Volapük
Volapük (V. 'world language') is an international auxiliary language published in 1879 by Johannes Martin Schleyer. It was the first auxlang to reach a major audience, but was soon eclipsed by Esperanto. By the year 1900, Volapük was essentially a dead language. The reasons for this quick demise are probably a too complex grammatical structure, and especially the proprietary attitude of its creator. Schleyer had turned down several reform proposals and asserted that he was the only person allowed to invent new words or change rules of grammar. Thereby, the language could no longer function as a world language.
In 1931 Arie de Jong published a reformed version of Volapük. This version is now called Volapük Nulik (New Volapük) in contrast with the original 1879 version which today is called Volapük Rigik (Original Volapük).
There is an unbroken line of Cifals (leaders) of the Volapük speaking community since the language's publication. They are: Johann Martin Schleyer, 1879-1912 Albert Sleumer, 1912-1948 Jakob Sprenger, 1948-1950 Johann Schmidt, 1950-1977 Johann Krüger, 1977-1983 Brian Bishop, 1984-present
In 2000, it was estimated that there were 20 speakers of Volapük worldwide. Today there are Volapük groups on Yahoo Groups and on Facebook. These groups are in Volapük Nulik.
Facebook Volapük group --Nissalovescats 13:49, 1 January 2013 (PST)
| This article is part of a series on International Auxiliary Languages. Romance-based Auxlangs: Aercant * Atlango * Interlingua * Latin Nov * Novial * Occidental (Interlingue) * Panroman * Romanal |
