Talossa

Talossa, also known as the Kingdom of Talossa (Talossan: Regipäts Talossan [ˈred͡ʒipæt͡s tɐɫɔˈsan]), is one of the earliest micronations – founded in 1979 by then-14-year-old Robert Ben Madison of Milwaukee and at first confined to his bedroom; he adopted the name after discovering that the word means "inside the house" in Finnish. Among the first such projects still maintained, it has kept up a web presence since 1995.^[1][2] Its internet and media exposure since the late 1990s contributed to the appearance of other subsequent internet micronations.

Talossa
Unrecognized micronation
Claimed by	Robert Ben Madison
Date claimed	26 December 1979
Area claimed	Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, Cézembre, Marie Byrd Land

Talossa claims several places on Earth as its territory, especially a portion of Milwaukee, calling it the "Greater Talossan Area"; no such claim, however, is recognized by the United Nations or by any sovereign nation. As of August 5, 2023, the number of active citizens is said to be 157.^[3] Including those who are no longer citizens for various reasons, those who are under the age of 14 and so are not yet citizens, and those from the ESB Affair^[4] there are 564 total registered individuals. The current King of Talossa is John Wooley (Ian Lupul). The successors to the throne are the children of the Present King (Prince Patrick, Prince Peter, Princess Daniele).^[5] Kings of Talossa : Robert I (1979–1987), Robert II (1987), Florence I (1987–1988), Robert I (1988–2005), Louis (Regent, 2005–2006), John I (2006–)

Culture

Talossan culture has been developed over the years by Robert Madison and other fans. The Talossan language, also created by Madison in 1980,^[6] claims a vocabulary of 35,000 root words and 121,000 derived words^[7] – including fieschada, meaning "love at first sight".^[8][9]

History and growth

Talossa was founded as a kingdom on December 26, 1979,^[10] by Madison, shortly after the death of his mother. Madison maintained Talossa throughout his adolescence, publishing a handwritten newspaper and designing a flag and emblem. During this time its only other members were about a dozen relatives and acquaintances. This changed in the mid-1990s, when a series of stories in the New York Times^[11][12] and Wired,^[9] subsequently republished elsewhere, drew his website to popular attention. Several new "citizens" joined Talossa as a result, and Madison began to claim that he was the inventor of the term "micronation".^{[citation needed]}

In April 1996, Madison reestablished the dormant League of Secessionist States—an intermicronational organisation originally founded by him and two friends in 1980—and launched a website for it.^[13] Between 1997 and at least 2000, it was the most prominent intermicronational organisation on the Internet.^[11][14]

Madison disestablished the "kingdom" in late 2005, but Talossa is still active today despite the lack of involvement of the original founder.^[15]

Madison registered "Talossa"^[16] as a service mark in 2005 and created Talossa, Inc., a Wisconsin not-for-profit corporation. By 2013 the service mark had been cancelled and the corporation had been administratively dissolved.^[17]

Governance

The government of Talossa takes place in a framework of a parlimentary republic under a constitutional monarchy, whereby the King is head of state and chief minister as head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the president. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament of Talossa.

Talossan language

Talossan
Talossan
Pronunciation	[tɐɫɔˈsan]
Created by	Robert Ben Madison
Date	1980
Setting and usage	Talossa
Purpose	Constructed languages Artistic languages Talossan
Writing system	Latin (Talossan alphabet)
Sources	a posteriori language (Romance)
Official status
Regulated by	Comità per l'Útzil del Glheþ
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tzl
Linguist List
Glottolog	talo1253

Madison invented Talossan ([tɐɫɔˈsan] or el glheþ Talossan [ɛɫ ʎeθ tɐɫɔˈsan]) as a constructed language for his micronation. With its relatively large vocabulary, which is mostly French-based, it is said to be one of the most detailed fictional languages ever invented.^[9] The former Association of Talossan Language Organisations (ATLO) maintained a website describing the language for new learners, providing language information, research and online translation to and from English.^[18] The ISO 639 designation is "tzl".^[19] That website is now deprecated, and new resources will^[when?] be created with the formation of la Società per l'Ilesnaziun del Glheþ Naziunal (Society for the Facilitation of the National Language, SIGN).

The language is overseen by the Comità per l'Útzil del Glheþ ("Committee for the Use of the Language," CÚG), a group formed by Madison which periodically issued both Arestadas (decrees) to describe and document changes in language usage of the language and Pienamaintschen (supplements), to update the vocabulary list. The CÚG maintained a multi-lingual website providing access to the recent recommendations of the Committee.^[20]

More recently, la SIGN is currently being created with the goal of assuming the CÚG's responsibilities.

Writing system

Talossan uses the Latin alphabet. The letters of modern Talossan are:

a, ä, b, c, ç, d, ð, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, ö, p, q, r, s, ß, t, u, ü, v, w, x, z, þ

See also

• Constructed language (conlang)
• List of micronations

Literature

• Clemens J. Setz: Die Bienen und das Unsichtbare, Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2020, pp. 174–184.^{[ISBN missing]}

References

1. "Castles in the air." The Economist, 20 December 2005.
2. "Shortcuts: Starting your own country" CNN.com, 27 September 2006.
3. "Talossan Database".
4. "Talossa Entry".
5. Laitinen, Kai; Salama, Hannu (1968). "Kenttäläinen käy talossa". Books Abroad. 42 (4): 624. doi:10.2307/40123029. ISSN 0006-7431. JSTOR 40123029.
6. talossan.com. History. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
7. "The CÚG and Its Mission," El Glheþ Talossan, 2012. Accessed 2 June 2016.
8. "L'Översteir" (Translator), El Glheþ Talossan, 2012. Accessed 2 June 2016.
9. Alex Blumberg, "It's good to be king". Wired, March 2000, 8.03.
10. R. Ben Madison (2008), "Ár Päts: Classic History of the Kingdom of Talossa" accessed on 2020-03-18.
11. Stephen Mimh (2000) Utopian rulers and spoofs stake out territory online. New York Times, May 25, 2000
12. Roberta Smith, "Art in Review: We could have invited everybody". New York Times July 15, 2005.
13. O'Driscoll, Fabrice (2000). Ils ne siègent pas à l'ONU: revue de quelques micro-Etats, micro-nations et autres entités éphémères (in French). Presses du Midi. p. 258. ISBN 978-2-87867-251-0. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
14. Fuligni, Bruno (1997). L'État c'est moi: Histoire des monarchies privées, principautés de fantaisie et autres républiques pirates (in French). Editions de Paris. p. 221. ISBN 978-2-90529-169-1 – via Google Books. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
15. Ryan, John; Dunford, George; Sellars, Simon (September 2006). Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations. Lonely Planet. p. 101. ISBN 1-74104-730-7.
16. Talossa entry, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Accessed June 2, 2016
17. Talossa entry in Wisconsin Financial Institutions register. Accessed on 2010-01-01.
18. El Glheþ Talossan | Information and Resources for the Student and User of the Talossan Language
19. Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: tzl, 2013-01-23. Accessed 2 June 2016.
20. Comità per l'Útzil del Glheþ, CÚG

External links

• Talossa website
• Talossa wiki
• Talossan language information and translation resource
• Committee for the Use of Talossan Language
• L'Översteir, bidirectional Talossan-English translator
• 2010 Arestada newsletter
• . 25 January 1999. Archived from the original on 5 February 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
• Kingdom of Talossa on Atlas Obscura