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Ideas of Language from Antiquity to Modern Times

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Ideas of Language from Antiquity to Modern Times Late 18 th century: comparative linguistics The discovery of Sanskrit... Ideas of Language from – Charles Wilkins: the first European who really knew Skt., translated Bhagavad-Ghita & Hitopadesha; typographer! Antiquity to Modern Times András Cser BBNAN-14600, Elective seminar in linguistics 1 Mon 10:00–11:30, rm 301 Late 18 th century: comparative linguistics Late 18 th century: comparative linguistics The discovery of Sanskrit... "The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a – Charles Wilkins: the first European who really knew Skt., wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more translated Bhagavad-Ghita & Hitopadesha; typographer! copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than – Nathaniel Brassey Halhead: derives Latin and Greek either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both from Skt. in a private letter (1779) in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong – Henry T. Colebrooke, professor of Skt at Fort William indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, – Alexander Hamilton, army cadet, on return first professor without believing them to have sprung from some common of Skt in Europe (Hertford College, Oxford) source, which, perhaps, no longer exists: there is a similar – Sir William Jones, judge, Persian expert, first president of reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that Asiatic Society, often seen as the founder of Indo- both the Gothic and the Celtic, though blended with a very European linguistics (a bit of a misunderstanding): Third different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanskrit; and Anniversary Discourse (1786) → the old Persian might be added to the same family..." Early 19 th century: Indo-European studies Early 19 th century: Indo-European studies Friedrich von Schlegel: Über die Sprache und Franz Bopp: Conjugationssystem (1816, treatise on Weisheit der Indier (1808) verbal morphology), Vergleichende Grammatik • Studied Sanskrit from Hamilton in Paris (1833–52, full comparative morphology) • Book immensely influential → vogue of orientalism • Isolates language from other aspects of culture, as • General discussion of Indian culture, literature, opposed to Schlegel’s Romantic holism religion etc.; also language ( Volksgeist !) • Highly methodical and analytical: • "Organic" vs. "mechanical" languages – morphological segmentation – comparison bw related languages • Derives Latin, Greek, Germanic languages from Skt on the basis of grammatical structure/forms • Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Persian, Germanic (1816) • Brother August Wilhelm also famous linguist • + Slavonic, Lithuanian (1833–52) 1 Early 19 th century: Indo-European studies Early 19 th century: Indo-European studies Franz Bopp: Conjugationssystem, Vergl. Gr. Latin amabam ‘I loved’ = ama-ba-m root ‘to love’ Past, = Skt bhu- ‘to be’ (to be is the only real verb!) 1Sing = Skt mam ‘me’... Early 19 th century: Indo-European studies Early 19 th century: Indo-European studies Jacob Grimm Jacob Grimm • Professor of law, high-ranking diplomat • Deutsche Grammatik (1819, 2 nd ed. 1822) • Collector of folk tales (with brother Wilhelm) – Huge comparative grammar of Germanic languages nd • Founder of Germanic studies as a branch of – New section on phonology added in 2 edition, based partly on Rasmus Rask’s observations → Grimm’s Law; comparative and historical linguistics followed by Old High German consonant shift (two highly – In his case historical rather than comparative systematic series of changes in the consonant system) • Detailed analysis of practically all extant texts in all (Old, Middle and Modern) Germanic languages: High German, (Low) Saxon, Low German, English, Frisian, Scandinavian, Gothic, Franconian Grimm’s Law (partial) Old High German Consonant Shift (partial) PIE > Gmc ex.: Latin ~ English Gmc > OHG ex.: English ~ MoGerm p f pater father t θ tres three p pf/ff pepper Pfeffer k h cornu horn t ts/ss ten zehn k x ( ch ) break brechen b p (Ru jabloko apple ) d t duo two θ d three drei g k ager acre 2 Early 19 th century: Indo-European studies The Grimms’ Dictionary Jacob Grimm • Deutsche Grammatik (1819, 2 nd ed. 1822) – Huge comparative grammar of Germanic languages – New section on phonology added in 2 nd edition, based partly on Rasmus Rask’s observations → Grimm’s Law; followed by Old High German consonant shift (two highly systematic series of changes in the consonant system) • Deutsches Wörterbuch (1854–1960, with Wilhelm) – Huge historical dictionary of the language (31+1 vols) – Based on vast historical and comparative material – Model for other dictionaries The Grimms’ Dictionary NB. this is ~ 7% of the headword nieder ‘low’ Early 19 th century: general linguistics Wilhelm von Humboldt • politician, accomplished diplomat • responsible for reform in secondary education • foundation of new university in Berlin, 1810 (now Humboldt University) → teaching & research, very successful model emulated all over the world • vast knowledge of humanities, sciences, languages • also unparallelled understanding of all these • (brother of explorer, geographer, ethnographer, polymath Alexander v. H.) 3 Early 19 th century: general linguistics Early 19 th century: Schleicher Wilhelm von Humboldt August Schleicher • description and history of languages, including • Last hero of old-school Indo-European linguistics American Indian languages and Kawi (Javan) • Compendium (1861) and several minor works • language typology (distinction between historical, • First ever explicit reconstructions structural and contact-induced similarities/features) • First ever explicit modern family tree → • relation between language and perception of the world, Weltansicht ; independence from logic! • language as coherent whole, ~ organism • creativity (language is energy , not a product; the creative organ of thought) Early 19 th century: Schleicher Early 19 th century: Schleicher Early 19 th century: Schleicher Early 19 th century: Schleicher The "life" of language August Schleicher • Last hero of old-school Indo-European linguistics PREHISTORIC PERIOD: GROWTH HISTORICAL PERIOD: DECAY • Compendium (1861) and several minor works inflecting • First ever explicit reconstructions sound changes • First ever explicit modern family tree agglutinating analogical changes • Focus on morphology • Strongly organic view of language → roots 4 Early 19 th century: Schleicher Early 19 th century: Summary August Schleicher • Comparative & historical linguistics emerges; Indo- • Last hero of old-school Indo-European linguistics European studies established, then sub-branches • Compendium (1861) and several minor works • Languages studied are mainly old & archaic Indo- European languages • First ever explicit reconstructions • General linguistics also makes leaps forward • First ever explicit modern family tree • Beginnings of institutionalisation • Focus on morphology – professors at universities; chairs • Strongly organic view of language – mainly in Germany (Göttingen, Berlin, Jena, Leipzig) – in general: life cycle like for animals & plants – in particular: inflecting morphology, cf. Greek leip -o ~ le-loip -a ~ e-lip -on ‘I leave ~ I have left ~ I left’ Early 19 th century: Summary BUT: • philosophical ideas inherited (e.g. only verb: to be ) • arbitrariness not fully embraced • notion of relatedness ill-defined before Schleicher • focus on morphology; evaluative models – theories of language = evolutionary theories of morphology • organic view: – language as organism – words as organisms – organic relation bw. language & speakers ( Volksgeist ) • a priori difference between national and foreign lgs 5.
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