The Neogrammarians (German: ''Junggrammatiker'', 'young grammarians') were a German school of linguists, originally at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, in the late 19th century who proposed the Neogrammarian hypothesis of the regularity of sound change.

Overview

According to the Neogrammarian hypothesis, a

diachronic Synchrony and diachrony are two complementary viewpoints in linguistic analysis. A ''synchronic'' approach (from grc, συν- "together" and "time") considers a language at a moment in time without taking its history into account. Synchronic l ...

sound change affects simultaneously all words in which its environment is met, without exception.

Verner's law Verner's law describes a historical sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby consonants that would usually have been the voiceless fricatives , , , , , following an unstressed syllable, became the voiced fricatives , , , , . The law w ...

is a famous example of the Neogrammarian hypothesis, as it resolved an apparent exception to

Grimm's law Grimm's law (also known as the First Germanic Sound Shift) is a set of sound laws describing the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stop consonants as they developed in Proto-Germanic in the 1st millennium BC. First systematically put forward by Jacob Gr ...

. The Neogrammarian hypothesis was the first hypothesis of sound change to attempt to follow the principle of

falsifiability Falsifiability is a standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses that was introduced by the philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book '' The Logic of Scientific Discovery'' (1934). He proposed it as the cornerstone of a s ...

according to

scientific method The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific ...

. Subsequent researchers have questioned this hypothesis from two perspectives. First, adherents of

lexical diffusion Lexical diffusion is the hypothesis that a sound change is an abrupt change that spreads gradually across the words in a language to which it is applicable. It contrasts with the Neogrammarian view that a sound change results from phonetically-cond ...

(where a sound change affects only a few words at first and then gradually spreads to other words) believe that some words undergo changes before 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 the

idiolect Idiolect is an individual's unique use of language, including speech. This unique usage encompasses vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. This differs from a dialect, a common set of linguistic characteristics shared among a group of people. Th ...

, 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 the historical change of a language. * Analogy: if the premise of the inviolability of sound laws fails, analogy can 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 Otto Behaghel (May 3, 1854 in Karlsruhe – October 9, 1936 in Munich) was a germanist and professor in Heidelberg, Basel, and Gießen. He added theoretical contributions to the German and Middle High German language. He formulated Behaghel's la ...

(1854–1936) *

Wilhelm Braune Theodor Wilhelm Braune (20 February 1850 in Großthiemig, Province of Saxony – 10 November 1926 in Heidelberg) was a German philologist and Germanist. Biography In 1869 Braune entered the University of Leipzig, where he was approved as an instru ...

(1850–1926) *

Karl Brugmann Karl Brugmann (16 March 1849 – 29 June 1919) was a German linguist. He is noted for his work in Indo-European linguistics. Biography He was educated at the universities of Halle and Leipzig. He taught at the gymnasium at Wiesbaden and at Lei ...

(1849–1919) *

Berthold Delbrück Berthold Gustav Gottlieb Delbrück (; 26 July 1842 – 3 January 1922) was a German linguist who devoted himself to the study of the comparative syntax of the Indo-European languages. Early life Delbrück was born in Putbus. He studied at the un ...

(1842–1922) *

August Leskien August Leskien (; 8 July 1840 – 20 September 1916) was a German linguist active in the field of comparative linguistics, particularly relating to the Baltic and Slavic languages. Biography Leskien was born in Kiel. He studied philology at the ...

(1840–1916) *

Adolf Noreen Adolf Gotthard Noreen (13 March 1854, in Östra Ämtervik, Sunne Municipality – 13 June 1925, in Uppsala) was a Swedish linguist who served as a member of the Swedish Academy from 1919 until his death. Noreen studied at Uppsala University and ...

(1854–1925) *

Hermann Osthoff Hermann Osthoff (18 April 1847, Billmerich – 7 May 1909, Heidelberg) was a German linguist. He was involved in Indo-European studies and the Neogrammarian school. He is known for formulating Osthoff's law, and published widely on Indo-Eur ...

(1847–1909) *

Hermann Paul Hermann Otto Theodor Paul (August 7, 1846, Salbke – December 29, 1921, Munich) was a German philologist, linguist and lexicographer. Biography He studied at Berlin and Leipzig, and in 1874 became professor of German language and literatu ...

(1846–1921) *

Eduard Sievers Eduard Sievers (; 25 November 1850, Lippoldsberg – 30 March 1932, Leipzig) was a philologist of the classical and Germanic languages. Sievers was one of the '' Junggrammatiker'' of the so-called "Leipzig School". He was one of the most influe ...

(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.

Overview

Notes

Further reading