Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-05-12
VOIAPUK.
How It Originated, What It is Like, and
What 1t is not Likely to Become.

The idea O. universal language is not
a new ona. nua nave efforts to produce
such language been lacking. Among
the great minds whe haze busted Them
selves with the i,roolem are Baron
Leibuitz, Bishop Wilkins tie English
Prelate, the famous Aobe Sleard OF
France, ard German scholar, Anten
Bachmeier, who about 1890 proposed an
| idiom whose characters should consist
OF the Arabic numerals, and which
should be readily Ineligible TO all who
use that system of notation. The IN
genious forgery OF Chatterton. also.
ought not to go iinRleutioned. For fuller
accounts of these various attempts con-
suit the cyclopaedias. 1t Is enough for
our purpose to say that none or
them succeeded, and it was believed
that from the very nature OF things, the
creation Of an artificial language was :
thing Impossible TO any man. OF even 10
any number OF men. Ii was thought
that language must be a growth, by slow
process, and commensurate with the de-
velopment OF the nation that speaks it.
1t was reserved for
AN OBSCURE eERSIAN PRIEST
Late i'll the Nineteenth century TO set at
naught all this philosophy, and to achieve
this supposed impossible, by actually
evolving out of his own unaided mind, q
new language, fully equipped ii vocabts-
larv anu obedience TO withstand the most
rigid tests, and TO demonstrate its right
to respectful considerat ton.
Joban3, EfaVr;r, SallJar-a1. tho uarl+1r
of Volapuk, was born at Oberlanda, in
Baden, July Is. 1881, and after
preparatory schooling in his ma
tive town was admitted to the
university of Friedburg TO complete his
orders in 1876, and after serving the
church twenty years retired on account
of i'll health to Constance, where he now
lives in a hired garrett on a pension of
$3.50 a year. On this pittance he sup
ports himself, his father, aged 80, and
sister.
For many years the idea of universal
language had been forming in his mind;
and now that the increasing facilities
for travel and communication seemed to
have removed every obstacle to the unity
and universal brotherhood of man, ex-
overmastering with him. Finally, dur
ing night of thought and wakefulness
the plan took definite shape; he reduced
it to writing the next morning, and thus
on March 81, 1919,
VOLAPUK WAS BORN.
Herr Schleyer has been at work ever
since, perfecung and extending the vo-
cabu]ary, which now contains about
II, eco words. About 1900 OF these are
primitive roots, mostly nouns.
The grammar is very simple, and being
made to order, and the language after
wards fitted to it, of course it is abso-
lutely without exceptions. The various
parts of speech are formed by the annex
ing OF prefxing of syllables to the prIm-
tive root. Thus, spd, speed; spidon, to
speed: spidik, speedy; spido, speedily,
etc. The letters a, e, l, annexed to the
noun roots, form the several cases: thus:
bot, (a) boat; bota, of (a) boat; bote, to (a)
boat; boti, (a) boat; (acc. or obj. The
plural is invariably formed by adding S.
The verb is infected for person by add
ing the personal pronouns, OBJ, l; oil,
thou; ON, he; to the stem. For example,:
Cofon, to love.
Llofob, love, Lofobs, we love,
Lofol, thou lowest, Lofols, you love,
Lofom, he loves. Lofoms, they love-
The lenses are formed by prefxing to.
the present the letters q, e, i, o, u. Thus
lalofob, | have loved: elofob, [ loved;
lOfob; | had loved; olofob, L shall love;
ulofob, l shall have loved. Prefixing
to the various forms of the active forms
the passive: palofob, | have been loved;
pulofOb, | shall have been loved. Suffix-
ing ov forms the subjunctive, thus:
puloformov. he should have been loved,
etc. In short, the essentials of the
grammar can be mastered In five minutes
by the watch, and the facility with which
the language lends itself TO the compost
ton of new words from the primitive
roots or by combining them with other
derivatives, renders the acquisition of a
practical working vocabulary compare
lively easy matter.
As to the ratio in which different
languages have contributed to the new
vocabulary, Latin is said to furnish one
fourth of its roots, German one-fifth and
English, as the most widely diffused Ian
guage, one-third. The rest are taken
about equally from the sixty different
dialects with which Herr Schleyer is
conversant, including ancient and
modern, Oriental and European, and
even those of some African and Amer
can Indian tribes.
WHAT Is TO BE THE DESTINY
of this bold aspirant, it were folly now
to attempt to say. Il claims already
over 200, 900 followers with $50 societies !
in ESQ cities ir almost every
part of the civilized world Ii the claims |
of its admirers be true, the most remark /
able thing about it is its wonderful /
to the most diverse |
forms and delicate shades of /
thought. Test TRANSACTIONS are |
said to have been made from the ancient /
classics, from Shakespeare, from the /
German and French dramatists. and
from the philosophers. poets, wits and
folk lore of many nations: and though
all Volapuk is said 10 have proved itself
adequate and equal to the most exacting
demands
Yet there have I eady been urged
many objections to the new speech. The
shifting of the accent invariably to the
last syllable, besides being purely arbi-
tTary, makes it less harmonious to the
ear. than if allowed 10 remain on the root
syllable, or to shift to the penult or |
While it has omitted the
sound of r, as a concession to the Chinese
and others who cannot pronounce that
sound, it has deprived the language OF a
most musical sound At the
same time there have been re-
tanned sounds, such as the German
u. which are not only not musical but
are impossible, especially TO Englishmen.
a no constitute 80 larre a majority Of the !