Nowadays, not every simple and even very educated person is familiar with the term “volapuk”. This somewhat funny and strange word came to us from Germany at the end of the 19th century and became known as an artificially created language. The world elite spoke and made notes on it, which included physicians, philologists, writers and astronomers.
The author of the language masterpiece
So, Volapuk is a kind of international language, which was founded in 1879 by a German Catholic priest named Johann Martin Schleyer. In May of this year, the most ordinary newspaper was published in the Bavarian district, but an entire project followed as an annex to it. It outlined grammatical, morphological and many other features of an artificially created language intended for educated people around the world. A year later, Schleyer released a book called Volapyuk - The World Language. Another year passed, and in this new and still unknown language, the newspaper began to print, and later the first international congress took place.
Years of popularity
Around 1884, in all of Europe, and also partially in America and in the advanced Asian countries, volapuk is a very popular and studied language. Numerous magazines and newspapers are printed on it, it is studied in courses, in schools and universities. Many scientists use volapuk in their doctoral dissertations and developments. Also recorded is the case when an artificially created language has become native to a person. We are talking about the daughter of the German explorer Volapuk Henry Kone, with whom his father spoke from the diaper in a language that has become an object of passion for him. Until the 1890s, the entire scientific world was literally absorbed not just in studying volapyuk, but also in its constant use in work and everyday life.
Language basis
We have already established that volapuk is an artificial language, but how and on the basis of what did it arise? Let's start with its author - a priest who was a native of Germany, therefore, he spoke German all his life. His goal was to create some kind of prototype of his native speech and writing, but with some adjustments, which, in his opinion, would simplify the whole picture. The alphabet was based on Latin, supplemented by several non-existent vowels. The lexical composition is the most recognizable words of the languages of the Romano-Germanic family, but their roots have been changed beyond recognition. It is worth saying right away that all of his most tricky features migrated from his native German language to Volapuk, moreover, they multiplied and became even more noticeable and complex. The most striking example of this is the long words, consisting of three or four parts.
What was the simplicity of the language?
At first glance it always seemed that volapuk is a simple language, it is easy to learn and remember. The fact is that some aspects, indeed, were very alluring:
- There was no complicated spelling.
- There was no such thing as a dual number (it is generally found only in Russian and Arabic).
- There were no meaningful words.
- The stress has always been fixed.
We can say that the charms of Volapuk ended there. What everyone who tried to learn it later came across is like a collection of all the difficulties of German, English, Spanish and even Russian languages, supplemented by fictional forms and turns.
Fall in popularity
Over the years, the cryptographer of the Volapuk Academy was Auguste Kerkhoffs, who, having carefully studied this language, immediately revealed all its shortcomings. Pointing out the minuses to the author - Martin Scheleyer, he provoked the protest of the latter. The priest insisted that this language is his brainchild, in which nothing needs to be changed. This conflict caused a further split, during which many Volapuk supporters went into other language projects - Idiom Neutral and Esperanto. By the way, the appearance of just the last language in 1887 exacerbated the position of Volapuk. Esperanto was much easier lexically and grammatically, in it all the words were recognizable and even simplified.
Now Volapyuk is a dead language in which even the most classified scientific newspapers and magazines no longer publish. He is not studied at the philological faculties, nor taught at graduate schools.