Volapük
From Langmaker
| Conlang | Volapük |
| Author | Johann Martin Schleyer |
| Year Began | 1879 |
| Language Type | international auxiliary language |
| Lexicon Size | 1569 |
| Etymologies | No |
| Grammar | Yes |
| Sample Texts | Yes |
| Primer | Yes |
Volapük was created by Johann Martin Schleyer as an IAL; he published a sketch of the language in 1879 and a full grammar the next year.
Uniqueness
With a name meaning "world's speech", Volapük became something of a fad in the late nineteenth century and was the second international auxiliary language to win thousands of adherents (after Solresol); it was the precursor to Esperanto in popularity. By 1889 there were 25 magazines or newspapers published in it, textbooks in 25 languages, 283 Volapük clubs, and three congresses.
It has a vocabulary based primarily on English and German roots that have been somewhat simplified for ease of pronunciation and morphological analysis. Its grammar was complicated enough that it acquired a reputation for great difficulty, and it was quickly superseded by Esperanto. If Esperanto is the GUI (Graphical User Interface) of auxiliary languages, than Volapük is the DOS of the field.
Pierre Janton wrote that “The importance of Volapük in the history of interlangs is great, because it was the first to pass from the realm of theory to that of practice. Zamenhof recognized Schleyer as the true father of the movement for an international language, because, as against preceding interlangers and many later ones, he made the effort to give a social reality to his language.”
Language sources
English, German and French (in that order), but word stems are often unrecognizable. Examples: fat ‘father’, mot ‘mother’, sül ‘heaven’, vol ‘world’, kap ‘head’, din ‘thing’, nisul ‘island’. Stems were changed not just to fit the phonotactics, but to accomodate other words already in the language. Pravda records[1]:
- The English scissors and French ciseau were considered inappropriate. Schleyer picked out the word from his native language Schere, omits the ending e, changes r into l and e into i. The result was the word jil (j is pronounced in Volapuk as sch in German). However, the word already existed in the language and meant "femininity". Schleyer did not see any problem in this and changed ji 'into jim, the last variant being recorded in the dictionary.
Design principles
Based on monosyllabic CVC (rarely CCVC) roots, both suffixes and prefixes (for tenses) start (or end) with a vowel, noun conjugation with four cases, hi- and ji- prefixes can specifically denote sex, loanwords and proper names are not conjugated, instead the article is.
Volapük had a truly impressive derivational morphology; Marina Yaguello lists over two dozen derivations from pük ‘speech’, including pükik ‘linguistic’, telepükat ‘discourse’, püked ‘maxim’, pükôf ‘eloquence’, pükot ‘conversation’, gepük ‘reply’, libapük ‘acquittal’, nepük ‘silence’, môpükel ‘polyglot’, and sepük ‘pronunciation’.
Sample text
O Fat obas, kel binol in süls, paisaludomöz nem ola! Kömomöd monargän ola! Jenomöz vil olik, äs in sül, i su tal! Bodi obsik vädeliki givolös obes adelo! E pardolös obes debis obsik, äs id obs aipardobs debeles obas. E no obis nindukolös in tentadi; sod aidalivolös obis de bad. Jenosöd!
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen."
Interest of others
Very popular in the 1880s, but the popularity faded after the third congress of 1889, in Paris, when a schism opened between those who wanted to reform the language, and Schleyer, who resisted all changes. Various reformed versions were produced: Balta and Nuvo-volapük (1887), Spelin (1888), Dil (1893), Veltparl (1896), Dilpok (1898), Idiom Neutral (1898). Arie de Jong created a new reform in 1931 (also called Volapük), which led to a brief renewal.
Volapük has continued to have speakers to this day. Estimates vary between twenty and fifty.
