Hand-book of Volapük/30

by Charles E. Sprague

DERIVATION OF WORDS

The simplest ideas are represented by radicals of one syllable. There are also radicals of two syllables, expressing somewhat more complex ideas.

The radicals have been taken principally from the following languages: English, Latin, German and French. More material has been taken from the English than from any other language. The English words are, however, much modified in adapting them to Volapük.

1. The spelling is changed, the pronunciation being preserved or nearly so.

Jip, sheep.	Löf, love.
Kipön, to keep.	Giv, give.
Kömön, to come.	Sin, sin.
Gudik, good.

2. Consonants are dropt or changed when there would be any difficulty of pronunciation.

Vol, world.	Pükön, to speak.
Tat, state.	Ted, trade.
Täv, travel.	Tif, (thief) stealing.

3. The letter r is specially avoided; l being frequently substituted.

Glen, grain.	Glet, great.
Bil, beer.	Telegaf, telegraph.
Blod, brother.	Flen, friend.

4. As radicals seldom begin or end in a vowel the consonants n or l are added, or the letters are transposed.

Pel, pay.	Lep, ape.
Love-, over-.	Nidian, Indian.
Nelijik, English.	Nulik, new.

From the radicals other words are formed by compounding, by prefixing and by suffixing.

COMPOUND WORDS

In forming compound words the rule of word placing is exactly reversed, and the determinant precedes the determined.

A compound noun is formed by inserting the vowel a between the determining word and the principal word.

Vol-a-pük, world-language.

Potamon, postage (post-money).

Pükatidel, language teacher.

Flentapük, language of France, French language.

Yagadog, hunting dog, hound.

Nulayel, new-year.

The first part of the compound may be considered as the kimafal, and usually the meaning of the compound may be expressed by placing it after the principal word either in the kimafal or in the adjectiv form; pük vola, mon potik, tidel pükas, pük flentik, dog yagik, yel nulik. But the meaning of the compound word is more specialized. Pük vola may mean a language of the world, any language of the world, while volapük means a language understood through the whole world.

In a few compounds instead of a the syllables as, i and o, are used as connectivs, tho' there seems to be no settled rule.

Vödasbuk, dictionary.

Pölivegam, wandering astray.

Sometimes three nouns are compounded together, but care must be taken not to produce too long words.

Volapükatidel, universal-language-teacher.

PREFIXES

Words formed by prefixing syllables are in reality a kind of compounds in which the first part is intimately blended with the second. For example, in glezif, a city, composed of

prefix	gle-	+	noun	zif,
	great			town;

zif is the principal word and gle- the determinant.

Gle- is a contraction of the adjectiv gletik or of its radical glet, greatness. Many other prefixes are similarly formed from nouns and adjectivs.

Sma-, from smalik, small; smabed, nest (little bed).

Blä-, from blägik, black; Bläfot, the Black Forest.

Vie-, from vietik, while; viebod, white bread.

Ba-, from bal, one; bafom, uniformity.

Mö-, from mödik, many, much; möpükik, polyglot; möflanik, many-sided.

Si-, from sil, heaven; prefix of constellations or zodiacal signs: Sijip, Aries ; Sijutel, Sagittarius; sifits, Pisces.

Nolü-, Sulü-, Lefü-, Vesü-, from Nolüd, Sulüd, Lefüd, Vesüd, North, South, East, West; Nolümelop, North America; Vesünidän, West Indies.

Bä., from bapik, low, and vä-, from valik, all, with a change of vowel.

Other prefixes are simple prepositions, and most of them can be so used.

Bevü, between, inter- ; bevünetik, international.

Bif, before (in place), contracted, to bi-, pre- bisiedön, to preside.

De, from; de-, ab-, off-, away; defal, falling off; defiledön, to burn off ; deyulön, to abjure.

Ko-, ke; with; com-, con-, syn- ; koköm, coming together; kelied, compassion; kevobel, colaborer; kezenodön, to concentrate.

Len-, towards, ad- ; lenpük, address; lensumön, to assume, take to one's-self.

Love-, over, super-; lovedugön, to lead over; lovelogön, to overlook; lovepenäd, superscription, something written over; lovepolam, translation.

There are also prefix-syllables which never occur separately and are not contractions of other words. The following are the most important of these inseparable prefixes :

Ne-, negativ, or contrary; un-, in-, dis-, non-, -less; neflen, enemy (unfriend); nelab, want (opposit of lab, possession); det, right [hand]; nedet, left ; nedanik, ungrateful; nebin, non-existence.

Le- intensiv ; very, highly, chief, arch- ; legudik, very good ; legletik, very great; lebijop, archbishop ; lezif, large city (glezif is metropolis). Gle- indicates the highest or most important of its kind.

Lu-, small, insignificant, bad or contemptible. This prefix is frequently used where in English we use different words. Beg, a request, lubegel, a beggar, mendicant ; lufat, a step-father; lak, a lake, lulak, a pond; sanel, a physician, lusanel, a quack; sölel, a ruler, lusölel, a tyrant ; vomik, feminin, luvomik, effeminate.

(See suflix -il for a list of augmentativs and diminutivs.)

Ge-, back, re- ; gepük, reply ; gekipön, to keep back.

Be- is said to strengthen the meaning of the radical; it frequently means to cause or confer the thing expressed by the radical.

Da- denotes the completion or an action or the attainment of an object.

SUFFIXES

Some suffixes are formed by cutting off the beginnings of nouns.

From mul, month, -ul as a termination for the names or months. There are two sets of names for the months: one derived from the numerals, the other from the Roman names, ---

January,	balul	or	yanul.	|	July	velul	or	yulul.
February,	telul	or	febul.	|	August,	jölul	or	gustul.
March,	kilul	or	mäzul.	|	September,	zülul	or	setul.
April,	folul	or	apul.	|	October,	balsul	or	otul.
May,	lulul	or	mayul.	|	November,	babul	or	novul.
June,	mälul	or	yunul.	|	December,	batul	or	dekul.

From län, country, -än as a termination for names of countries or states.

Cinän, China.

Bayän, Bavaria.

Lusän, Russia.

From düp, hour, -üp as a termination for a portion of time.

Tidüp, a lesson (teaching time).

Kiüp ? when? at what time ?

Patüp, the present tense.

Yelüp, the course of a year.

From top, place,

(1) -op, for the divisions of the earth.

Yulop, Europe.	Silop, Asia.
Fikop, Africa.	Melop, America.
Talop, Australia.

(2) -öp, for a place.

Kiöp ? where?

Malädöp, a hospital.

The following endings have no meaning, exccpt in composition:

-el, -er ; one who does, a person.

Mekel, a maker; from mekön, to make.

Datuvel, discoverer, from datuv, discovering.

Tidel, teacher.

This ending occurs very frequently. It denotes also an inhabitant or a country.

Melopel, an American.	Nelijel, Englishman.
Deutel, a German.	Flentel, Frenchman.

-al and -an also refer to persons. Al implies dignity or superiority.

-ef is a collection or persons; em, of things.

-en is an establishment for a trade (-ery).

-af, names or animals ; -it, of birds; -in, of substances.

-ip, diseases; -öm, apparatus; -av, sciences.

-äl, -am, -öf, abstract nouns ; äl, character; -am, action; -öf, quality, or state.

-il, diminutiv; -et, -kin, -ling; domil, a little house; ganil, gosling.

The following illustration shows the various gradations of diminutiv and augmentativ words in Volapük :

luzifil,	wretched little town,
smazifil,	little hamlet,
zifil,	little town,
luzif,	wretched town,
smazif,	village,
zif,	town,
lulezif,	big ugly city,
lezif,	city,
glezif,	important city,
luglezif,	miserable great city,
leglezif,	metropolis.

The endings -ik, -el, -am, are the most common, and almost every radical may assume them. In our vocabulary

we frequently give the radical only or one of these derivativs, leaving the others to be inferred.

From any radical denoting a quality may be formed, by adding ik, an adjectiv attributing that quality, as gud, goodness, gudik, good; jap, sharpness, japik, sharp. Thus dropping ness is equivalent to adding ik, or vice versa. In this case we usually give the adjectiv only, leaving the student to drop the ik and add the ness or we give the noun only, leaving him to drop the ness and add the ik.

Every root has, or may have, an adjectiv form in ik, but there is not always a corresponding English adjectiv. Many adjectivs are entirely lacking in English. We have no such word, for example, as "to-daily," and we use the possessiv

"to-day's newspaper;" but in Volapük, ,,gased adelik." We have "golden" derived from "gold," but have no adjectiv

derived from "iron." But in Volapük ,,golüdik, lelik, silefik," are regularly formed from ,,golüd, lel, silef," and in translating from English we must be careful, to distinguish: in phrases like "silver watch," treating "silver " as an adjectiv ; ,,glok silefik." Whole phrases are also rendered by an adjectiv in ik or an adverb in iko the adjectiv being used if the phrase qualifies a noun, the adverb, if it qualifies a verb.

Many words are used both as nouns and as verbs in Volapük and in English. Thus we speak of a name and to <A NAME="p047"></A>name, nem and nemön a reward and to reward, mesed and mesedön. In this case we add the syllable -ön as all indication that the same words are used as nouns and as verbs. But if -ön or -ik be enclosed in parenthesis we mean that a slight but obvious change is made in passing from one English part of speech to another.

Any verb may form a noun in am, which expresses the action of the verb, like our words in -tion for example,

plepalön, to prepare, plepalam, preparation.

Almost any verb may form a noun in el, which expresses the doer of the action, as plepalel, a preparer; studön, to

study, studel, a student.

EXAMPLE OF DERIVATION

(From Kerckhoff&#146;s Complete Course.)

Pük, language, speech ; pükik, linguistic, pertaining to language ; pükatidel, language teacher ; pükapök, defect of speech ; pükön, to speak ; pükönabid, pükönamod, manner of speech ; motapük, mother tongue ; volapük, universal language.

Pükat, oration ; pükatil, little speech ; [pükatel, orator ; ] telapükat, dialogue.

Pükav, philology ; pükavik, philological.

Püked, saying ; pükedik, sententious ; pükedavöd, proverb ; pükedavödik, proverbial ; valapüked, motto.

Pükel, orator, speaker ; pükelik, oratorical ; möpükel, polyglot, speaker of many languages.

Püköf, eloquence ; püköfik, eloquent ; püköfav, rhetoric ; püköfavik, rhetorical.

Pükot, talk ; pükotik, talkativ ; okopükot, soliloquy.

Bepük, discussion ; bepükön, to discuss.

Bipük, preface.

Gepük, answer ; gepükön, to answer.

Lepük, assertion, affirmation ; lepükön, to assert, to affirm.

<a NAME="p048"></a>Lenpük, address ; lenpükön, to address.

Libapük, acquittal ; libapükön, to acquit ("speak free").

Lupük, chatter ; lupükön, to chatter ; lupükem, gossip ; lupükot, gossip (that which is said) ; lupüklam, stammering ; lupüklön, to stammer.

Mipük, mis-speaking. slip of the tongue ; mipükön, to mis-speak.

Nepük, silence ; nepükik, silent ; nepükön, to keep still.

Sepük, pronunciation ; sepükik, pronounceable ; sepükad, pronouncement (rendering of decision) ; sepükam, act of pronouncing ; sepükön, to pronounce.

Tapük, contradiction ; tapükik, contradictory ; tapükön, to contradict.

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