Volapük
Volapük (English: /ˈvɒləpʊk/; Volapük [volaˈpyk], 'Language of the World', or lit. 'World Speak') is a constructed language created between 1879 and 1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Catholic priest in Baden, Germany, who believed that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. Notable as the first major constructed international auxiliary language, the grammar comes from European languages and the vocabulary mostly from English (with some German and French). However, the roots are often distorted beyond recognition.
| Volapük | |
|---|---|
| Volapük, Volapꞟk, Volapük nulik | |
Logo of the Volapük movement (2nd phase) | |
| Created by | Johann Martin Schleyer |
| Date | 1879–1880 |
| Setting and usage | International: mostly in Europe |
| Users | 20 (2000) |
| Purpose | |
| Latin | |
| Sources | vocabulary from English, German, and French |
| Official status | |
| Regulated by | Kadäm Volapüka |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | vo |
| ISO 639-2 | vol |
| ISO 639-3 | vol |
| Glottolog | vola1234 |
| IETF | vo-rigik (original) |
Volapük conventions took place in 1884 (Friedrichshafen), 1887 (Munich) and 1889 (Paris). The first two conventions used German, and the last conference used only Volapük. By 1889, there were an estimated 283 clubs, 25 periodicals in or about Volapük, and 316 textbooks in 25 languages; at that time the language claimed nearly a million adherents. Volapük was largely displaced between the late 19th and early 20th century by Esperanto.