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From the earliest surviving glossaries and translations to nineteenth-century academic philology and the growth of linguistics during the twentieth century, language has been the subject both of scholarly investigation and of practical handbooks produced for the upwardly mobile, as well as for travellers, traders, soldiers, missionaries and explorers. This collection will reissue a wide range of texts pertaining to language, including the work of Latin grammarians, groundbreaking early publications in Indo-European studies, accounts of indigenous languages, many of them now extinct, and texts by pioneering figures such as Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Ferdinand de Saussure.

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171 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Linguistics

Page 8 of 9

Zum heutigen Stand der Sprachwissenschaft
  • Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    06 December 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1885
  • Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) was one of the central figures in the circle of Neogrammarians who rejected a prescriptive approach to the study of language in favour of diachronic study. This short overview of the development of comparative Indo-European linguistics and philology in the second part of the nineteenth century was first published in 1885, the year before Brugmann's celebrated multi-volume comparative grammar of Indo-European began to appear. To Brugmann, language is not an autonomous organism that develops according to inherent laws. It exists only in the individual speaker, and every change in a language takes place because of the speaker, though speakers share similar psychological and physical processes. Traditional philologists, including Brugmann's former university teacher Georg Curtius (1820–1885), were extremely hostile to the Neogrammarians' approach. Here, Brugmann responds to Curtius' criticism and defends his research methodology and theories.

Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • Volume 1, Einleitung und Lautlehre
  • Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    10 November 2010
    Print publication:
    14 January 2010
    First published in:
    1886
  • Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) was professor of comparative language sciences at Freiburg im Breisgau when he began publishing his monumental, multi-volume comparative grammar of the Indo-European languages, synthesising the first 70 years of research in a rapidly developing academic subject, and identifying areas for future investigation. Volume 1, on phonology, begins with an introduction to Indo-European philology and provides a bibliographic orientation which is itself a fascinating snapshot of the field. The main part of the book focuses in turn on each Proto-Indo-European sound and its reflexes in the earliest attested languages of each language family (Sanskrit, Avestan, Armenian, Greek, Italic, Germanic, Old Irish, Balto-Slavic). Comparisons are also made within families, for example between Gothic and Old English. Brugmann also discusses Ablaut and sound changes including elision, contraction and lengthening as well as intonation and stress.

Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • Volume 2, Wortbildungslehre (Stammbildungs-und Flexionslehre), Part 2
  • Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    10 November 2010
    Print publication:
    14 January 2010
    First published in:
    1892
  • The monumental, multi-volume comparative grammar of the Indo-European languages by Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) provided a synthesis of the first 70 years of research in a rapidly-developing academic subject, and identified areas for future investigation. Volume 2, split into three parts, covers morphology, roots and inflection, beginning with nouns and continuing with pronouns and verbs. It begins with a substantial introduction that includes bibliographic information, and then focuses in turn on each Proto-Indo-European feature and its reflexes in the earliest attested languages of each language family (Sanskrit, Avestan, Armenian, Greek, Italic, Germanic, Old Irish, Balto-Slavic). Comparisons are also made within families, for example between Gothic and Old English. Owing to its length, the original publisher bound this volume in two parts, paginated as a single sequence; in this reissue, it is divided into three parts, maintaining the same pagination.

Grammatici Latini
  • Volume 6, Scriptores artis metricae
  • Edited by Heinrich Keil
  • Published online:
    10 November 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1874
  • The eight volumes of the Grammatici Latini, published by Teubner between 1855 and 1880 under the general editorship of Heinrich Keil (1822–1894), are an outstanding monument of nineteenth-century German philology. Keil published editions of Propertius and of Pliny's letters before turning to the works of the Latin grammarians, whose attempts to define and describe their own language have influenced the way in which modern researchers in language and linguistics have approached their discipline. Keil's only predecessor in this field was Helias Putsch, who in 1605 published Grammaticae Latinae auctores antiqui; Keil uses the same order in which to present his versions of the texts. The sixth volume contains works by Marius Victorinus and Maximus Victorinus together with other works on metre.

Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • Volume 2, Wortbildungslehre (Stammbildungs-und Flexionslehre), Part 1
  • Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    10 November 2010
    Print publication:
    14 January 2010
    First published in:
    1892
  • The monumental, multi-volume comparative grammar of the Indo-European languages by Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) provided a synthesis of the first 70 years of research in a rapidly-developing academic subject, and identified areas for future investigation. Volume 2, split into three parts, covers morphology, roots and inflection, beginning with nouns and continuing with pronouns and verbs. It begins with a substantial introduction that includes bibliographic information, and then focuses in turn on each Proto-Indo-European feature and its reflexes in the earliest attested languages of each language family (Sanskrit, Avestan, Armenian, Greek, Italic, Germanic, Old Irish, Balto-Slavic). Comparisons are also made within families, for example between Gothic and Old English. Owing to its length, the original publisher bound this volume in two parts, paginated as a single sequence; in this reissue, it is divided into three parts, maintaining the same pagination.

Grammatici Latini
  • Volume 4, Probi, Donati, Servii qui feruntur De arte grammatica libri, et Notarum laterculi
  • Edited by Heinrich Keil, Theodor Mommsen
  • Published online:
    10 November 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1864
  • The eight volumes of the Grammatici Latini, published by Teubner between 1855 and 1880 under the general editorship of Heinrich Keil (1822–1894), are an outstanding monument of nineteenth-century German philology. Keil published editions of Propertius and of Pliny's letters before turning to the works of the Latin grammarians, whose attempts to define and describe their own language have influenced the way in which modern researchers in language and linguistics have approached their discipline. Keil's only predecessor in this field was Helias Putsch, who in 1605 published Grammaticae Latinae auctores antiqui; Keil uses the same order in which to present his versions of the texts. The fourth volume contains the works of Probus, Donatus, Servius and Sergius.

Compendium der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • August Schleicher
  • Published online:
    05 October 2010
    Print publication:
    11 February 2010
    First published in:
    1861
  • August Schleicher (1821–1868) is often credited with being the first scholar to apply a 'family tree' model to language groups, and with taking an evolutionist approach to language even before Darwin published On the Origin of Species. Schleicher had published extensively on individual European languages, notably the first formal description of Lithuanian, by the time his ground-breaking comparative Indo-European Compendium appeared in 1861–1862. This book was derived from his lectures, and was intended to save his students note-taking and copying from the blackboard. Each section begins with his reconstruction of a Proto-Indo-European phonological or morphological feature, and then shows how this is reflected in a range of daughter languages including Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Avestan, Gothic, Lithuanian and Old Irish. A substantial appendix provides comparative paradigms, and there is a detailed table of contents in lieu of an index.

Among Cannibals
  • An Account of Four Years' Travels in Australia and of Camp Life with the Aborigines of Queensland
  • Carl Lumholtz
  • Published online:
    05 October 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1889
  • In 1880 the Norwegian ethnologist, zoologist and explorer Carl Lumholtz embarked on an expedition to Australia, with the purpose of observing the life and customs of the Australian Aborigines. This book focuses on his experiences while living for a year with a community in Queensland that had never previously come into contact with white people. 'Not only are many of the Australian Aborigines cannibals', says Lumholtz, 'but most of the tribes have not yet emerged from the Stone Age in the history of their development'. He goes on brilliantly to document a complex and fascinating society. Containing detailed maps to illustrate the explorer's travels and many images, the book also includes informative appendices outlining Australian history, geology, flora and fauna. First published in 1889, Lumholtz's classic account of the events and practices he witnessed retains the power to shock, educate and entertain the modern reader.

Principes de l'étude comparative des langues
  • Suivis d'observations sur les racines des langues sémitiques
  • Andreas Adoph von Merian, Julius Heinrich Klaproth
  • Published online:
    05 October 2010
    Print publication:
    21 January 2010
    First published in:
    1828
  • This wide-ranging comparative analysis of languages was one of the earliest products of the nineteenth century's burgeoning interest in philology. Its author was the French diplomat Baron de Merian, a contemporary of Wihelm von Humboldt and precursor of Franz Bopp and August Schleicher (also published in this series). Published shortly after Merian's death in 1828, this meticulous study is the result of twelve years of painstaking work. Merian concisely maps out the languages of the world, and attempts to trace all major dialects back to a common root. He ably demonstrates his competence as a philologist, illustrating his argument through extensive charts and tables, and does not shy away from topics such as Basque and Native American vocabulary which still pose problems for linguists today. Though many of Merian's theories have since been disproved, his pioneering work deserves its place in the history of linguistics.

A Comparative Grammar of the Sanscrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, German, and Sclavonic Languages
  • Volume 2
  • Franz Bopp
  • Edited by H.H. Wilson
  • Translated by Edward B. Eastwick
  • Published online:
    05 October 2010
    Print publication:
    11 February 2010
    First published in:
    1845
  • A founding text of comparative philology, Franz Bopp's Vergleichende Grammatik was originally published in parts, beginning in 1833, and by the 1870s had appeared in three editions in German, as well as in English and French translations. Bopp (1791–1867), Professor of Sanskrit and comparative grammar at Berlin, set out to prove the relationships between Indo-European languages through detailed description of the grammatical features of Sanskrit compared to those of Zend (Avestan), Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic and German. This translation (1845–50) of Bopp's first edition gave English-speaking scholars access to his important findings. Translated by Edward Backhouse Eastwick (1814–1883), the multi-lingual diplomat and scholar, and edited by Horace Hayman Wilson (1786–1860), Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, this work testifies both to Bopp's magisterial research and to Eastwick's extraordinary skill in translation. This volume covers pronouns and verbs.

The Arawak Language of Guiana
  • C. H. de Goeje
  • Published online:
    05 October 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1928
  • This description of the Arawak language, once spoken widely across the Caribbean area but now restricted to some of the native peoples of Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname, was first published in 1928. C. H. de Goeje was a Dutch submariner whose work had taken him to the then Dutch colony of Suriname; on his resignation from the Dutch navy he continued to investigate its peoples and their languages, and was the recipient of a special Chair in languages and cultural anthropology at the University of Leiden. The book provides long vocabulary lists and a systematic exploration of grammar and phonetics; it also discusses the origin of the language and its differentiation from the other Carib languages of the region. An appendix gives anthropological data, including transcriptions and translations of Arawak myths.

Caractères généraux des langues germaniques
  • Antoine Meillet
  • Published online:
    05 October 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1917
  • The distinguished French linguist Antoine Meillet (1866–1936) was a pupil of Saussure and one of the most important researchers and teachers of the twentieth century in the field of Indo-European languages, counting among his own pupils Benveniste, Dumézil and Martinet. In this book, first published in 1917, Meillet shows the unique features which mark out the Germanic languages (including English) from the rest of the Indo-European family. Acknowledging that the earliest written examples become available only long after 'proto-Germanic' had split into its various successor languages, he nonetheless supplies evidence both for the original language and for the developments which led to that splitting. His conclusion is that although the Germanic languages are indisputably Indo-European, even the most conservative (modern German) has moved a long way from its roots, and that English - both in grammar and in vocabulary - has moved furthest of all.

Aperçu général de la science comparative des langues
  • Louis Benloew
  • Published online:
    05 October 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1872
  • The German-born philologist Louis Benloew (1818–1900) studied at Berlin, Leipzig and Göttingen before settling in France. Aperçu général de la science comparative des langues (first published in 1858) is his best-known work. In this second edition of 1872, which includes his own further research on the Celtic languages, he uses the comparative study of grammar and vocabulary to identify relationships between languages and to classify them into families. Not all of his conclusions - especially those connecting the so-called Japhetic (i.e. Indo-European) family to the Semitic languages - are still accepted, but the ambitious scope of his work and the range of his world-wide comparisons provide a useful insight into the state of linguistic research in the mid-nineteenth century.

Aperçu d'une histoire de la langue grecque
  • Antoine Meillet
  • Published online:
    05 October 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1913
  • The echoes of Greek are heard in many modern languages. For example, the abstract vocabulary of the modern European languages derives largely from the vocabulary of the Greek philosophers and scholars, whether directly or via Latin writers who were educated according to the Greek tradition. First published in 1913, Antoine Meillet's history of Greek shows how the language, derived originally from Indo-European, developed over time in response to sociological and geographical factors. Meillet argues that its complexity is due to the constant borrowing of vocabulary and grammar from contemporary languages and regional dialects. Despite - or because of - its flexible and ever-changing nature, and the lack of consistency in usage between individual city states, Greek eventually became the language of great works of literature, philosophy and science.

Vom Roroima zum Orinoco
  • Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nordbrasilien und Venezuela in den Jahren 1911–1913
  • Volume 2, Mythen und Legenden der Taulipang-und Arekuna-Indianer
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg
  • Published online:
    05 October 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1916
  • Theodor Koch-Grünberg (1872–1924) was a noted German ethnologist and explorer whose work on the indigenous peoples of Brazil and Venezuela is still consulted today. His most important publication was this five-volume account of his expedition of 1911–1913 from the sandstone mountains bordering Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana through uncharted territory westwards to the Orinoco. Volume 2 contains the myths and legends Koch-Grünberg recorded among the Pemon Indians, who were speakers of Taulipáng (Taurepan) and Arekuná (Arecuna). These two important Cariban languages are closely related, and are still spoken by several thousand people in the Roroima mountains. Koch-Grünberg's consultants were Möseuípu, a young Arecuna shaman, and Mayuluaípu the son of a famous Taurepan story-teller. Mayuluaípu was fluent in Portuguese and provided the author with explanations of the stories, of which 50 are recorded in German versions and eleven in the original language with German glosses.

Australian Aborigines
  • The Languages and Customs of Several Tribes of Aborigines in the Western District of Victoria, Australia
  • James Dawson
  • Published online:
    07 September 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1881
  • James Dawson first published Australian Aborigines in 1881, after deciding that his careful description of the tribes, languages, customs, and characteristics of the indigenous peoples of the western district of Victoria was too bulky for its originally intended publication in a newspaper. Essentially a field-inspired anthropological account of the dwindling Aboriginal population, written before the emergence of anthropology as a formal discipline, Dawson's book draws on his daughter's ability to speak the local languages and attempts a balanced description of a culture he considered ill-used and under-appreciated by white settlers. Minute details about clothing, tools, settlement and beliefs combine to depict a complex society that possessed highly ritualised customs deserving of respect. Dawson also included an extensive vocabulary of words in three indigenous languages that he hoped would facilitate further cross-cultural understanding. His work provides valuable source material for modern researchers in anthropology and linguistics.

Two Representative Tribes of Queensland
  • With an Inquiry Concerning the Origin of the Australian Race
  • John Mathew, A. Keane
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    15 July 2010
    First published in:
    1910
  • John Mathew was a Presbyterian minister who developed an interest in Aboriginal ethnography after migrating from Scotland to work on his uncle's farm in Queensland in 1864. From 1879 he published influential studies of Aboriginal culture. Although Mathew's speculative argument for the tri-hybrid origins of the Australian Aborigines has long been disproved, his discussion of Aboriginal language and social behaviour was pioneering in the field of anthropology and is still well-regarded today. Two Representative Tribes of Queensland (1910) is the result of the extensive time Mathew spent visiting the Kabi and Wakka people living in the Barambah Government Aboriginal Station. This direct experience is emphasised in the preface to the book: 'For Mr Mathew Australian origins ... have been a life study, and the knowledge bearing upon these questions, which most others have gleaned from the library shelves, he has acquired at first-hand in the native camping grounds.'

Beiträge zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerika's zumal Brasiliens
  • 1. Zur Ethnographie
  • Volume 1
  • Carl Friedrich Phillip von Martius
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1867
  • Beiträge zur Ethnographie (1867) is Carl von Martius' colourful and personal memoir of his travels to Brazil in the years 1817–1820. Although better known as a botanist, Martius here ventures into the territory of ethnographic and linguistic studies, writing about the indigenous peoples of the Americas and Brazil. Volume 1 consists of three lectures. In the first, Martius addresses the past and future of the American people, focusing on such aspects as their physiognomy and psyche as well as their country's influence on the world in general. The second and third lectures are devoted to Brazil. Martius first describes his experiences of the society, customs and traditions of the Brazilian Tupi Indians. He then gives a thorough overview of the many different groups of native Brazilians. A map of previous and current Tupi Indian settlements is also included.

L'Orénoque et le Caura
  • Relation de Voyages Executées en 1886 et 1887
  • Jean Chaffanjon
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    02 November 2010
    First published in:
    1889
  • Jean Chaffanjon (1854–1913) was a natural history teacher in the French colony of Martinique who was commissioned by the French minister of state education and fine arts to explore the Orinoco Delta in Venezuela. The Orinoco had an almost mythical reputation as a source of gold and coffee, and Chaffanjon in 1886–1887 was the first European explorer in the region in almost 100 years. Landing in the city of Guayra, he travelled up two of the continent's largest rivers, the Caura and the Orinoco, documenting the region's geology and his encounters with the indigenous population. His account of the journey was published in Paris in 1889, at a time when adventure literature was hugely popular in Europe. The book includes 56 engravings and two maps drawn by the French travel and nature artist Auguste Morisot. Chaffanjon's adventures were the direct inspiration for Jules Verne's Le Superbe Orénoque.

Mémoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-européennes
  • Ferdinand de Saussure
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    26 November 2009
    First published in:
    1879
  • Written in 1878, while the author was a twenty-year-old student in Berlin, Saussure's only full-length work proposed the existence of two additional sonant coefficients in the Indo-European parent language. Applying the methods of comparison and internal reconstruction to Proto-Indo-European, Saussure argued that the long vowels had developed from a short vowel plus a sonant coefficient. A hypothesis far ahead of its time, his proposal was not confirmed until 1927 when a consonantal phoneme etymologically derived from Saussure's A was discovered in newly deciphered Hittite, the oldest attested Indo-European language. Not only is the Mémoire a dramatic demonstration of the method of internal reconstruction, but it also paved the way for further developments in historical phonology including laryngeal theory, and may have stimulated Saussure's later development of structuralism. This reissue includes, as an appendix, Antoine Meillet's 1913 obituary of Saussure.

Page 8 of 9