Editing Volapük (section)

==History==
[[File:Litzelstetten Volapuek.jpg|thumb|Commemorative inscription for J. M. Schleyer on the wall of the parsonage in Litzelstetten, [[Konstanz]], written in Volapük and German: <br />
{{center|Menade bal&nbsp;– püki bal<br />
Eine Menschheit&nbsp;– eine Sprache<br />
(One mankind&nbsp;– one language)}}]]
Schleyer first published a sketch of Volapük in May 1879 in ''Sionsharfe'', a Catholic poetry magazine of which he was editor.  This was followed in 1880 by a full-length book in German. Schleyer himself did not write books on Volapük in other languages, but other authors soon did.

André Cherpillod writes of the third Volapük convention,

{{blockquote|In August 1889 the third convention was held in [[Paris]].  About two hundred people from many countries attended.  And, unlike in the first two conventions, people spoke only Volapük.  For the first time in the history of mankind, sixteen years before [[Universala Kongreso de Esperanto|the Boulogne convention]], an international convention spoke an international language.<ref name="cherpillod1995">Foreword to ''Konciza Gramatiko de Volapuko'', André Cherpillod.  Courgenard, 1995.</ref>}}

The [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[cryptographer]] [[Auguste Kerckhoffs]] was for a number of years Director of the [[International Academy of Volapük|Academy of Volapük]], and introduced the movement to several countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Caraco |first1=Jean-Claude |last2=Géraud-Stewart |first2=Rémi |last3=Naccache |first3=David |date=May 19, 2020 |title=Kerckhoffs' Legacy |url=https://eprint.iacr.org/2020/556 |journal=Cryptology ePrint Archive |language=en}}</ref>
The French Association for the Propagation of Volapük was authorized on 8 April 1886, with A. Lourdelet as president and a central committee that included the deputy [[Edgar Raoul-Duval]].<ref>{{citation|access-date=2018-01-24|language=fr|ref={{harvid|Members du Comité Central – Le Volapük}}|title=Members du Comité Central|journal=Le Volapük|publisher=Association Français pour la propagation du Volapük|pages=2–3|url=http://volapuk.temerov.org/Volap%C3%BCkanef/Frans%C3%A4nap%C3%BCk/n%C3%BCneds/Le%20Volap%C3%BCk/06_Le_Volap%C3%BCk_Nombre_1_Juin_1886.pdf|archive-date=2017-08-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811223908/http://volapuk.temerov.org/Volap%C3%BCkanef/Frans%C3%A4nap%C3%BCk/n%C3%BCneds/Le%20Volap%C3%BCk/06_Le_Volap%C3%BCk_Nombre_1_Juin_1886.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
However, tensions arose between Kerckhoffs and others in the Academy, who wanted reforms made to the language, and Schleyer, who insisted strongly on retaining his proprietary rights. This led to schism, with much of the Academy abandoning Schleyer's Volapük in favor of [[Idiom Neutral]] and other new constructed language projects. Another reason for the decline of Volapük may have been the rise of [[Esperanto]]. In 1887 the first Esperanto book (''[[Unua Libro]]'') was published. Many Volapük clubs became Esperanto clubs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Esperanto & Esperantism |url=https://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/scriptorium/esperantism.html |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=pages.ucsd.edu}}</ref>

By 1890 the movement was in disarray, with violent arguments among the members. Schleyer resigned from the Volapük Academy and created a rival academy. Derived languages such as [[Nal Bino]], Balta, Bopal, Spelin, Dil and Orba were invented and quickly forgotten.<ref name=Pei>{{cite book|last1=Pei|first1=Mario|title=One Language for the World|date=1968|publisher=Biblo and Tannen|location=New York|page=134|url=https://www.questia.com/read/591845/one-language-for-the-world|access-date=29 April 2015}}</ref><ref name=Okrent2012>{{cite web |url=http://www.berfrois.com/2012/12/truth-beauty-volapyk-arika-okrent/
 |title=Trüth, Beaüty and Volapük|last=Okrent|first=Arika|work=berfrois |date=December 15, 2012|access-date=2013-04-24}}</ref>

[[Image:Volapuk 1.gif|thumb|1898 broadsheet advertising Volapük.]]
In the 1920s, [[Arie de Jong]], with the consent of the leaders of the small remnant of Volapük speakers, made a revision of Volapük which was published in 1931 (now called ''Volapük Nulik'' "New Volapük" as opposed to the '''Volapük Rigik''' 'Original Volapük' of Schleyer). This revision was accepted by the few speakers of the language. De Jong simplified the grammar, eliminating some rarely used verb forms, and eliminated some gendered pronouns and gendered verb endings. He also rehabilitated the [[phoneme]] {{IPA|/r/}} and used it to make some morphemes more recognizable. For instance, ''lömib'' "rain" became ''rein''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Robertson |first=Ed |title=Arie de Jong's Revision of Volapük (1931) |url=http://www.rickharrison.com/language/dejong.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041113010544/http://www.rickharrison.com/language/dejong.html |archive-date=13 November 2004 |access-date=11 February 2023 |website=rickharrison.com}}</ref>
Volapük enjoyed a brief renewal of popularity in the Netherlands and Germany under de Jong's leadership, but was suppressed (along with other constructed languages) in countries under Nazi rule and never recovered.

Regarding the success of this constructed language, the Spanish scientist [[Santiago Ramón y Cajal]] wrote in the first edition of his ''Tonics of Willingness'', in 1898:

{{blockquote|Nowadays, many scientific papers are published in more than six languages. To the likely attempt of restoring Latin or using Esperanto as the universal language of science, wise men have responded by multiplying the number of languages in which scientific works are published. We have to acknowledge that Volapük or Esperanto are practically one more language to be learnt. This result was predictable because neither the essentially popularized and democratic tendencies of modern knowledge, nor the economic views of authors and editors consent in a different way.<ref>Ramón y Cajal, S. (2009): ''Tonics of Willingness: Rules and Advices about Scientific Investigation''. Formación Alcalá: Alcalá la Real, Jaén.</ref>}}
However, some years later (1920), in the third edition of the same book, he added the following footnote to the former assertion: "As it was presumable, nowadays -1920-, the brand new Volapük has been forgotten definitively. We forecast the same for Esperanto."

Large Volapük collections are held by the [[Esperanto Museum and Collection of Planned Languages|International Esperanto Museum]]<ref>[http://www.onb.ac.at/sammlungen/plansprachen/ Collection for Planned Languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040612032750/http://www.onb.ac.at/sammlungen/plansprachen/ |date=2004-06-12 }} (in German)</ref> in [[Vienna]], [[Austria]]; the [[Centre de documentation et d'étude sur la langue internationale|Center for Documentation and Study about the International Language]] in La Chaux-de-Fonds, [[Switzerland]]; and the [[American Philosophical Society]] in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]].<ref>[http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docId=ead/Mss.408.9.Ar7v-ead.xml Volapük Collection] - American Philosophical Society</ref>
In 2000 there were an estimated 20 Volapük speakers in the world.<ref name="speakers"/>

In December 2007 it was reported that the [[Volapük Wikipedia|Volapük version of Wikipedia]] had recently jumped to 15th place among language editions, with more than 112,000 articles.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.pcworld.pl/artykuly/56502/MySpace.kontra.Facebook.html#t_34252|title=Ciekawe wydarzenia w Internecie
 |journal=PC World (Polish) |date=December 1, 2007|access-date=2013-04-26|language=pl}}</ref>
A few months earlier there had been only 797 articles. The massive increase in the size of "Vükiped", bringing it ahead of the Esperanto Wikipedia, was due to an enthusiast who had used a computer program to automatically create geographical articles, many on small villages. The motive was to gain visibility for the language.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.liberafolio.org/2007/volapukapedio|language=eo
 |last=Nevelsteen|first=Yves|date=2007-09-15|work=Libera Folio|title=Volapuko jam superas Esperanton en Vikipedio|access-date=2013-04-26}}</ref>
By March 2013 the Esperanto Wikipedia, with a very active user community, had risen to 176,792 articles, while the [[Volapük Wikipedia]] had at that point 119,091 articles.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2013/03/languages-internet|newspaper=The Economist
 |title=The keenest Wikipedians|date=7 March 2013|access-date=2013-04-26}}</ref>

There has been a continuous Volapük speaker community since Schleyer's time, with an unbroken succession of ''[[Cifal]]s'' (leaders).  These were:
# [[Johann Martin Schleyer]] 1879–1912
# [[Albert Sleumer]] 1912–1948
# [[Arie de Jong]] (provisionally) 1947–1948,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.volapxn--tdak.com/kadam/Dalebud_Cifala_de_1947-01-15,_Num-_1.html|title=Dalebüd Cifala de 1947, Yanul 15, Nüm: 1|website=Vvolapük.com|access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref> 1951–1957<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.volapxn--tdak.com/kadam/Dalebud_Cifala_de_1950-12-21,_Num-_4.html|title=Dalebüd Cifala de 1950, Dekul 21, Nüm: 4|website=Vvolapük.com|access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref>
# [[Jakob Sprenger (Volapük)|Jakob Sprenger]]  1948–1950
# [[Johann Schmidt (Volapük)|Johann Schmidt]] 1950–1977
# [[Johann Krüger (Volapük)|Johann Krüger]] 1977–1983
# [[Brian Reynold Bishop|Brian Bishop]] 1984–2014
# [[Hermann Philipps]] 2014–present<ref>{{cite web|url=https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/volapuk/conversations/messages/3166|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140529163615/https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/volapuk/conversations/messages/3166|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 29, 2014|title=Yahoo! Groups|work=yahoo.com}}</ref><ref>"[http://sezonoj.ru/2014/05/volapuko/ Volapuko havas novan Cifal!]", ''La Balta Ondo'', May 29, 2014.</ref>