The Volapük Language.
In the attempt to form a universal language, no one has proceeded more philosophically than the late Stephen Pearl Andrews, who attempted to construct a language in which all the sounds should be selected in accordance with nature, being such as are naturally associated with the ideas they are used to express.
Mr. Andrews, by his personal amiability, enthusiasm, and lucid intelligence, interested a number of disciples who have studied his language called the Alwato, and it may be hoped will not allow it to disappear with the life of its highly gifted and philosophic teacher.
The Volapük language which has no such pretention to philosophic construction, is coming into such prominence as to deserve the attention of the readers of this Journal, hence I present the following sketch which has been abridged from an article in the American Magazine for June, written by Richard Walker:
“Volapük is the invention of the Rev. Father Johann Martin Schleyer, of Constance, Baden, Germany. He is an accomplished linguist, having for forty-six years been interested in the study of language. He can speak and write twenty-eight tongues, including the Chinese and three African languages, and is also eminent as a priest, hymnologist and religious editor. He invented his universal language in 1878, announced it in 1879, and had so far perfected it in 1881 as to publish in that year a small book, entitled “Entwurf einer Weltsprache für alle gebildte Erdbewohner” (“Plan of a Universal Language for all the Civilized Inhabitants of the Earth”). Thus the name, Volapük; vola meaning of the world, and pük language.
“Schleyer does not propose that Volapük shall supercede any living language. He has attempted to make it so scientific and natural, so regular in all the rules of construction, and therefore so easy to learn, that every educated person will acquire it next after the mother tongue; and he hopes that it will thus become the accepted medium for all international communications. With this end in view, he has formed it on the general model of the Aryan family of languages; that is, its signs represent letters and words, and not ideas; and the root words of which it is constructed, instead of being arbitrary sounds and signs, as in Bishop Wilkin’s philosophical language, or sounds that have a real or fancied natural meaning, as in Stephen Pearl Andrews’ “Alwato,” are taken principally from living languages, the English being more largely drawn upon than any other.
“The alphabet employed is the Roman with some of the German dotted letters added, and the continental sounds are given to the letters. All words are phonetically spelled, so that there are none of the difficulties of orthography and pronunciation to be encountered which are so formidable in most natural languages.”
In making his Volapük vocabulary, Father Schleyer has sought first for the simplest words now in use. If such words are to be found in the English language, he has adopted them; if not, then he has drawn upon the Latin, German, French, and Spanish languages in the order named. For example, the word man in English, is a sufficiently simple root, and, therefore, man, with the same spelling and the continental pronunciation, is made to signify a man, or the man in Volapük—for the articles a and the are discarded. But house in English is inconveniently long and ends with a silent letter, and therefore the word dom, from the Latin word domus, is taken. In some instances neither of the languages named contains a root sufficiently simple, and then the inventor constructs a new one. But, so rich is the English language in simple Anglo-Saxon roots, that more than one-half of the words in Volapük are derived from them, and the number of new words whose roots are not to be found in any living language is comparatively very small.
To the suggestion that, if the English language was to be drawn upon so largely it would have been better to have adopted that, and induce all educated persons to learn it, the advocates of Volapük reply, first, that its irregularities of construction, orthography, and pronunciation make it too difficult to acquire; and secondly, international prejudice would prevent it from being universally adopted. The use of so many English roots, however, makes Volapük much easier to learn by one whose mother tongue is English, and thus bring it within reach of the largest number of people speaking a common language, while it eliminates irregularities and does not arouse national prejudices.
The names of the cardinal numbers follow the vowels in their regular order, a denoting the first, e the second, etc. Thus: Bal, 1; tel, 2; kil, 3; fol, 4; lul, 5; mäl, 6; vel, 7; jöl, 8; zül, 9; bals, 10; tels, 20; kils, 30; tum, 100; mil, 1,000, etc. The year 1887, written out in Volapük, is Balmil jöltum jölsevel. The Arabic numerals are used as in English.
S added to any word forms the plural, which is never formed in any other way. The first three vowels (a, e, i) added to any noun, form respectively its genitive, dative, and accusative; s added to these forms makes the plurals of the same cases. Man is therefore declined as follows:
| Singular. | Plural. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom | man, the man; | mans, the men; | |
| Gen | mana, of the man; | manas, of the men; | |
| Dat | mane, to the man; | manes, to the men; | |
| Acc | mani, the man; | manis, the men. | |
Every noun in the language is declined in the same way, so that all declensions may be learned in one minute.
The verbs in Volapük are all regular, and there is only one conjunction. The tenses are denoted by the vowels a, ä, e, i, o, u, placed before the verbs. When these vowels are preceded by p, it shows that the verb is in the passive voice. The personal pronouns are: ob, I; ol, thou; om, he; of, she; os, it; ok, one’s self. S added makes the plurals. Löf, meaning love, löfób, means I love; löfól, thou lovest, etc.; älöfób, I loved; ilöfóm, he had loved; ulöfós, it will have loved, etc.; palöfóms, they are loved; pulöfófs, they will have been loved, etc. As it is only necessary to remember the few particulars named, all conjugation may be acquired in five minutes.
Enough has been given—and there is very little more of it—to show the extreme simplicity of the Volapük grammar. It can be learned in an hour, and, as the variations of the nouns and verbs are indicated by the vowels taken in their regular order, they are not easily forgotten. The principal labor necessary to acquire the language consists, therefore, in memorizing the vocabulary. Since more than one-half the roots are English, a person speaking that language can naturally acquire the new one in less than one-half the time required for any foreign language, and the better knowledge he has of Latin, French and Spanish, the faster will be his progress.
After Father Schleyer published his first book, in 1881, he was soon able to interest a few persons in Germany in Volapük. It next got a foothold in Switzerland, and then in Paris. English linguists are just beginning to give attention to it, the only publication in English until very recently having been a bad adaptation of an abridged grammar. But on the Continent it has gained in popularity very rapidly during the last two or three years, so that there are now at least ten thousand persons who are familiar with and use it. More than three hundred and fifty have received diplomas as adepts. There are eight monthly periodicals printed wholly in Volapük, or partly in Volapük and partly in other languages.
In the United States not more than twenty persons have studied Volapük, and only about half a dozen can read and write it. Mr. Charles E. Sprague, of New York, who holds the diploma of Volapükatidel, reads and writes it with ease, and to him I am under obligations for assistance in preparing this article. There are no Volapükese clubs or periodicals published in the language or in its interest either in this country or in England. A large number of books in Volapük, or about it, have appeared in Germany, including grammars in eighteen languages, a German-Volapük dictionary containing twelve thousand words, a biography of the inventor, Father Schleyer, pamphlets, etc.