Overview
Hermann Osthoff (1847-1909) and Karl Brugmann (1849-1919) were central figures in the circle of German scholars who rejected a doctrinal approach to the study of linguistics. They came to be known as the Neogrammarian school. At the core of their work was the theory that European languages, together with a subset of languages found in central and southern Asia, have a common origin in a single prehistoric language. They called this ancestor Indo-Germanic (known today as Indo-European) and claimed that its descendants are all related to one another by varying degrees of closeness. This six-volume elaboration of this thesis was published between 1878 and 1910. The preface to Volume 1 (1878) contains the 'Neogrammarian Manifesto' which states categorically that there are no exceptions in the laws of sound change, while new languages are formed only in relation to already existing languages.
- | Author: Hermann Osthoff
- | Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- | Publication Date: Feb 06, 2014
- | Number of Pages: 320 pages
- | Binding: Paperback or Softback
- | ISBN-10: 1108062970
- | ISBN-13: 9781108062978
