Volapük
Encyclopedia
Volapük is a constructed language
, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer
, a Roman Catholic
priest in Baden
, Germany
. Schleyer felt that God
had told him in a dream to create an international language
. Volapük conventions
took place in 1884 (Friedrichshafen
), 1887 (Munich
) and 1889 (Paris
). The first two conventions used German
, and the last conference used only Volapük. In 1889, there were an estimated 283 clubs, 25 periodicals in or about Volapük, and 316 textbooks in 25 languages. In 2000, it was estimated that there were 20–30 Volapük speakers in the world; the Yahoo Group for Volapük has over 200 members. As of October 2011, the Volapük Wikipedia had the 35th highest count of Wikipedia articles with approximately articles. Volapük was largely displaced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, specifically by Esperanto
, Ido
and Interlingua
; all three have fewer distinct vowels, and are easier for English and Spanish speakers to pronounce.
Note: ä, ö and ü do not have alternative forms such as the ae, oe and ue of German.
There are no diphthongs; each vowel letter is pronounced separately.
to pronounce, and in the adoption of foreign roots r was generally changed to l. For example, English rose becomes lol. However, other uncommon phonemes, such as ö /ø/ and ü /y/, were not avoided, and Arie de Jong
added /r/ in his 1929 revision of the language. Modern Volapük has minimal l-r pairs such as rel "religion" vs lel "iron".
mostly from English
, with a smattering of German
and French
. Some words are modified beyond easy recognizability, though many others remain readily recognizable for a speaker of one of the source languages. For instance, vol and pük are derived from the English words world and speak. Although unimportant linguistically, and regardless of the simplicity and consistency of the stress rule, these deformations were greatly mocked by the language's detractors. It seems to have been Schleyer's intention, however, to alter its loan words in such a way that they would be hard to recognise, thus losing their ties to the languages (and, by extension, nations) they came from. Conversely, Esperanto
and Interlingua
are commonly criticized as being much easier to learn for European
s than for those with non-European native languages.
is roughly based on that of Indo-European languages
but with a regularized agglutinative
character: grammatical features are indicated by putting together unchanging elements, rather than shifting, multi-meaning inflection
s.
As in German
, the Volapük noun
has four cases: nominative
, genitive
, dative
and accusative
. In compound words, the first part of the compound is usually separated from the second by the genitive termination -a, e.g. Vola-pük, "of-world language". However, the other case endings (-e dative, -i accusative) are sometimes used, or the roots may be agglutinated in the nominative, with no separating vowel.
The following is the declension of the Volapük word vol, "world":
Adjective
s, formed by the suffix -ik, normally follow the noun they qualify. They do not agree with the noun in number and case in that position, but do if they precede the noun, are separated from it by intervening words, or stand alone. Adverb
s are formed by suffixing -o, either to the root or to the adjectival -ik (gudik "good", gudiko "well"); they normally follow the verb or adjective they modify.
The pronouns begin with o-. In the singular, they are ob "I", ol "thou", om "he", of "she", on "it, s/he". They are pluralized with -s: obs "we", ons "they". The possessive may be formed with either the genitive -a or with adjectival -ik: oba or obik "my". Prepositions, conjunctions and interjections are also formed from noun roots by appending appropriate suffixes.
The verb
carries a fine degree of detail, with morpheme
s marking tense
, aspect
, voice, person
, number
and (in the third person) the subject's gender
. However, many of these categories are optional, and a verb can stand in an unmarked state. A Volapük verb can be conjugated in 1,584 ways (including infinitives and reflexives). However, for simple present, the pronouns are added to the verb stem: binob "I am", binol "you (sg.) are", etc. The passive takes the prefix pa-: palöfons "they are loved".
André Cherpillod writes of the third Volapük convention,
The Dutch
cryptographer Dr. Auguste Kerckhoffs
was for a number of years Director of the Academy of Volapük
, and introduced the movement to several countries. However tensions arose between Dr. Kerckhoffs and others in the Academy, who wanted reforms made to the language, and Schleyer, who insisted strongly on retaining his proprietary rights. This led to schism, with much of the Academy abandoning Schleyer's Volapük in favor of Idiom Neutral
and other new constructed language projects. Another reason for the decline of Volapük may have been the rise of Esperanto
. In 1887, the first Esperanto book (Unua Libro
) was published. Many Volapük clubs became Esperanto clubs. By 1900, there were only 159 members of Volapük clubs recognized by Schleyer.
In the 1920s, Arie de Jong
, with the consent of the leaders of the small remnant of Volapük speakers, made a revision of Volapük which was published in 1931. This revision was accepted by the few speakers of the language. De Jong simplified the grammar, eliminating some rarely-used verb forms, and eliminated some perceived sexism
in the pronouns and gendered verb endings. He also rehabilitated the phoneme
/r/ and used it to make some morphemes more recognizable. For instance, lömib "rain" became rein.
Volapük enjoyed a brief renewal of popularity in the Netherlands and Germany under de Jong's leadership, but was suppressed (along with other constructed languages) in countries under Nazi rule and never recovered.
Regarding the success of this artificial language, the Spanish scientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal
wrote in the first edition of his Tonics of Willingness, in 1898:
"Nowadays, many scientific papers are published in more than six languages. To the likely attempt of restoring Latin or using Esperanto as the universal language of science, wise men have responded by multiplying the number of languages in which scientific works are published. We have to acknowledge that Volapük or Esperanto are practically one more language to be learnt. This result was predictable because neither the essentially popularized and democratic tendencies of modern knowledge, nor the echonomic views of authors and editors consent in a different way"
However, some years later (1920), in the third edition of the same book, he added the following footnote to the former assertion:
Large Volapük collections are held by the International Esperanto Museum in Vienna
, Austria
; the Centre de documentation et d'étude sur la langue internationale
in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
; and the American Philosophical Society
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.
There are an estimated 20 Volapük speakers in the world today. There has been a continuous Volapük speaker community since Schleyer's time, with an unbroken succession of Cifal
s (leaders).
The list of past cifals:
Translation:
When one is learning another language, vocabulary presents difficulties. One must continuously search for unknown words, and consequently interest is lost. In the elementary part, however, this problem has been overcome, because the relevant translation of each word appears below the Volapük words. A selection of readings follows, and it is suggested that the Volapük words be read out loud. The grammar and a basic vocabulary have already been done in the introduction; nevertheless, a quick glance at the translation is recommended to ensure that the overall meaning has been acquired. There is a maxim which states that a little study a day is better than a lot of study all at once.
, a rival constructed language, the expression Tio estas volapukaĵo por mi (That is a Volapük-thing for me) is sometimes used like the English "it's Greek to me" (that is, "I can't understand this" or "this is nonsense"). Volapukaĵo is also a slang Esperanto
term for "Nonsense".
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer
Johann Martin Schleyer
Martin Schleyer was a German Catholic priest who invented the constructed language Volapük. His official name was "Martin Schleyer"; he added the name "Johann" unofficially....
, a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
priest in Baden
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden was a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.-History:...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Schleyer felt that God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
had told him in a dream to create an international language
International auxiliary language
An international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
. Volapük conventions
Convention (meeting)
A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon industry, profession, and fandom...
took place in 1884 (Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen
This article is about a German town. For the Danish town, see Frederikshavn, and for the Finnish town, see Fredrikshamn .Friedrichshafen is a university city on the northern side of Lake Constance in Southern Germany, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria.It is the district capital of the...
), 1887 (Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
) and 1889 (Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
). The first two conventions used German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and the last conference used only Volapük. In 1889, there were an estimated 283 clubs, 25 periodicals in or about Volapük, and 316 textbooks in 25 languages. In 2000, it was estimated that there were 20–30 Volapük speakers in the world; the Yahoo Group for Volapük has over 200 members. As of October 2011, the Volapük Wikipedia had the 35th highest count of Wikipedia articles with approximately articles. Volapük was largely displaced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, specifically by Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
, Ido
Ido
Ido is a constructed language created with the goal of becoming a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds as a language easier to learn than ethnic languages...
and Interlingua
Interlingua
Interlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
; all three have fewer distinct vowels, and are easier for English and Spanish speakers to pronounce.
Orthography and pronunciation
|
|
|
|
Note: ä, ö and ü do not have alternative forms such as the ae, oe and ue of German.
There are no diphthongs; each vowel letter is pronounced separately.
Special consonantal letters
The author Alfred A. Post mentions in his Comprehensive Volapük Grammar some additional letters created by Schleyer:- And the following letters are constructed by the inventor to designate sounds which occasionally occur –
Syllabic stress
Polysyllabic words are always stressed on the final vowel; for example, neai "never" is pronounced [ne.a.ˈi]. (However, the question clitic "-li" does not affect the stress of the word it attaches to.) Where there is secondary stress, as is found in the compounding of several roots together, it is found on the final syllable between the roots.Letter 'r'
The letter r was avoided in Schleyer's original Volapük, on the principle that it would be difficult for Chinese speakersSpoken Chinese
Chinese comprises many regional language varieties sometimes grouped together as the Chinese dialects, the primary ones being Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. These are not mutually intelligible, and even many of the regional varieties are themselves composed of a number of...
to pronounce, and in the adoption of foreign roots r was generally changed to l. For example, English rose becomes lol. However, other uncommon phonemes, such as ö /ø/ and ü /y/, were not avoided, and Arie de Jong
Arie de Jong
Doctor Arie de Jong was a Dutch enthusiast and reformer of the constructed language Volapük by Johann Martin Schleyer, with whose help the Volapük movement gained new strength in the Netherlands...
added /r/ in his 1929 revision of the language. Modern Volapük has minimal l-r pairs such as rel "religion" vs lel "iron".
Vocabulary
Schleyer adapted the vocabularyVocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
mostly from English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, with a smattering of German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Some words are modified beyond easy recognizability, though many others remain readily recognizable for a speaker of one of the source languages. For instance, vol and pük are derived from the English words world and speak. Although unimportant linguistically, and regardless of the simplicity and consistency of the stress rule, these deformations were greatly mocked by the language's detractors. It seems to have been Schleyer's intention, however, to alter its loan words in such a way that they would be hard to recognise, thus losing their ties to the languages (and, by extension, nations) they came from. Conversely, Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
and Interlingua
Interlingua
Interlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
are commonly criticized as being much easier to learn for European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
s than for those with non-European native languages.
Grammar
The grammarGrammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
is roughly based on that of Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
but with a regularized agglutinative
Agglutinative language
An agglutinative language is a language that uses agglutination extensively: most words are formed by joining morphemes together. This term was introduced by Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1836 to classify languages from a morphological point of view...
character: grammatical features are indicated by putting together unchanging elements, rather than shifting, multi-meaning inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
s.
As in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, the Volapük noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
has four cases: nominative
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
, genitive
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
, dative
Dative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
and accusative
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
. In compound words, the first part of the compound is usually separated from the second by the genitive termination -a, e.g. Vola-pük, "of-world language". However, the other case endings (-e dative, -i accusative) are sometimes used, or the roots may be agglutinated in the nominative, with no separating vowel.
The following is the declension of the Volapük word vol, "world":
| Volapük declension | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | vol (world) | | vols (worlds) |
| Genitive | vola (of the world) | volas (of the worlds) |
| Dative | vole (to the world) | voles (to the worlds) |
| Accusative | voli (world) | volis (worlds) |
Adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s, formed by the suffix -ik, normally follow the noun they qualify. They do not agree with the noun in number and case in that position, but do if they precede the noun, are separated from it by intervening words, or stand alone. Adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
s are formed by suffixing -o, either to the root or to the adjectival -ik (gudik "good", gudiko "well"); they normally follow the verb or adjective they modify.
The pronouns begin with o-. In the singular, they are ob "I", ol "thou", om "he", of "she", on "it, s/he". They are pluralized with -s: obs "we", ons "they". The possessive may be formed with either the genitive -a or with adjectival -ik: oba or obik "my". Prepositions, conjunctions and interjections are also formed from noun roots by appending appropriate suffixes.
The verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
carries a fine degree of detail, with morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
s marking tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
, aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
, voice, person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
, number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
and (in the third person) the subject's gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
. However, many of these categories are optional, and a verb can stand in an unmarked state. A Volapük verb can be conjugated in 1,584 ways (including infinitives and reflexives). However, for simple present, the pronouns are added to the verb stem: binob "I am", binol "you (sg.) are", etc. The passive takes the prefix pa-: palöfons "they are loved".
History
Schleyer first published a sketch of Volapük in May 1879 in Sionsharfe, a Catholic poetry magazine of which he was editor. This was followed in 1880 by a full-length book in German. Schleyer himself did not write books on Volapük in other languages, but other authors soon did.André Cherpillod writes of the third Volapük convention,
- In August 1889 the third convention was held in Paris. About two hundred people from many countries attended. And, unlike in the first two conventions, people spoke only Volapük. For the first time in the history of mankind, sixteen years before the Boulogne convention, an international convention spoke an international language.
The Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
cryptographer Dr. Auguste Kerckhoffs
Auguste Kerckhoffs
Auguste Kerckhoffs was a Dutch linguist and cryptographer who was professor of languages at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales in Paris in the late 19th century....
was for a number of years Director of the Academy of Volapük
International Academy of Volapük
The International Academy of Volapük was a ruling body established at the second Volapük congress in Munich in August 1887 with the goal of preservation and improvement of Volapük....
, and introduced the movement to several countries. However tensions arose between Dr. Kerckhoffs and others in the Academy, who wanted reforms made to the language, and Schleyer, who insisted strongly on retaining his proprietary rights. This led to schism, with much of the Academy abandoning Schleyer's Volapük in favor of Idiom Neutral
Idiom Neutral
Idiom Neutral is an international auxiliary language, published in 1902 by the International Academy of the Universal Language under the leadership of Waldemar Rosenberger, a St...
and other new constructed language projects. Another reason for the decline of Volapük may have been the rise of Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
. In 1887, the first Esperanto book (Unua Libro
Unua Libro
The Unua Libro was the first publication to describe the international language Esperanto . It was first published in Russian on July 26, 1887 in Warsaw, by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto. Over the next few years editions were published in Russian, Hebrew, Polish, French, German,...
) was published. Many Volapük clubs became Esperanto clubs. By 1900, there were only 159 members of Volapük clubs recognized by Schleyer.
In the 1920s, Arie de Jong
Arie de Jong
Doctor Arie de Jong was a Dutch enthusiast and reformer of the constructed language Volapük by Johann Martin Schleyer, with whose help the Volapük movement gained new strength in the Netherlands...
, with the consent of the leaders of the small remnant of Volapük speakers, made a revision of Volapük which was published in 1931. This revision was accepted by the few speakers of the language. De Jong simplified the grammar, eliminating some rarely-used verb forms, and eliminated some perceived sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
in the pronouns and gendered verb endings. He also rehabilitated the phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
/r/ and used it to make some morphemes more recognizable. For instance, lömib "rain" became rein.
Volapük enjoyed a brief renewal of popularity in the Netherlands and Germany under de Jong's leadership, but was suppressed (along with other constructed languages) in countries under Nazi rule and never recovered.
Regarding the success of this artificial language, the Spanish scientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Santiago Ramón y Cajal ForMemRS was a Spanish pathologist, histologist, neuroscientist, and Nobel laureate. His pioneering investigations of the microscopic structure of the brain were original: he is considered by many to be the father of modern neuroscience...
wrote in the first edition of his Tonics of Willingness, in 1898:
"Nowadays, many scientific papers are published in more than six languages. To the likely attempt of restoring Latin or using Esperanto as the universal language of science, wise men have responded by multiplying the number of languages in which scientific works are published. We have to acknowledge that Volapük or Esperanto are practically one more language to be learnt. This result was predictable because neither the essentially popularized and democratic tendencies of modern knowledge, nor the echonomic views of authors and editors consent in a different way"
However, some years later (1920), in the third edition of the same book, he added the following footnote to the former assertion:
- As it was presumable, nowadays -1920-, the brand new Volapük has been forgotten definitively. We forecast the same for Esperanto.
Large Volapük collections are held by the International Esperanto Museum in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
; the Centre de documentation et d'étude sur la langue internationale
Centre de documentation et d'étude sur la langue internationale
The Centre de documentation et d'étude sur la langue internationale in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, was founded in 1967 by Claude Gacond. It is the main branch of the city's library and contains more than 20,000 bibliographic units...
in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
; and the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
.
There are an estimated 20 Volapük speakers in the world today. There has been a continuous Volapük speaker community since Schleyer's time, with an unbroken succession of Cifal
Cifal
Cifal is the leader of the Volapük movement...
s (leaders).
The list of past cifals:
- Johann Martin SchleyerJohann Martin SchleyerMartin Schleyer was a German Catholic priest who invented the constructed language Volapük. His official name was "Martin Schleyer"; he added the name "Johann" unofficially....
1879–1912 - Albert Sleumer 1912–1948
- Jakob Sprenger 1948–1950
- Johann Schmidt 1950–1977
- Johann Krüger 1977–1983
- Brian BishopBrian Reynold BishopBrian Reynold Bishop is the current Cifal of the Volapük speakers community and president of the Volapük Academy.Brian Bishop was interested in languages since childhood...
1984–present
The Lord's Prayer
| 1880 Schleyer Volapük | 1930 de Jong Volapük |
|---|---|
| O Fat obas, kel binol in süls, paisaludomöz nem ola! | O Fat obas, kel binol in süls! Nem olik pasalüdükonöd! |
| Kömomöd monargän ola! | Regän ola kömonöd! |
| Jenomöz vil olik, äs in sül, i su tal! | Vil olik jenonöd, äsä in sül, i su tal! |
| Bodi obsik vädeliki givolös obes adelo! | Givolös obes adelo bodi aldelik obsik! |
| E pardolös obes debis obsik, | E pardolös obes döbotis obsik, |
| äs id obs aipardobs debeles obas. | äsä i obs pardobs utanes, kels edöbons kol obs. |
| E no obis nindukolös in tendadi; | E no blufodolös obis, |
| sod aidalivolös obis de bad. | ab livükolös obis de bad! |
| (Ibä dutons lü ol regän, e nämäd e glor jü ün laidüp.) | |
| Jenosöd! | So binosös! |
Sample text
Ven lärnoy püki votik, vödastok plösenon fikulis. Mutoy ai dönu sukön vödis nesevädik, e seko nited paperon. In dil donatida, ye, säkäd at pebemaston, bi tradut tefik vöda alik pubon dis vöds Volapükik. Välot reidedas sökon, e pamobos, das vöds Volapükik pareidons laodiko. Gramat e stabavöds ya pedunons in nüdug; too loged viföfik traduta pakomandos ad garanön, das sinif valodik pegeton. Binos prinsip sagatik, kel sagon, das stud nemödik a del binos gudikum, ka stud mödik süpo.Translation:
When one is learning another language, vocabulary presents difficulties. One must continuously search for unknown words, and consequently interest is lost. In the elementary part, however, this problem has been overcome, because the relevant translation of each word appears below the Volapük words. A selection of readings follows, and it is suggested that the Volapük words be read out loud. The grammar and a basic vocabulary have already been done in the introduction; nevertheless, a quick glance at the translation is recommended to ensure that the overall meaning has been acquired. There is a maxim which states that a little study a day is better than a lot of study all at once.
Usage as common noun
The word Volapük is also used to mean "nonsense" and "gibberish" in certain languages, such as Danish in the expression Det er det rene volapyk for mig (It's pure Volapük to me). Also in EsperantoEsperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
, a rival constructed language, the expression Tio estas volapukaĵo por mi (That is a Volapük-thing for me) is sometimes used like the English "it's Greek to me" (that is, "I can't understand this" or "this is nonsense"). Volapukaĵo is also a slang Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
term for "Nonsense".
Summaries
- Blueprints for Babel: Volapük – A summary of the grammar of Volapük
- Chapter on Volapük in Otto JespersenOtto JespersenJens Otto Harry Jespersen or Otto Jespersen was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language.He was born in Randers in northern Jutland and attended Copenhagen University, earning degrees in English, French, and Latin...
's pro NovialNovialNovial [nov- + IAL, International Auxiliary Language] is a constructed international auxiliary language intended to facilitate international communication and friendship, without displacing anyone's native language...
An International Language (1928) - Article on Volapük from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica
The 1931 revised Volapük
- Summary of "Arie de Jong's Revision of Volapük (1931)" by Ed Robertson. From the 21st edition of the Journal of Planned Languages, 1995.
Tutorials
- A ten-lesson course in modern Volapük
- Ralph Midgeley's web-page
Handbooks, grammars and dictionaries
- English–Volapük dictionary – Compiled by Ralph Midgley (1998)
- Vocabulary
- A complete Italian grammar of Volapük (1888) by V. Amoretti
- A Hand-book of Volapük, by Andrew DrummondAndrew Drummond (author)Andrew Drummond is a Scottish translator and novelist. He was born in Edinburgh and studied at the University of Aberdeen and the University of London...
– comic historical novel. ISBN 1904598676
Volapük links and bibliographies
Discussions
- Volapükalised – A Volapük group on Yahoo!, general discussion in Volapük about any topic and about Volapük in various other languages
- Volapük Facebook Group
- Blog in Volapük