a benefit.

I've had a friend refuse to learn Esperanto just because they felt it'd mess up their Spanish! It might be a relatively niche issue, but it's definitely a real one.

#4: A priori auxlangs don't age.

Once someone makes an a posteriori language, there's a timer that automatically starts ticking. Language, of course, evolves over time, so that means that the words an auxlang is based on will slowly become outdated.

This isn't even a hypothetical, either -- people who know basic Esperanto know the word for "boy" is "knabo," and this comes from German's "Knabe," which now comes off as dated (compare the English equivalent "knave"!). At the time Esperanto was written, this was basic vocabulary, but after 150 years, it fell out of use.

Of course, this isn't to say that a priori languages can't age badly. I've seen a number of auxlangs whose terminology (e.g. by standardized compounds) turned out to be racist or offensive in other ways!

However, this specific point stands out to me because the entire reason for using a posteriori languages is to connect them to real-world languages, and if that connection is severed, then it could actually become more harmful by way of false friends.

Since they were never based on real languages, a priori languages are immune to this!

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Those are the main reasons I can think of at the moment; the rest feel a bit too much like a reach ("it's more stimulating to learn the vocabulary from scratch and prepares you for harder languages!") or doesn't feel fully like an actual benefit ("it works as a secret language and keeps an insider vibe to the community!"), so I'll leave it there.