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An Introduction to
Volapük
An introduction to the constructed language
Volapük, which was quite popular for a period at the end of the
19th century, and is still in use spoken by a small number of
people who actively use the language today.
Background
Volapük was originally the creation of a German
priest, Johann Martin Schleyer
(1831-1912), and was published in 1879. It met with immediate
success, with Volapük supporters' clubs being formed throughout
Europe and the United States, and even as far away as Brazil and
China. In its heyday, about 1889, there were dozens of Volapük
periodicals, and hundreds of different books had been published in
and on the language.
There is much debate about the cause of Volapük's speedy
decline. Some put it down to the clamour for reforms to the
language, others point to the author Schleyer's proprietorial
attitude to his creation, and still others point to the fact of Esperanto being easier to
learn. There was a revival of Volapük in the 1930's, principally in
the Netherlands, led by Arie de Jong (1865-1957),
who also revised the language slightly into the form which is
normally used today.
His revised form of Volapük is the one which is described here,
but section III below describes where the classical form of the
language differs from the modern one.
Grammar
Pronunciation and
orthography
Volapük uses the Roman alphabet, except for the letters
Q and W, which are not used, and
with the addition of Ä, Ü and Ö. Rules for capitalisation are much
the same as in English. The "names" of the letters are themself
plus e for the consonants and just themselves for
the vowels, giving a ä be ce de e fe etc.
- a - as a in 'father' or 'nap'.
- ä - as ea in 'head' or 'bear'.
- c - as ch in 'church'.
- e - as e in 'cafe'.
- g - always as g in 'get'.
- h - as h in 'house'.
- i - as i in 'ski' or 'fit'.
- j - as sh in 'shoe'.
- o - as o in 'for' or 'no'.
- ö - as u in 'fur' or more properly as
eu in French 'fleur'.
- u - as oo in 'fool'.
- ü - as ue in French 'rue' or
ü in German 'Büro'.
- z - as ts in 'bats'.
The other letters have their usual values in English. Where a
letter only has an unvoiced version, e.g. c, j, s,
z, some voicing is permitted.
Stress is always on the last syllable, except
when that syllable is the hyphened suffix -li or
-la, in which case the stress falls on the
syllable preceding.
Articles
There is no article for Volapük words. Thus pod
can mean apple, an apple or the apple
according to the context.
There is an article el which is used with
proper nouns which have not been assimilated and other words which
for one reason or another are not declinable. This article is
declinable in the same way as nouns (see below). For example:
- Kanobs logön eli Sputnik me daleskop. We can
see the sputnik with a telescope.
- El Paris binon cifazif Fransäna. Paris is the
capital of France.
Here the -i on the end of el
signifies the accusative (direct object) case.
Affixes can also be added on to el, e.g. you
can use jiel if you want to indicate that the
proper name refers to a female (male: hiel),
elep for a plant etc.:
- Elaf Felis Catus lödon valöpo. The (animal)
Felis catus lives everywhere.
Nouns
Nouns in Volapük have four main cases. These
are the nominative, accusative, genitive and dative
cases. The nominative case has no ending and is used
for the subject of a sentence or with a preposition, e.g.
- Vom binof in dom. The woman is in the
house.
Here, both vom and dom have no
ending as they are in the nominative.
The accusative ending is -i added on the end of
the noun. The accusative in Volapük is not shown by word order as in
English. Thus:
- Man beitom dogi AND Dogi beitom
man both mean the man bites the dog.
In some languages, the accusative form of the noun is sometimes
used to signify motion after some prepositions. This is not the
case in Volapük.
- Dog bunon sui tapäd. The dog jumps onto the
carpet.
- Dog bunon sua tapäd. The dog jumps off the
carpet
Here we see that Volapük can form prepositions of motion
to and motion from by adding the suffixes
-i and -a respectively to
prepositions.
The prepositions of motion can also be used with adverbs as in
Esperanto, but the accusative ending is added on before the adverb
ending in Volapük:
- Vom golof domio. The woman is going
homewards.
(From home would be domao, and at home would be
domo).
The genitive case ending is -a:
- Gramat Volapüka. The grammar of
Volapük.
- Jul hipula. The boy's school.
The dative case ending is -e:
- Givob buki tidane. I give the book to the
teacher (or I give the teacher the book).
The plural ending is -s which is added on after
any case ending:
- Flens binons gebovik. Friends are useful.
- No labom flenis mödik. He does not have many
friends.
- Selidöp flenas. The shop of the friends.
- Egivom oni flenes okik. He has given it to his
friends.
The fifth case is the vocative, which just means you have to use
the word o if using a noun as a form of
address:
- O flens, o Romans, o kelänans! Friends,
Romans, countrymen!
There is also a predicative case which is
hardly ever used, ending in u.
- Ekölom yani rediku. He has painted the door
red. - As opposed to:
- Ekölom yani redik. He has painted the red
door.
Pronouns
Pronouns are one of the few groups of words
in Volapük which are mostly a priori, i.e. not borrowed
from existing languages even in a mutilated form.
The main pronouns are:
- ob - I
- ol - you (singular)
- om - he
- of - she
- on - it or he/she
- oy - one
- os - impersonal (null subject), e.g. reinos -
it is raining.
- obs - we
- ols - you (plural)
- oms, ofs,
ons - they (masc., fem., common/neuter)
These pronouns are also added on the end of
verbs:
- Golob. I go.
- Golom. He goes.
- Man golom. The man goes.
Pronouns are declined just like nouns.
Other pronouns are ok, the reflexive
pronoun:
- Flapom omi. He hits him (i.e. somebody
else).
- Flapom oki. He hits himself.
and od the reciprocative pronoun:
- Löfons odis. They love each other.
As opposed to:
- Löfons okis. They love themselves.
The polite forms of ol and
ols are or and
ors, but these are hardly ever used except
poetically. Part of Arie de Jong's official modern grammar, but
never used are og (you or me) and
ogs (you and me/you and us).
Some other pronouns are: at (this),
et (that), it (itself),
ot (the same thing), ut
(whoever), kel (who/which: relative, not
question), kin (who?), kis
(what?), ek (somebody), nek
(nobody), bos (something), nos
(nothing).
Verbs
The verb in revised Volapük has 1683 possible conjugations,
including many that are extremely rare. It is important to observe
that these forms are derived simply and regularly, so there is no
great difficulty involved. There are four tenses which are commonly
used: the present, which is the form used in most of
the examples so far, the future, which involves adding the prefix
o-, the imperfect with prefix
ä-, and the perfect, which has
e-. The suffix used is the pronoun involved, or if
a noun is the subject, whichever pronoun would be appropriate for
that noun.
Fidol. You are eating.
Man fidom. The man is eating.
Vom fidof. The woman is eating.
Cil fidon. The child is eating.
Studans fidons. The students are eating.
Ofidol. You are going to eat.
Äfidol. You were eating.
Efidol. You have eaten.
The prefix for the present tense is
a-, but this is only used in certain
circumstances. One of these is if used with a word other than a
verb, because in Volapük, not only verbs can have tenses:
Delo. By day.
Adelo. Today.
Odelo. Tomorrow.
Ädelo. Yesterday.
The other circumstance is in the passive voice:
Pafidol. You are being eaten.
Pofidol. You are going to be eaten, etc.
which uses the prefix p- before the tense
prefix.
There are four other tenses which are much less common: the
future perfect (prefix u-), the pluperfect (prefix
i-), the future in the past (ö-),
and the future in the past perfect (ü-):
Ufidobs. We will have eaten.
Ifidobs. We had eaten.
Üfidobs. We were going to eat.
Öfidobs. We were going to have eaten.
Questions are constructed by adding the particle
-li after the verb:
Nolol vegi. You know the way.
Nolol-li vegi? Do you know the way?
There are four other moods in Volapük: the conditional which uses the ending
öv, the optative (polite imperative)
ending in ös, the imperative ending in
öd, and the subjunctive which uses the
particle -la.
The subjunctive is only used where something ridiculous or
unimaginably unlikely is referred to.
- Ekömoböv, if ilaboböv moni. I would have come
if I had had the money.
- Seilolös! Please be quiet.
- Seilolöd! Be quiet!
- Golobsös! Let's go!
- Ogivob-la dolaris lul? Cogol, no-li? Me, give
you five dollars? You're joking, aren't you?
Notice how the pronoun is still inserted in the optative and
imperative.
The infinitive form of the verb ends in
ön. Where the infinitive form actually means
in order to, we add the word ad:
- Fidobs ad lifön. We eat to live.
Participles end in öl. Participles behave as
adjectives (see below).
- Ovisitob oli ün vig okömöl. I shall visit you
in the coming week.
- Ägolölo ve süt, älogob fleni bäldik oba. While
(I was) going along the street, I saw an old friend of mine.
Whether a verb is naturally transitive or intransitive varies
from one word to the next. Transitive verbs can be made
intransitive by inserting the affix ik, and
intransitive verbs made transitive by the use of the affix
ük:
Seadom su stul. He is sitting on the chair.
Seadükom cili sui stul. He seats the child on the chair.
Eperom moni okik. He has lost his money.
Mon omik eperikon. His money has got lost.
(In the above examples, oka and
oma are acceptable alternatives for the possessive
adjectives okik and omik
respectively).
The affix ik can be used with intransitive
verbs, and ük with verbs that are normally
transitive. In these cases, they provide a kind of medial voice or
causative voice respectively.
- Äseadikom sui stul. He sat down on the
chair.
- Man päperükom moni oki fa briet. The man was
caused to lose his money by drunkenness.
Adjectives and adverbs
Adjectives in Volapük end in
-ik. The normal position for adjectives is after
the noun they qualify and if placed there, and there is no
ambiguity, they do not need to agree with
their noun in case or number. However, if placed before the noun
they qualify, or there is ambiguity, they must agree.
The comparative and superlative of adjectives is formed by
adding um or ün respectively
after the ik and before any case or number
agreement.
The prepositions used with the comparative and superlative
degrees are ka and se
respectively.
Flens gudik. Good friends.
Flens gudikum ka ons. Better friends than they.
Flens gudikün se valikans. Best friends of all.
Adverbs end in o, and can be
formed from adjectives or nouns:
Delo. By day.
Deliko. On a daily basis.
When they modify other adverbs, they always go in front, but
when they modify adjectives and verbs, they can go on either side,
though there is a convention to put them in front of
adjectives.
There are also a number of common adverbs which are roots in
themselves and do not end in o:
ai (always), ba (perhaps),
i (also), is (here),
nu (now), plu (more),
te (only), ti (almost),
us (there), ya (indeed),
ye (however), kö (where:
relative), kü (when: relative),
lio (how: question), vio (how:
relative).
(The questions where and when are kiöpo? and
kiüpo? respectively. These are formed from
ki- then the affix of place or time respectively
(öp or üp), then the adverb
ending.
Numerals
The numerals are:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
bal |
tel |
kil |
fol |
lul |
mäl |
vel |
jöl |
zül |
deg |
11 |
12 |
13 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
30 |
degbal |
degtel |
degkil |
teldeg |
teldegbal |
teldegtel |
kildeg |
100 - 101 |
123 |
234 |
1 000 |
tum, tumbal |
tumteldegkil |
teltumkildegfol |
mil |
1 234 |
2 345 |
10 000 |
mil teltumkildegfol |
telmil kiltumfoldeglul |
degmil |
234 567 |
1 000 000 |
4 876 329 |
teltumkildegfolmil lultumäldegvel |
balion |
folbalion jöltumveldegmälmil kiltumteldegzül |
- balion = million (10^6).
- telion = billion (European)/trillion (US)
(10^12).
- kilion = trillion (European)/quintillion (US)
(10^18) etc.
The key words used in forming decimal fractions are:
0,1 = dim
0,01 = zim
0,001 = mim
0,0001 = dimmim
0,00001 = zimmim
0,000001 = balyim
The fractional part should be read as if an integer number, followed by the decimal
fraction word to give the order of magnitude. Thus
- 0,345 = kiltumfoldeglul mim
- 0,123456 = tumteldegkilmil foltumluldegmäl
balyim
For smaller magnitudes telyim (10^-12),
kilyim (10^-18) etc. are formed in the same way as
their high magnitude counterparts telion,
kilion etc.
(You probably noticed most of the numerals are
apriori ).
Numerals are placed after their nouns:
- Dolars teltumluldeg. $250.
Ordinal numerals are formed by the suffix
-id;
Fractional numerals are formed by the suffix
-dil;
Repetition or multiplication is expressed by the suffix
-na, e.g.:
Binos düp velid soara. It is 7 o'clock in the evening.
Foldils kil binons veldeglul zim. 3/4 is 0,75.
Ibinos visit folnaik ofa us. It had been her fourth visit there.
Folna fol binos degmäl. 4 x 4 = 16.
Other
parts of speech
The other parts of speech are prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
These can exist as roots in themselves, with no particular
ending as in the following examples.
- Prepositions
- bü (before: time), dis
(under), fo (before: place), ko
(together with), ma(according to),
nen (without), po (behind),
su (on), sus (above),
ta (against), vü (between).
- Conjunctions
- ab (but), bi (because),
das (that), dat (so that),
do (though), du (while),
e (and), klu (therefore),
u (or).
- Interjections
- ag! (ah!), he! (hey!),
o! (oh!), sö! (psst!).
Alternatively, they can be formed from other roots by adding the
endings -ü for prepositions, -ä
for conjunctions, and -ö for interjections:
Nil. Proximity.
Nilü. Near.
Kod. Cause.
Kodä. Why. (relative; question is Kikodo?)
Seil. Silence.
Seilö! Silence!
Word formation,
prefixes and suffixes
Formation of compound words takes place in Volapük in a similar
way to English, German, Esperanto, Hungarian, Chinese and many other languages.
The main word comes last:
Bödakanit. Birdsong.
Kanitaböd. Songbird.
Pokamon. Pocket-money.
Monapok. Money pocket.
In the above examples, the roots are joined by the genitive
ending -a. It is also possible to join words using
the accusative ending -i and the adverbial ending
-o. This allows subtle differentiation of
meaning:
Motalöf. Mother love. (Love by a mother).
Motilöf. " (Love of, or towards, a mother).
Motolöf. " (Love like a mother's).
Numerous prefixes and suffixes also allow Volapük's approximately 3000 root words
to be vastly extended. Some of the most important of these are:
- Prefixes
- be (see example below), fi
(to the end), hi (male), ji
(female), ke (together), läx
(ex-), le (greatness), lu
(disparagement or step relationship), lü (in-law),
ne (opposite), ru (ancient).
Givön. To give. Begivön. To present with.
(Makes what was the indirect object the direct object).
Reidön. To read. Fireidön. To read completely.
Jevod. Horse. Hijevod. Stallion.
Jip. Sheep. Jijip. Ewe.
Men. Human being. Kemen. Fellow human being.
Presidan. President. Läxpresidan. Ex-president.
Kan. Ability. Lekan. Art.
Dom. House. Ludom. Hovel.
Fat. Father. Lufat. Stepfather.
Blod. Brother. Lüblod. Brother-in-law.
Laodik. Loud. Nelaodik. Quiet.
Fot. Forest. Rufot. Primeval forest.
Many prepositions are also used as prefixes.
- Suffixes
- am (verbal noun), ag
(abundance), an (person associated),
at (amount of), av (science),
äb (victim), äd (generalisation
of effect), än (country), ät
(abstraction), ed (particularisation),
ef (group of people), el (maker
of), em (group of things), et
(consequential or concrete example), iäl
(inclination), il (diminutive),
im (philosophy), od (softer or
less serious example), ot (harder or more serious
example), ov (possibility), öf
(quality), öm (equipment), öp
(place), ül (young of animals, endearment).
Finükön. To complete. Finükam. Completion.
Her. Hair. Heragik. Hairy.
Feil. Agriculture. Feilan. Peasant.
Mäl. Six. Mälat. Half-a-dozen.
Stel. Star. Stelav. Astronomy.
Fan. Imprisonment. Fanäb. Prisoner.
Spik. Power of speech. Spikäd. Lecture.
Deutän. Germany.
Men. Human being. Menät. Humanity.
Pen. Writing. Pened. Letter (correspondence).
Reidan. Reader. Reidanef. Readership.
Bod. Bread. Bodel. Baker.
Buk. Book. Bukem. Library.
Jonön. To show. Jonet. (TV) screen.
Ok. One's self. Okiäl. Selfishness.
Dom. House. Domil. Cottage.
Sogäd. Society. Sogädim. Socialism.
Mag. Image. Magod. Illustration.
Mag. Image. Magot. Statue.
Pron. Pronunciation. Pronovik. Pronounceable.
Flen. Friend. Flenöfik. Friendly.
Nün. Information. Nünöm. Computer.
Vob. Work. Voböp. Workplace.
Kat. Cat. Katül. Kitten.
This lists only a proportion of the affixes available.
Differences with
classical Volapük
In 1887 there were also a number of reforms to the original
Volapük. These are also outlined here, but the majority of changes
refer to those agreed in 1930 and proposed by Arie de Jong.
Pronunciation and
orthography
Exactly the same as modern Volapük except that the apostrophe
(') was used instead of h before 1887.
The letter r was much less commonly used in
classical Volapük, and a number of new words have been introduced
using it. Some of these replace old words which appeared too
mutilated as a result of not using an r.
Many other words, especially the most common ones, still retain
their original l. Some words crept in classical
Volapük where the root began with
a vowel. This was standardised to begin with l. A
very small proportion of words have changed for no other reason
than the passage of time or to remove ambiguities. Here are some
examples of the changes in vocabulary:
OLD NEW
Gletik. Gretik. (large).
Flentän. Fransän. (France).
Jeval. Jevod. (horse).
Ägüptän. Lägüptän. (Egypt).
Nelij. Linglän. (England).
Lilöm. Rein. (rain)
Lilädön. Reidön. (to read)
Lemön. Remön. (to buy)
Changes to the vocabulary as a result of changes to the affix
system and to attitudes to word formation are dealt with later.
Articles
The use of el and its derivatives occurs only
in modern Volapük.
Nouns
The predicative case and the modified prepositions to show
motion are used only in modern Volapük.
Pronouns
The pronouns oy, or,
ors and od do not occur in
classical Volapük.
Previously on was used instead of
oy, and om was used instead of
on for all common or neuter items as well as
masculine ones.
Before 1887, the reflexive pronoun was added to the end of the
verb, e.g. modern lavons okis (they wash
themselves) was lavomsok or
lavomoks.
Verbs
The future in the past and future in the past perfect tenses do
not appear in classical Volapük.
Classical Volapük also had an aorist aspect, which was formed
by placing an -i- between the tense marker and the
verb root, e.g.
Olödob in zif. I shall live in the town.
Oilödob in zif. I shall always live in the town.
Classical Volapük also had a third imperative mood, called the
jussive, which was stronger than the other
two and ended in -öz.
Seilolös! Please be quiet.
Seilolöd! Be quiet!
Seilolöz! Why don't you shut up?!
The subjunctive mood was formerly used more often than it is
now.
Adjectives and Adverbs
No change.
Numerals
The numbers ten, twenty, thirty> etc, which
are deg, teldeg,
kildeg etc. in modern Volapük were previously formed by adding
an s to the numbers for one, two, three, etc.:
bals, tels,
kils. The units were added on to the tens by the
word e (and), e.g. balsebal (11),
balsetel (12) etc.
The decimal fractional numerals are also modern.
Other
parts of speech
No major change except that modern ad is
al in classical Volapük.
Word
formation
Modern Volapük uses affixes to form words less than was
previously the case. This is largely because of the greater number
of roots available.
The modern Volapük affix system is much more systematic and
regular than the classical one. A number of the modern affixes did
not appear in the classical form of the language.
Some classical affixes have been abolished. Previously
gle- existed in addition to le-
as an augmentative prefix, and sma- in addition to
-il as a diminutive affix.
The old suffixes -lik and -nik
are the equivalent of the modern -öfik and
-agik respectively. Previously the affix
-el covered the meanings of both
-el and -an.
As you can see below, one problem where the word
lemel previously existed as an isomer (it could be
analysed in two different ways: le-mel and
lem-el) has been removed.
Also, Arie de Jong introduced some new words to address the
problem of sexism in the affix system. And even classical Volapük
never said ji-fat and ji-man for
mother and woman.
OLD NEW
Ludog. (dreadful dog) Lup. (wolf)
Snekafit. (snake fish) Pil. (eel)
Lemel. (big sea) Sean. (ocean)
Lemel. (buy-er) Reman. (buy-er)
Flenlik. (friendly) Flenöfik. (friendly)
Lutnik. (airy) Lutagik. (airy)
Lezif. (big town) Cifazif. (chief town, i.e. capital)
Glezif. (big town) Lezif. (big town, i.e. city)
Jiblod. (she brother) Sör. (sister)
Jison. (she son) Daut. (daughter)
Specimen Volapük text
Nim Pebuüköl Söla
K
Ven Söl K. päsäkom, nimi kinik gönom-li mödiküno se ons valik,
enemom leefadi, ed ekleilükom atosi so:
Leefad balon käfi me näm. Ye atos no binon käf zesüda, kelos
saidikon ad skeapön se dinäd, ud ad kädedön fidi nen paküpön, ab
käf lü kel näm gebidön ad dunots gretik. Kö nim at ebinon, dugon
veg veitik. To at, binon benovimik, suemon cogi. Binon flen gudik,
asä binon neflen gudik. Vero gretik e vetik, binon i vemo vifik.
Probod ona blinon kope levemik ona igo fidotis smalikün, äsi nötis.
Lils ona binons mufoviks; lilon te utosi, kelos lönedon one. Vedon
i vo bäldik. Binon i sogädik, e no te leefades votik. Valöpo ä
palöfon ä padredon. Kodü sot cogiäla, mögoy igo stümön oni. Labon
skini bigik, ini kel neifs breikons okis; ab ladälastad ona binon
molädik. Kanon vedön lügik. Kanon vedön zunik. Löfilon ad danüdön.
Deadon in bimilem. Löfon cilis e nimülis votik. Binon gedik, e
paküpon te sekü gretot ona. No binon pafidäbik. Kanon vobön gudiko.
Löfilon ad drinön e vedon läbik. Dunon bosi pro lekan: Blünon viori
....
(Translation of Herrn Ks Lieblingstier by
Bertolt Brecht).
Analysis:
NIM P-E-BU-ÜK-ÖL SÖL-A K.
Animal pass.-perf.-before-trans.-part. mister-gen. K.
Animal preferred/favourite of mister K.
Ven Söl K. p-ä-säk-om, nim-i kin-ik gön-om-li
When Mr. K. pass.-imp.-ask-he animal-acc. what-adj. favour-he-qu.
When Mr. K. was asked animal which he preferred
möd-ik-ün-o se on-s val-ik, e-nem-om
much-adj.-superl.-adv. out of they all-adj. perf.-name-he
most of all he named
leefad-i, ed e-kleil-ük-om at-os-i so:
elephant-acc. and perf.-clear-trans.-he this-neut.-acc. thus
the elephant and explained this thus:
Leefad bal-on käf-i me näm. Ye
Elephant one-he/she cunning-acc. with force. However
The elephant unites cunning with force. However
at-os no bin-on käf zesüd-a, kel-os
this-neut. not be-he/she cunning necessity-gen. which-neut.
this not is the cunning of necessity which
said-ik-on ad skeap-ön se din-äd, ud ad
enough-adj.-he/she to escape-inf. out of thing-der. or to
suffices for escaping from a predicament or to
käd-ed-ön fid-i nen p-a-küp-ön, ab
cash-der.-inf. eat-acc. without pass.-pres.-notice-inf. but
collect food without being noticed, but
käf lü kel näm geb-id-ön ad dun-ot-s
cunning according to which force use-inv.-inf. to thing-der.-plur.
cunning according to which force is used for deeds
gret-ik. Kö nim at e-bin-on, dug-on
greatness-adj. Where animal this perf.-be-he/she lead-he/she
great. Where animal this has been, leads
veg veit-ik. To at, bin-on
way width-adj. Despite this, be-he/she
a path wide. Despite this, he/she is
ben-o-vim-ik, suem-on cog-i.
blessing-adv.-attitude-adj., understanding-he/she joke-acc.
good natured, he/she understands a joke.
Bin-on flen gud-ik, as-ä bin-on ne-flen
Be-he/she friend goodness-adj. as-and be-he/she opp.-friend
He/she is a friend good as well as an enemy
gud-ik. Ver-o gret-ik e vet-ik, bin-on
goodness-adj. Truth-adv. greatness-adj. and weight-adj. be-he/she
good. Truly large and heavy, he/she is
i vemo vif-ik. Probod on-a blin-on
also very speed-adj. Trunk he/she-gen. bring-he/she
also very quick. Trunk his/her he/she brings
kop-e le-vem-ik on-a igo fid-ot-i-s
body-dat. aug.-expanse-adj. he/she-gen. even eat-der.-acc.-plur.
to body enormous his/her even the foodstuffs
smal-ik-ün, äs-i nöt-i-s. Lil-s
smallness-adj.-superl., as also nut-acc.-plur. Ear-plur.
smallest such as nuts. Ears
on-a bin-on-s muf-ov-ik-s; lil-on te
he/she-gen. be-he/she movement-der.-adj.-plur.; ear-he/she only
his/her are adjustable; he/she hears only
ut-os-i, kel-os lön-ed-on on-e.
that which-neut.-acc., which-neut. own-der.-he/she he/she-dat.
what suits him/her.
Ved-on i vo bäld-ik. Bin-on i sogäd-ik,
Becoming-he/she also very age-adj. Be-he/she also society-adj.
He/she gets also very old. He/she is also sociable,
e no te leefad-e-s vot-ik. Val-öp-o
and not only elephant-dat.-plur. otherness-adj. All-place-adv.
and not only to elephants other. Everywhere
ä p-a-löf-on ä p-a-dred-on.
and also pass.-pres.-love-he/she and also pass.-pres.-fear-he/she.
both he/she is loved and he/she is feared.
Kod-ü sot cog-iäl-a, mög-oy igo stüm-ön
Cause-prep. kind joke-inc.-gen. may-one even respect-inf.
Because of a kind of jovialness one may even respect
on-i. Lab-on skin-i big-ik, in-i
he/she-acc. Possession-he/she skin-acc. thickness-adj. in-acc.
him/her. He/she has a skin thick into
kel neif-s breik-on-s ok-i-s; ab
which knife-plur. break-he/she-plur. self-acc.-plur.; but
which knives break; but
lad-äl-a-stad on-a bin-on mol-äd-ik.
heart-der.-gen.-state he/she-gen. be-he/she softness-der.-adj.
disposition his/her is gentle.
Kan-on ved-ön lüg-ik. Kan-on
ability-he/she becoming-he/she sadness-adj. Ability-he/she
He/she can get sad. He/she can
ved-ön zun-ik. Löf-il-on ad danüd-ön.
becoming-inf. anger-adj. Love-dim.-he/she to dance-inf.
get angry. He/she likes to dance.
Dead-on in bim-il-em. Löf-on cil-i-s e
Death-he/she in tree-dim.-coll. Love-he/she child-acc.-plur. and
He/she dies in the thicket. He/she loves children and
nim-ül-i-s vot-ik. Bin-on ged-ik, e
animal-dim.-acc.-plur. otherness-adj. Be-he/she greyness-adj., and
young animals other. He/she is grey, and
p-a-küp-on te sek-ü gret-ot
pass.-pres.-noticing-he/she only following-prep. greatness-der.
he/she is noticed only because of size
on-a. No bin-on p-a-fid-äb-ik. Kan-on
he/she-acc. Not be-he/she pass.-pres.-eating-der.-adj. Ability-he/she
his/her. Not he/she is edible. He/she can
vob-ön gud-ik-o. Löf-il-on ad drin-ön e
work-inf. goodness-adj.-adv. Love-dim.-he/she to drinking-inf. and
work well. He/she likes to drink and
ved-on läb-ik. Dun-on bos-i pro
becoming-he/she happiness-adj. Action-he/she something-acc. for
he/she becomes happy. He/she does something for
le-kan: Blün-on vior-i ....
aug.-ability: Supply-he/she ivory-acc.
art: He/she supplies ivory ....
Abbreviations
acc.: accusative; adj.: adjective; adv.: adverb;
aug.: augmentative; coll.: collective; dat.: dative; der.: derivative;
dim.: diminutive; gen.: genitive; imp.: imperfect; inc.: inclination;
inf.: infinitive; inv.: inversion; neut.: neuter; opp.: opposite;
part.: participle; pass.: passive; perf.: perfect; plur.: plural;
prep.: preposition; qu.: question; superl.: superlative;
trans.: transitive.
Further
information
You can get in touch by post with either of the following:
Flenef Bevünetik Volapüka
(The International Friends of Volapük)
c/o Ralph Midgley
24 Staniwell Rise
Scunthorpe
South Humberside
DN17 1TF
England
Mr. Midgley will provide you with a Volapük course and
dictionary for a small amount of money.
or
Zänabür Volapüka
(The Volapük Centre)
c/o Brian R. Bishop
155 Leighton Avenue
Leigh-on-Sea
Essex
SS9 1PX
England
AN INTRODUCTION TO
VOLAPÜK
Ed. Robertson, February 1994.
[User:ILVI|Wiki-edited by Jay Bowks 2/2003]
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