Volapuk

Volapük is an artificial language created by the German priest Johann Martin Schleyer in 1879, with the intention of facilitating understanding between people of different cultures (see auxiliary language).

In its early years it achieved great success and it is estimated that it had around 100,000 speakers at its peak. However, the relative complexity of the grammar (compared to its main competitor, Esperanto) and serious dissensions among the speakers led to the decline of the language.

Currently, it has a few dozen speakers. Volapük's motto is Menefe bal, püki bal ("one language, one humanity").

Summary of the language

Alphabet and Pronunciation

The volapük alphabet, with uppercase and lowercase letters separated by a hyphen, is as follows (letters that do not exist in the Spanish alphabet are highlighted in bold): A-a, Ä-ä, B-b, C-c, D-d, E-e, F-f, G-g, H-h, I-i, J-j, K-k, L-l, M-m, N-n, O-o, Ö-ö, P-p, R-r, S-s, T-t, U-u, Ü- ü, V-v, X-x, Y-y, Z-z.

Schleyer proposed alternative forms for vowels with diheresis, but they were rarely used.

Note: ä, ö and ü were sometimes written as ay, oy and uy, respectively (equivalent to the alternate form used in German for ae, oe, ue).

All letters always have the same pronunciation regardless of their position and can never be silent. They are pronounced the same as in Spanish, with the following exceptions:

• Ä: like a e open
• C: like the ch in Spain boy boy boy
• G: always soft, as in cat or guide (never like the j Spanish)
• H: Suitable as in Englishhotor in German (Haus)
• J: like the sh Englishshop), the ch French (♪or the sch Germanscheinencan also be pronounced as the j French (jouer)
• Ö: like the ö Germanhörenor the eu French (jeu)
• A: simple, as in pearnever multiple, as in dog or Quick
• Ü: like the ü Germanfüror the u French (South)
• V: as in Englishinventionor in French (Come on.)
• Z: as in German (Zahni.e., as ts or ds

Two vowels in a row will always be in different syllables. In addition, all the words are acute (the tonic syllable, where the force of the voice falls, is the last one).

Grammar

Nouns

Volapük is agglutinative, which allows the union of different terms to form a new word. It originally had four cases: nominative, accusative (ending -i), dative (ending -e), and genitive (ending -a). In 1931 the vocative was added, which consists of placing the interjection "o" before the noun. The word volapük means "language of the world": vol (world) + genitive ending (-a) + pük (language). One criticism of volapük was the deformation that the words had suffered when taken from other languages (for example, vol and pük come from the English terms world and speak, respectively).

Adjectives

Adjectives are formed by adding -ik to the noun from which they are derived. Thus, volik means "worldwide". The normal position of the adjective is after the noun, with which it agrees neither in case nor in number, unless the adjective precedes the noun or is separated from it.

Adverbs

Adverbs are formed by adding the suffix -o to the stem or the ending -ik of the adjective. Thus, for example, from the adjective vifik ("quickly"), the adverb vifiko ("quickly") can be formed.

Pronouns

The personal pronouns, singular, are the following:

• Ob: 1.a person (me)
• Ol2.a person (you, you, you)
• Om: 3.a male person (he)
• Of: 3.a female person (she)
• On: neutral person (ello)

These pronouns are declined like nouns. For example, the nominative plural is formed by adding an s (thus, obs would be "we"); to form the accusative plural, one would add -is, etc.

Verbs

All verbs are regular and belong to a single conjugation, but this can be very complex. There are morphemes to indicate time, aspect, voice, person and number and, for the third person, also gender.

To conjugate verbs, the corresponding personal pronoun is added to the verb root. The root is obtained by removing the infinitive ending -ön from the infinitive. For example, the present indicative, active voice, of the verb löfön ("to love") is as follows:

• Löfob: master
• löfol: love, you love
• löfom: (he loves)
• löfof: (she loves)
• löfon: (ello) loves
• löfobs: we love
• löfols: love, you love
• löfoms: (they love)
• löfofs: (shes) love
• löfons: (they [neuter]; they and them) love

Other tenses are formed by prefixes:

• e-: perfect compound preterite. Example: elöfob (“I have loved”).
• ä-: indefinite preterito. Example: älöfob (“amé”).
• i-: previous pretérito / pretérito pluscuamperfecto. Example: ilöfob (“I loved” or “beloved”).
• or- imperfect future. Example: olöfob (“I will love”).
• u- Perfect future. Example: ulöfob (“I will have loved”).
• ö-: "imperfect in the past." Example: ölöfob. It is used to express an action that in the past was future. It is often translated into Spanish with the simple condition (“love”).
• ü- "perfect force in the past." Example: ülöfob. It is used in contexts similar to the previous one, and usually translated with the composite condition (“I would have loved”).

To form the passive voice, add a p before the active form. For example, elöfol ("you have loved") becomes pelöfol (you have been loved). In the present, the prefix is pa-: löfob ("I love") becomes palöfob ("I am loved"). The agent complement is introduced by the preposition fa ("por", in Spanish).

In addition to the indicative, volapük has four other moods: the subjunctive, the conditional, the optative, and the imperative. Arie de Jong's reform abolished the aorist and jussive modes.

The subjunctive is conjugated by adding the particle la to the indicative form, separated by a hyphen (example: löfob-la). It is used to express doubt.

For the conditional, the ending -öv is added directly to the indicative form; for example: löfoböv.

Likewise, the optative and the imperative are formed by adding -ös and öd, respectively. Both the optional and the imperative express a mandate or request, but with different nuances. The optional, in principle, gives the recipient the option to fulfill the required action or not. The imperative, on the other hand, compulsorily requires the addressee to comply with the order. In practice, the optative is used as a "polite" imperative, since the imperative itself is considered too direct and abrupt.

History

Schleyer published an outline of the volapük in May 1879 in the Catholic magazine Sionsharfe, of which he was editor. This first article was followed the following year by a book in German. The success of the new language was practically immediate.

The first international congress of volapük took place in Friedrichshafen, in 1884, and the second in Munich, in 1887. The language used in them was German, but already in the third congress (Paris, 1889) volapük was the only language used. At that time, the language created by Schleyer was at its peak of popularity, with an estimated number of 283 associations, 25 periodicals in or about Volapük, and 316 textbooks in 25 languages. The International Volapük Academy (Kadäm bevünetik Volapüka) was created in 1887 to preserve and improve the language.

It was precisely after the third congress that the unstoppable decline of the movement began. This was due to the irreconcilable differences between the sector that advocated introducing reforms in the volapük, headed by the director and later president of the Volapük Academy, Auguste Kerckhoffs, and the more conservative sector that did not want changes, whose referent was the Volapük itself. Schleyer. Schleyer insisted on regarding the volapük as his own, and in the acrimony of the dispute he even refused to acknowledge the authority of the Academy. All this caused splits in the movement and a significant loss of support, since many followers directed their interest towards other artificial languages, especially Esperanto, which emerged in 1887.

In the 1920s, the Dutchman Arie de Jong, with the consent of the few remaining Volapük speakers, carried out a language reform that he published in 1931. The new reformed version of Volapük was widely accepted and is the currently employed. De Jong simplified the grammar, dropped seldom-used verb forms, and removed hints of sexism from pronouns and verb endings. He also introduced the phoneme r to make some morphemes more recognizable; for example, gletik (big) became gretik.

Through the work of Arie de Jong, Volapük experienced a brief revival in the Netherlands and Germany, but the repression of artificial languages under Nazism dealt a severe blow from which Volapük never recovered.

It is estimated that there are only a few dozen speakers of the language today, mostly (if not entirely) Esperantists interested in the history of artificial languages. Nevertheless, there has always been a community of Volapük speakers since Schleyer's time, officially led by an unbroken succession of cifals (from cifal, leader).

People who have been cifals:

1. Johann Martin Schleyer 1879–1912
2. Albert Sleumer 1912–1948
3. Arie de Jong (temporarily) 1947–1948, 1951–1957
4. Jakob Sprenger 1948-1950
5. Johann Schmidt 1950-1977
6. Johann Krüger 1977-1983
7. Brian Bishop 1984 to date

Volapük samples

The Our Father

This is the Our Father, in the original volapük (prior to the 1931 reform):

Or Fat obas, kel binol in süls, countryaludomöz nem ola!

Kömomöd monargän wave!

Jenomöz vil olik, äs in sül, i su tal!

Bodi obsik vädeliki govolös obes adelo!

E pardolös obes debis obsik,

äs id obs aipardobs shouldles obas.

E no obis nindukolös in tendadi;

sod aidalivolös obis de bad.

Jenosöd!

Our Father, according to the reform of 1931.

Or Fat obas, kel binol in süls! Nem olik pasalüdükonöd!

Regän ola kömonöd!

Vil olik jenonöd, äsä in sül, i su tal!

Givolös obes adelo bodi aldelik obsik!

E pardolös obes döbotis obsik,

äsä i obs pardobs utanes, kels edöbons kol obs.

E no blufodolös obis,

ab livükolös obis de bad!

(Ibä dutons lü ol regän, e nämäd e glor jü ün laidüp.)

So binosös!

Some phrases

Volapük: Odelo ovisitobs flenis obas.

Spanish: Tomorrow we will visit our friends.

Volapük: Lif ela Schleyer äbinon vemo nitedik.

Spanish: Schleyer's life was very interesting.

Volapük: Givob ole bukis tel.

Spanish: I give you two books.

Volapük: Reidanes valik lüvipobs nulayeli läbik ä benüköli. Dünobsös obs valik in vob kobik dini Volapükatikoda!

Spanish: We wish readers a happy and prosperous new year. May we all, in common work, serve the cause of the universal language!

Criticism

Volapük has been the subject of much criticism throughout its history. Its detractors put forward various arguments that question the suitability of this language as a universal language. The following are some of the most frequent criticisms.

• The sounds represented by the letters ö and ü they are difficult to pronounce for much of the world's population. Curiously, Schleyer had excluded the r of the original version of his language because he believed that this would facilitate pronunciation to the Chinese.

• Grammar is unnecessarily complicated. Many estimate, for example, that verbal conjugation is too complex and that the declination of the nouns is dispensable. The grammar of volapük has been qualified as “barroca”.

• The vocabulary taken from other languages (mainly English and German) has been deformed to make it unrecognizable. However, in response to this criticism, it is stated that the origin of the vocabulary does not have to be easily recognizable if the language pretends to be universal. It is not a language intended solely for Europeans, but for all humanity.