A Reader in Nineteenth Century Historical Indo-European Linguistics

269 Pages·1968·1.247 MB·English

by  Winfred P. Lehmann

in

Nineteenth Century Historical
Indo-European Linguistics

Lehmann, W. P. 1967 [Editor]
Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

1
Table of Contents (pp. v-vi)

Introduction by the Editor pp. 1-4

Chapter 1. Sir William Jones:
The Third Anniversary Discourse, on the Hindus pp. 7-20

Chapter 2. Friedrich von Schlegel:
On the Language and Wisdom of the Indians pp. 21-28

Chapter 3. Rasmus Rask:
An Investigation concerning the Source of the Old Northern or Icelandic Language
pp. 29-37

Chapter 4. Franz Bopp:
On the Conjugational System of the Sanskrit Language pp. 38-45

Chapter 5. Jacob Grimm:
Germanic Grammar pp. 46-60

Chapter 6. Wilhelm von Humboldt:
On the Structural Variety of Human Language and Its Influence on the Intellectual
Development of Mankind pp. 61-66
2
Chapter 7. Rudolf von Raumer:
Linguistic-Historical Change and the Natural-Historical Definition of Sounds pp.
67-86

Chapter 8. August Schleicher:
Introduction to A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-
European, Sanskrit, Greek and Latin Languages pp. 87-96

Chapter 9. C. Lottner:
Exceptions to the First Sound Shift
pp. 97-108

Chapter 10. Hermann Grassmann:
Concerning the Aspirates and Their Simultaneous Presence in the Initial and Final
of Roots pp. 109-131

Chapter 11. Karl Verner:
An Exception to the First Sound Shift pp. 132-163

Chapter 12. Heinrich Hubschmann:
On the Position of Armenian in the Sphere of the Indo-European Languages pp.
164-189

Chapter 13. Karl Brugmann:
3
Nasalis Sonans in the Original Indo-European Language pp. 190-196

Chapter 14. Hermann Osthoff and Karl Brugman:
Preface to Morphological Investigations in the Sphere of the Indo-European
Languages I pp. 197-209

Chapter 15. Eduard Sievers:
On the Accent and Phonology of the Germanic Languages. III. On the Law of
Vocalic Finals pp. 210216

Chapter 16. Ferdinand de Saussure:
Memoire on the Primitive System of Vowels in the Indo-European Language pp.
217-224

Chapter 17. William Dwight Whitney:
Language and the Study of Language, Lecture X pp. 225-256

Chapter 18. Eduard Sievers:
Foundations of Phonetics pp. 257-266
4
Introduction
by W. P. Lehmann

THIS anthology has been arranged to provide easy access to some of the important
works of nineteenth-century historical IndoEuropean linguistics. These works are
not readily available to students, in part because of their language, in part because
of the difficulty of obtaining the works themselves. Schlegel's book of 1808, for
example, is generally placed in a special section for rare books in a library; the early
issues of an important journal like the Zeitschrift für vergleichende
Sprachwissenschaft may be stored in a depository; even the section in Grimm's
Grammar dealing with the sound shift may be difficult for a non-specialist in
German to locate. An anthology will permit students to become acquainted with
some of the key works of the nineteenth century, and to learn at first hand their
contributions to the development of linguistics as well as their weaknesses.
The weaknesses are readily apparent, and should not need detailed comment. Even
the important contributions presented here include shortcomings we would not
tolerate. Principles observed in writing, printing and editing generally seem to have
been determined for the ease of the publisher rather than the reader. A very capable
author like Grassmann, for example, paid little attention to editorial details. The
name Panini is at one point given without a macron in his article, at another point
as P nini; similarly Samaveda and S maveda. These are superficial details, but they
indicate how little the editor pampered the reader. Greek forms were rarely labeled-
-the special type face used for Greek was considered an adequate marker--and often
a reader was expected to recognize Latin and Sanskrit forms as well. Glosses for
forms may be in one of a number of languages. Other such editorial practices of the
nineteenth century are left to the reader to discover. Occasionally it was difficult to
maintain them without seeming unfair to our great predecessors. But when
Brugmann lists himself as Brugman and permits spelling his forename Carl or Karl,
one has the impression that externals were of little concern in the aim to make
available as quickly as possible new insights into linguistic problems.
5
The selections here incorporate such insights, or are credited with priority in
achieving them. In making selections, I intended to present only complete essays, or
complete sub-sections of a work, [1] so that the reader might himself determine the
point of view of a scholar, his contemporaries, and his publication. Excerpts may
more economically present the high points of early linguistics, but they take from
readers the pleasure of determining these; the interested student can find the
history of linguistics in this way in Hans Arens' Sprachwissenschaft. Excerpts also
fail to provide the context in which a permanent contribution was made. Jones's
entire essay is reprinted here, for example, to indicate that the celebrated paragraph
which is constantly reprinted simply makes up one small segment of a report on
Indian culture; it is instructive for students to find out for themselves how
peripheral was the concern with language at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. Schlegel too discussed Indian culture in general, not simply language. Yet
it did not seem useful to demonstrate repeatedly by incorporating long passages of
their writings on other matters that he and the other early linguists assumed many
intellectual responsibilities. For similar reasons, only parts of selections 12, 13, 15,
16 and 18 are included here.
Each selection in the anthology is preceded by comments which point up its
contributions, and thus I do not give here a survey of the development of
nineteenth-century linguistics. I might also note that the anthology does not reflect
all advances of the nineteenth century. Some are not represented because they were
inaugurated by more than one man, sometimes in several different works. The
study of dialect geography, for example, was encouraged by many linguists, as the
selections from von Raumer and Sievers demonstrate. Such encouragement was not
given in special essays, as the example of Gaston Paris may indicate; his initial
lecture of 1868 on the historical grammar of the French language, Mélanges
linguistiques, pp. 153-173 (Paris, 1909), reflects the views that led to the dialect
project in France, but only in a general discussion. Other advances are not
represented because they occurred to a number of linguists almost simultaneously
and were not made in any one notable work, for example the understanding that
reconstructions can be established from other segments of a linguistic system than
those directly involved. The conclusion that PIE e must be assumed because of
palatals in Sanskrit is the most striking example. The gradual clarification of the
vowel system of Proto-Indo-European is also the work of many, as the excerpt from
Saussure indicates. Further, because of the length of the materials here, I have
omitted the works of the great dissenters such as Hugo Schuchardt. These to be
6
sure would be useful in illustrating the breadth of approaches in linguistics, as does
the Hugo Schuchardt-Brevier (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1922). But, as Schuchardt
himself points out, his central concern was the Romance language group, not Indo-
European; [2] accordingly his work lies outside the area of the anthology.
Moreover, like the dialect geographers, he published many of his theoretical
statements in the twentieth century. For this reason too Paul's Prinzipien is not
represented; its definitive form was reached only in 1920. For a synthesis of
nineteenth-century work, I have included a chapter from Whitney.
Interpretation of the contributions of the leading nineteenthcentury linguists are
happily available in a number of fine surveys. One of the best is Language, by Otto
Jespersen (London: Allen and Unwin, 1922) pp. 19-99. The most widely read is
probably Holger Pedersen's Linguistic Science in the Nineteenth Century,
translated by John W. Spargo and republished as The Discovery of Language
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1962). Pedersen's penetrating review of
linguistics has a capable predecessor in Vilhelm Thomsen: Geschichte der
Sprachwissenschaft bis zum Ausgang des 19. Jahrhunderts, translated by H. Pollak
(Halle: Niemeyer, 1927). A recent short survey going beyond the nineteenth century
is Perspectives in Linguistics, by John T. Waterman (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1963).
Students who read German should make use of the excellent introduction to the
history of linguistics through well-chosen excerpts in Hans Arens'
Sprachwissenschaft (Freiburg/Munchen: Karl Alber, 1955). Its bibliography
contains 744 items, of which items 306-321 deal with the history of linguistics.
Moreover, handbooks that provide brief surveys should not be overlooked, such as
Hermann Hirt's Indogermanische Grammatik I. (Heidelberg: Winter, 1927) pp. 1-
16, or J. Schrijnen's Einfuhrung in das Studium der indogermanischen
Sprachwissenschaft, translated by W. Fischer (Heidelberg: Winter, 1921) pp. 20-38,
or Antoine Meillet's Introduction à l 'étude comparative des langues indo-
européennes (Paris: Hachette, 1937 8), Appendix I, pp. 453-483, or the fine essays
on individual linguists in his collected essays: Linguistique historique et
linguistique générale II. (Paris: Klincksieck, 1938). All of these provide means for a
better understanding of the contributions in the selections presented here, and of
the problems their authors attempted to solve.
7
This Reader was undertaken in the fall of 1963. At that time students in a course on
the history of the German language were asked to translate various essays. Of these,
translations by the following students are included, after revision: 5 by Mr. Roy A.
Boggs, 7 by Mr. Louis E. Brister, 9 by Mr. Peter Mollenhauer, 11 by Miss Carolyn
Farmer, 13 by Mr. Clifford Crowe, 14 by Miss Judy Haddon, 18 by Mr. Jerry Glenn.
The other essays I have - translated. I am grateful to Catharina Breedveld for typing
much of the manuscript, and to Miss Victoria Bunye for reading all of it. [3]
Problems of translation could be discussed at length. Among them are shifts in the
uses of terms. For Grimm deutsch meant Germanic, for Schleicher West Germanic,
though also German in accordance with its current use. It is often difficult to
translate such terms accurately without providing a contemporary interpretation
that reflects the increased precision in use of terminology, and may therefore not
correspond to the views of the author. More external, but also troublesome, are
items that we no longer use, such as Bactrian rather than Avestan, or symbols like
rather than Sanskrit c, IE a(1) rather than e. The proper interpretation of these is
generally apparent. Some of the forgotten terminology one is tempted to
reintroduce, such as the youthful Saussure's symphthong and autophthong.
In general, interpretation is left to the reader; when Grimm uses "analogy," for
example, his meaning differs from ours, but it is instructive and not difficult to
interpret his use of the term. Often such terminology has been long maintained. It
is highly important to understand Grimm's view of the consonant shift occurring in
stufen "grades," in accordance with the scheme he included in his discussion; the
concept of the shift as a series of steps or grades has persisted to the present, though
it was probably carried to its extreme under the neogrammarians for whom not only
the various series but also the individual items were distinct. Further, an
understanding of the methodological approach of Grimm to the consonant shift
may be instructive when viewed in relation to that maintained in our handbooks for
Indo-European ablaut.
Students who seek to follow the development of methodology in linguistics will
want to consult the originals, not merely the translations or even the selections
provided here. Fuller acquaintance with the important contributions of the past will
lead to a deeper understanding of the views we have maintained and may also
provide insights into contemporary approaches and the discussions of linguists
today.[4]
8
9
CHAPTER ONE
SIR WILLIAM JONES
THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY DISCOURSE, ON THE HINDUS
Delivered 2 February, 1786. Works I, pp. 19-34

Sir William Jones's celebrated discourse is given here in full to illustrate the
context from which linguistics developed in the nineteenth century. With his
contemporaries, Jones was interested in better knowledge of ancient history. In the
pursuit of this knowledge, language was only one means. The commemorative
address of his successor as president of the Asiatick Society, Sir John Shore, states
explicitly that for Jones language was a tool, not an end in itself. "But the
judgement of Sir William Jones was too discerning to consider language in any
other light than as the key of science, and he would have despised the reputation of
a mere linguist. Knowledge and truth, were the object of all his studies, and his
ambition was to be useful to mankind; with these views, he extended his researches
to all languages, nations, and times. " (Works I.p.v.) A glance at the other annual
discourses supports this statement on Jones's wide interests and the subsidiary
position of linguists, which it maintained to the middle of the nineteenth century.
Yet the "Desiderata" which Shore found among his papers may indicate that Jones
had planned to spend additional time on linguistics: the third desideratum is "A
Grammar of the Sanscrit Language, from Panini, etc. "; the fourth, "A Dictionary of
the Sanscrit Language, from thirtytwo original Vocabularies and Niructi. "
These proposed undertakings, and citations from his "Dissertation on the
Orthography of Asiatick Words in Roman Letters" (Works I. pp. 175-228) may
indicate that Jones deserves a larger reputation than that for stimulating study of
the Indo?European languages and historical linguistics. The views in his third
discourse on the origin of our writing system and Devanagari are accurate; the
following excerpts from the "Dissertation" indicate a knowledge of phonetics
comparable with that of Grimm's successors.
10