Neogrammarian

TheNeogrammarians(German:Junggrammatiker,pronounced[ˈjʊŋɡʁaˌmatɪkɐ],lit. 'young grammarians') were a German school oflinguists,originally at theUniversity of Leipzig,in the late 19th century who proposed theNeogrammarian hypothesisof the regularity ofsound change.

Overview

According to the Neogrammarian hypothesis, adiachronicsound change affects simultaneously all words in which its environment is met, without exception.Verner's lawis a famous example of the Neogrammarian hypothesis, as it resolved an apparent exception toGrimm's law.The Neogrammarian hypothesis was the first hypothesis of sound change to attempt to follow the principle offalsifiabilityaccording tothe scientific method.

Subsequent researchers have questioned this hypothesis from two perspectives. First, adherents oflexical diffusion(where a sound change affects only a few words at first and then gradually spreads to other words) believe that some words change others. Second, some believe that it is possible for sound changes to observe grammatical conditioning. Nonetheless, both of these challenges to exceptionlessness remain controversial, and many investigators continue to adhere to the Neogrammarian doctrine.

Other contributions of the Neogrammarians to general linguistics were:

• The object of linguistic investigation is not the language system, but rather theidiolect,that is, language as it is localized in the individual, and therefore is directly observable.
• Autonomy of the sound level: being the most observable aspect of language, the sound level is seen as the most important level of description, and absolute autonomy of the sound level from syntax and semantics is assumed.
• Historicism: the chief goal of linguistic investigation is the description of thehistorical changeof a language.
• Analogy: if the premise of the inviolability of sound laws fails,analogycan be applied as an explanation if plausible. Thus, exceptions are understood to be a (regular) adaptation to a related form.

Leading Neogrammarian linguists included:

• Otto Behaghel(1854–1936)
• Wilhelm Braune(1850–1926)
• Karl Brugmann(1849–1919)
• Berthold Delbrück(1842–1922)
• August Leskien(1840–1916)
• Adolf Noreen(1854–1925)
• Hermann Osthoff(1847–1909)
• Hermann Paul(1846–1921)
• Eduard Sievers(1850–1932)

Despite their strong influence in their time, the methods and goals of the Neogrammarians have been criticized for reducing the object of investigation to the idiolect; restricting themselves to the description of surface phenomena (sound level); overvaluation of historical languages and neglect of contemporary ones.

See also

• Neolinguistics

Further reading

• Hermann Paul:Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte.(1880).
• Jankowsky, Kurt R. (1972).The neogrammarians. A re-evaluation of their place in the development of linguistic science.The Hague, Mouton.
• Karl Brugmann und Bertold Delbrück:Grundriß der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen.(1897–1916).
• Osthoff, Hermann; Brugmann, Karl (1878)."Vorwort"[Preface].Morphologische Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen.1:iii–xx.(the "Neogrammarian manifesto", written by Brugmann)
  • translation,fromLehmann, Winfred P. (1967).A Reader in Nineteenth Century Historical Indo-European Linguistics.Indiana University Press. pp.197–208.
• Hugo Schuchardt:"Über die Lautgesetze. Gegen die Junggrammatiker",inHugo-Schuchardt-Brevier, ein Vademekum der allgemeinen Sprachwissenschaft.,ed. Leo Spitzer. Halle (Saale) 1922.
• Harald Wiese:Eine Zeitreise zu den Ursprüngen unserer Sprache. Wie die Indogermanistik unsere Wörter erklärt,Logos Verlag Berlin, 2007,ISBN978-3-8325-1601-7.