Volapük
From lingoXpress, the open language reference.
Volapük is one of the first international auxiliary languages, predating Esperanto by nearly a decade.
Description
Volapük was created by German Catholic priest Johann Martin Schleyer in 1879, making it one of the earliest international auxiliary languages. At its peak in the late 1880s, it had an estimated 100,000 speakers, over 283 clubs, and 25 journals worldwide. The name means 'world language' (vol from English 'world', pük from English 'speak'). Volapük features a complex agglutinative grammar with extensive verb conjugations and case markings. Its decline came with the rise of the simpler Esperanto, though a small community of speakers persists today.