The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-08-22
THE WORLD ITS FIELD.
VolapHk, the Universal Language
Of the Future.
The Speech COMPOUNDED at Babel to he Res
urreoted by Few Hundred Enthusiasts
Scattered Over Three Continents
ITS Construction and Grammar.

"What is ftp asked the Bepukel Lulltik tor
DdtCn interviewerl OF one who had appended
to his name the astounding title "Volapaka.
tidel," and had admitted that this indicates
the expert or adept In "VolapAl''-one who
has diploma authorizing him to teach that
subject.
'WhRt is volapakY' asked the expectant
BepHkel. The answer OF the VolapHkatldel
was somewhat long, but we give II as 1t was
taken down, interspersed with the occasional
questions which suggested new lines of expla-
nation.
Yolapuk is a language, and the name is a
sample of it.
"Oh, then It Is not patent medicine, nor a
new kind Of relgioni But where, when and
by whom, IS 1t, has it been or shall 1t be spok-
On, read or writtenp"
g A large question. good sir, and only to be
answered In parts.
"whereS No land, no race, no climate cir
cumscribes 1t; the world is Its field.
"Wheu9" AS amedium of actual commune
cation, 1t has been In existence for about five
years.
thusiAsts, scattered over three continents; In
the coming time, II their hopes be fulfilled, by
every educated person in the world; every
one who can go beyond the limits of his own
tongue, will learn this universal language
next and thus At himself to Interchange ideas
with any one else of equal education.
why uOb huOpB EnBubn OF tfonCn as such
a languager Because, for one reason, nc
nation could or should be allowed such an ad.
vantage over others; and because those two
mo 0sS w,nesRrSaI iangutsges are specially UNI
unmusical sounds; for mutilated words, fol
irregular, caprioious structure and modes OF
spelling which are like hideous nightmare.
The world 8 language of the future must be
one readily learned, easily spoken, absolutely
logical and consistent, capable of expressing
All that men can now express, and of expand
ing to meet all new requirements; with q ca
pacity for, all things, except for being mis-.
understood.
"Does Volapuk answer to all thisS" That is
question for judgment; l viii give you the
materials, and surely II l can oondense all
the rules of q language into an interview YOU
win admit that 1t excels in simplicity ali its
Let us start with the subject of your first
question, the word '.volapak," and let us dis
Vol world" or ''the world"
:, Vols, sof the world" 1.-The worlds" OF
pax, speech" mot a speech or an oration)
volapHk, worlds speech, " "Wcltsprdche,
Now observe that this word is shorter and
smoother than either of the compounds by
which have translated It; it contains only
has eleven, and the Greek twelve Vol il
world" or ''the world" There is no article
in volapak, or rather, the article, though it
world and The WorldY" We'll, now, & there
any distinctionP We say in English, "the
world Is round" Would there be the slight.
est loss of meaning II we said world is
roundT" The Romans had no article and sue
, Ceeded in speaking without ambiguity. The
Greeks in Homers time dispensed with IL
Try [thel same experiment which convinced
me Of Ithel uselessness of Ithel English
article. Take any editorial In lthel DdlCn al
random; strike out all lthel thes; observe
tthel effeotl Article must gol
Vol Is u root word. and like other simple
words of its class, consists of three letters
arranged thus: Consonant. vowel con.
sonant. II never is used TO express any
other idea than world
The roots OF the world-speech are selected
from the Aryan language; more from En-
glsh than from any other language. because
English Is spoken by 100,000,000 of people
Vol Is probably the English world" pruned
down Tor rather boned like a turkey, and
made pronounceable alike, or nearly alike,
by all nations.
Tho vowels. a, q, T. o. u, which play so I'M
portant part ara pronounced as In German
or Spanish. There are also modified forms of
q, and u. like the German "Umlauts" or
dotted letters Special forms are provided
for these, to avoid dotting. As the nearest
substitutes for these peculiar forms We use
IN this article, 10 % and Il. The sounds are:
% like a in cat; @ like u in tub; like the
French "a whistling sound between 90
aud EEL
VIOLA. vole voli the last syllable is always
aceentedl, are the three cases or infectious Of