Volapük (/ˈvɒləpʊk/ in English;[volaˈpyk] in Volapük) is a constructed language, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Roman Catholic priest in Baden, Germany. Schleyer felt that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. Volapük conventions took place in 1884 (Friedrichshafen), 1887 (Munich) and 1889 (Paris). The first two conventions used German, and the last conference used only Volapük. In 1889, there were an estimated 283 clubs, 25 periodicals in or about Volapük, and 316 textbooks in 25 languages; at that time the language claimed nearly a million adherents. Volapük was largely displaced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Esperanto.
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,
Volapük was a French avant-garde band created in 1993 by the drummer Guigou Chenevier, along with Michel Mandel and Guillaume Saurel. In the 1970s, Chenevier was a member of Etron Fou Leloublan, a band that was part of the Rock in Opposition movement. Takumi Fukushima became a later addition to the group, playing on Polyglöt which was released in 2000. Volapük announced their breakup in 2010.
The band's style draws from a number of Eurasian ethnic musical traditions, from Spain to the Balkans to Mongolia. Unlike other avant-garde bands that rely on the use of non-musical sounds, Volapük's music retains more of their folk music roots. Volapük is the name of an artificial language, which also draws its form from multiple language sources.
Volapük or Volapuk may refer to: