A volapükologist () is a person whose scientific interest is Volapük or who learns the language for

hobby A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing sports, or pursuing other ...

reasons. There is a difference between a volapükologist and a volapükist. The latter can be defined as a person who joined the Volapük movement with the goal of promoting and disseminating Volapük as the

international auxiliary language An international auxiliary language (sometimes acronymized as IAL or contracted as auxlang) is a language meant for communication between people from different nations, who do not share a common first language. An auxiliary language is primarily a ...

. The language Volapük itself quickly acquired support after it appeared, both in Europe and America. There were three international congresses: the first in 1884 in

Friedrichshafen Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''K ...

, the second in 1887 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and the third in 1889 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. By 1889 there were 316 textbooks available in 25 languages, 283 clubs and around 25 magazines. In 1887 the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

established a commission for the evaluation of the scientific value of Volapük. It can be said that at the end of the 19th century there were nearly a million volapükists in the world. But shortly after the biggest and most successful Paris congress the movement divided into factions and most of its supporters took up new languages, like

Idiom Neutral Idiom Neutral is an international auxiliary language, published in 1902 by the International Academy of the Universal Language () under the leadership of Waldemar Rosenberger, a St. Petersburg engineer. History The Academy had its origin a ...

and

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

. Although today there are still some people who learn and/or speak the language, they do it for

philological Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

and interlinguistical reasons rather than with the notion that Volapük might become a world auxiliary language. Consequently, it can be said that today there are no volapükists anymore—only volapükologists. Nevertheless, the Volapük movement still exists, and is governed by the International Volapük Academy.

Contemporary volapükologists

* Brian Reynold Bishop * Jean-Claude Caraco * André Cherpillod *

Michael Everson Michael Everson (born January 1963) is an American and Irish linguistics, linguist, Character encoding, script encoder, typesetting, typesetter, type designer and Publishing, publisher. He runs a publishing company called Evertype, through which ...

Reinhard Haupenthal Reinhard Haupenthal (born 17 February 1945; died 29 September 2016) was a German Esperantist, Volapükist (or Volapükologist), translator, and linguist. Don Harlow, Donald J. Harlow described Haupenthal's personal style in a warning to potential ...

* Sérgio Meira * Ralph Midgley * Hermann Philipps * Arden R. Smith

Historic volapükologists

References

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