Editing Interlingue (section)

===Language standardization===
During the war many Occidentalists took to standardizing the language.<ref name=":15" /> De Wahl had created Occidental with a number of unchangeable features, but believed that its following of the "laws of life" gave it a firm enough base that it could follow a "natural evolution"<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kosmoglott, 1922, p. 65|url=https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0g&datum=1922&page=65&size=45|access-date=16 December 2020|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413203337/https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0g&datum=1922&page=65&size=45|url-status=live}}</ref> with a flexibility that would "allow time and practice to take care of modifications that would prove to be necessary".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cosmoglotta A, 1927, p. 95|url=http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0g&datum=1927&page=103&size=45|access-date=22 August 2020|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415020154/https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0g&datum=1927&size=45&page=103|url-status=live}}</ref> As a result, some words had more than one permissible form, which could not be resolved by decree alone, thus leaving the ultimate decision to the community by including both possible forms in the first Occidental dictionaries.<ref>[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0m&datum=1945&page=3&size=45 Cosmoglotta B, 1945, p. 3:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415020331/https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0m&datum=1945&page=3&size=45 |date=15 April 2021 }} Translation: "For some hundreds of international words there are two forms between which it is not easy to know which one is better. E. de Wahl wisely wrote both in the first dictionaries, with the intention to let practice make the decision."</ref> One example concerned the verb ''scrir'' (to write) and a possible other form ''scripter'', as both created internationally recognizable derivations: ''scritura'' and ''scritor'' from ''scrir'', or ''scriptura'' and ''scriptor'' from ''scripter.<ref name=":16" />'' De Wahl expressed a preference for ''scrir'', finding ''scripter'' to be somewhat heavy, but commented that the latter was certainly permissible and that Occidental might take on a similar evolution to natural languages in which both forms come into common use, with the longer form having a heavier and formal character and the shorter form a lighter and more everyday tone (such as English ''story'' vs. ''history'').<ref name=":16">{{Cite book|url=https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0g&datum=1925&page=14&size=45|title=Kosmoglott, 1925, p. 14|date=May 1925|access-date=16 December 2020|archive-date=13 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413203618/https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0g&datum=1925&page=14&size=45|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Orthography]] was another area in which several possibilities existed, namely etymologic orthography ('''ad'''tractiv, '''ob'''pression), historic orthography ('''att'''ractiv, '''opp'''ression), or simplified orthography ('''at'''ractiv, '''op'''ression).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0m&datum=1944&page=66&size=45 |title=Cosmoglotta B, 1944, p. 66 |access-date=7 December 2018 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415014651/https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0m&datum=1944&page=66&size=45 |url-status=live }}</ref> The simplified orthography eventually became the standard by 1939.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schmidt|first=Dr. Thomas|title=GROSSES MODERNES WÖRTERBUCH INTERLINGUE (OCCIDENTAL) – DEUTSCH|year=2020|location=Berlin|pages=2|quote=Von seiner Entstehung bis zum Ausbruch des Zweiten Weltkrieges 1939 wurde die Rechtschreibung der Sprache deutlich vereinfacht. Diese sogenannte "simplificat ortografie" löste die alte "historic ortografie" ab.}}</ref> With questions still remaining about the official form of some words and a lack of general material destined for the general public,<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|title=Cosmoglotta B, 1938, p. 82|url=http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0m&datum=1938&size=45&page=71|access-date=23 March 2019|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415015942/https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0m&datum=1938&size=45&page=71|url-status=live}}</ref> much time during World War II was spent on language standardization and course creation, and due to the continuing war, in August 1943 the decision was made to create an interim academy to officialize this process.<ref name=":15">[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0m&datum=1943&page=85&size=45 Cosmoglotta B, 1943, p. 85:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415024913/https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0m&datum=1943&page=85&size=45 |date=15 April 2021 }} English translation: "Because the president and secretary of the Academy are located in countries in a state of war, the leading Occidentalists of the neutral countries, Switzerland and Sweden, believe it necessary to set up an INTERIM ACADEMY which will function until the other will be able to resume its work. The decisions of this interim academy will be '''conditional''', i.e.: must be validated by the regular Academy after the war, and due to that it will deliver to it all documents justifying its decisions, with detailed reasons."</ref>

This process had just about begun not long before the war, and the Swiss Occidentalists, finding themselves isolated from the rest of the continent, opted to concentrate on instructional materials to have ready by the end of the war.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Cosmoglotta B, 1939, p. 1|url=http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0m&datum=1939&page=1&size=45|access-date=24 March 2019|archive-date=15 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415033016/https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e0m&datum=1939&page=1&size=45|url-status=live}}</ref>