AN International LANGUAGE.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 47, 17 February 1894, Page 3

AN International LANGUAGE.

The desirabilit}" of an easy means of communication between all nations without having to acquire the various mother tongues has long been recognised. Within the last three centuries more than one hundred and fifty attempts have been made in this direction, but all these have failed, partly because their written characters were ideographic, like the Chinese language representing ideas not words —and partly because each inventor adhered too closely to his own language. But there is one man who felt sure that the only language to be purely international would be one neutral in national prejudices, and easy of comprehension by all. This is the celebrated German linguist, John Martin Schleyer, F.R.S., who, on the 31st of March, 1879, handed over to the world a language which he termed Yolavnlc. He was prompted to invent this language through the annoying miscairiage of his letters while on a visit to America. Then he thought to himself how advantageous it would be and how serviceable to the whole of humanity if there was not only one writing, but also one language. In this way the idea of an international language was brought to perfection, and he soon devised the system of a short and exceedingly simple grammar. He gave the language the name of Volap'ul-, i.e., “ world-language, ’ from the English words “ Avorld,” vnl; and “ speak,” pulz. An important feature which specially fitted Mr Schleyer for the invention of a new language was his immense knowledge of languages, both ancient and modern. In the space of forty-five years he became acquainted with no less than fifty-five languages, of which he speaks and writes twentyeight. Who, therefore, was more qualified than he to construct a language by means of which the civilised inhabitants of the world could make themselves understood in speaking as well as in writing ? Volapiik lias found a reception in every civilised portion of the globe. Its combined adherents among all nations number five millions. More than a thousand business houses employ in commercially, and many of the large shops of Paris have replaced the phrases, “ Hier spricbt man deutscb,” and “English spoken here,” on their windows by the simple and melodious word “ Volpiikon.” There are about fifty periodicals regularly published wholly or in part in tire language, while its literature, which is rapidly expanding, consists at present of twelve hundred volumes, besides text-books. One of the largest books which have been translated into Vo lap ilk is “Travels in the East,” by the late Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary. The volume contains 300 pages, and is accompanied by a preface in fifteen languages, besides Volapiik. We may now look at its intrinsic qualities. Professor Max Miiller said

—•“ I know Schleyer’s Yolapuk, and I perfectly agree with the principle it rests upon.” Here, then, are the distinguishing features of Yolapiik :—lr Each sound has only one sign. 2. Each sign has only one sound. 3, The alphabet consists only of Roman letters. 4. No mute or superfluous letters, or difficult combinations of letters. 5. Everywhere the same orthography. 6. The accent always on the last syllable. 7. No exceptions to rules. 8. Only one declension. 9. One simple conjugation and no irregular verbs. 10. No ablative, instrumental, locative, dual, deponents, &c. 11. The letters c,j, s, x, sat the end of declinable words are avoided.. 12. Only sign of plural: s. 13. All the good, the beautiful, the short, the simple, the free, and the logical of other tongues is utilised. It has been calculated that a Frenchman requires 2,500 hours of good lessons to learn English, 1,500 to learn German, and 900 to learn Italian. The various points of Yolapiik grammar, on the contrary, can be learned in two hours, and the vocabulary in three months. “In this century of electricity,” says Mr Yan Aalst, “ we have no time for severe, long, and harassing practice. We want something eaily learned, we want a prompt reward for our efforts, we want a large income for a small outlay, and it is only in Yalapilk that we find all these advantages.” Let us now see how vastly superior it is to English in form of grammar. It has been said by an eminent writer that “ Yolapuk is the very incarnation of logic !” How many natural languages can bejjhonoured with this epithet ? Look, for example, at the following expressions : —“ The son the father loves.” The subject and the object are alike. “ I love some one who is the friend of no one.” Is the some one a girl or a man P “ The mother of the gentleman whom you saw yesterday.” Did you see the gentleman or his mother ? “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.” Is sacrifice a verb or a noun ? “I read in to-day’s papers.” Is read in the present or past tense ? “ Had you told him so.” Is this a question, or is it the protasis of a conditional sentence P Yolapuk has no such ambiguity or insufficiency. We at once distinguish the subject from the object; we know whether some one is a girl or a man ; we know whether it is the gentleman or his mother that we saw ; we know whether sacrifice is a verb or a noun ; the past tense is clearly discernible from the present; an interrogation is at once recognised ; everything is exactly arranged. “ Why learn Yolapuk at all, when English is spoken all over the world ? For wherever you go you find English spoken.” This statement is very erroneous ; it is made only by those who either do not travel at all, or who travel along the tracks of tourists in company with a party, and conducted by an interpreter. Even British India alone contains nearly 285,000,000 of people unable to speak English, while the rest of Asia with the whole of Europe contains about 850,000,000 more people in the same predicament. The Etymology' op Yolapuk Words. The roots have been derived from the various Romance and Teutonic languages, 40 per cent, of them beingtaken from English. But as the aim of the inventor was to make his language short, many of the words have been contracted, so that the roots are mostly monosyllabic, and thus are easily remembered. Here follows a list of a few roots with the words from which they are derived ; 1. Words derived from Latin. Fin. end (finis) ; glad, ice (gladies). 2. Words derived from French. Jan, hemp (chanvre) ; tap, carpet (tapis). 3. Words derived from German. Gel, organ (Orgel) ; tug, virtae (Tugenci). 4. Words adopted from English without change of spelling or meaning-. Bed, lip, pen, skin, son. 5. As Yolapiik is entirely a phonetic language, the derivation of some words is scarcely recognisable. Buk, boolc ; snek, snake.

6. Unnecessary letters left out. Lit,. light; pam, palm. 7. Suppression of final syllable*. Not, notice ; skaf, scaffold. 8. Suppression of initial and final syllables. Kadem, academy ; yolut,. revolution.

9. Words which commence with a vowel, or h have I prefixed. Laf, half; lorn, home. 10. Prefixing of I and suppression of final syllables. Laut, authorship ; lobed, obedience. 10. As the letter r presents difficulties of pronunciation to many Oriental nations, it is replaced by I , or sometimes altogether suppressed., Kad, card ; klim, crime. 12. Th is replaced by t. Teat,. theatre; teor, theory. To continue the interesting examination of its construction would exceed the due limits of this article.. Such, then, is a brief outline of that neutral language called Yolapuk. Neutral, because it is not owned any nation and not in atagonism with, religious or political ideas ; international, because in grammer and in dictionary each nation may recognize something borrowed from its own language. Engaged in its promotion, Frenchmen and Germans forget Sedan. It knows no Pome and no Geneva, no monarchy and no democracy. Its great aim is to bring the whole human race into closer friendship, to make the individuals of one nation feel sympathy for the individuals of another nation, to forget the petty strifes and jealousies; in a word, to host the flag of truce and shake hands, so that its grand motto may be fulfilled, “One mankind, one languageand, let us add with due reverence, “On earth peace, goodwill to men.” The People’s Friend.