Herrmann Rudolf Jungraithmayr (born 7 May 1931) is an Austrian Africanist and retired university professor. Until 1996, he was the chair of African linguistics at the

Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, Germany. Herrmann Jungraithmayr is a brother of Alfred Jungraithmayr.

Career

Jungraithmayr studied African Studies, Egyptology and Ethnology at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

(1950–1953) and the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

(1953–1956). He studied under Wilhelm Czermak (Vienna) and Johannes Lukas (Hamburg). From 1956 to 1959, he was a lecturer at the

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (; GI, ''Goethe Institute'') is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit German culture, cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and en ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, and taught at Orman and Ibrahimiyya high schools. In 1957, he taught German at

Al-Azhar University The Al-Azhar University ( ; , , ) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic ...

. From 1960 to 1963, he was a research assistant at the Seminar for African Languages at the

. From 1963 to 1967, he was an assistant at Philipps University in

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

, where he habilitated in 1967 and then worked as a private lecturer. In 1968/69, he was an assistant professor at

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

in Washington, D.C. From 1972 to 1985, he was a professor of African Studies at Philipps University, Marburg. In between, he was also a visiting professor at the

University of Maiduguri The University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) is a Federal higher institution located in Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno State in Northeast Nigeria. The university was created by the federal government of Nigeria in 1975, with the intention of its ...

in Nigeria in 1983. From 1985 to 1996 he was chair of African linguistics at

. There, he founded the Institute for African Linguistics, now known as the Institute for African Studies.Hermann Jungraithmayr CV
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Research trips

*1958/9: Darfur expedition (Sudan and Chad), together with Alfred Jungraithmayr and Franz Ortner, with the support of the Wenner Gren Foundation, New York *1962: One year of field research in Northern Nigeria, as a research assistant at Johannes Lukas, Hamburg, with the support of the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bud ...

(DFG) *1969: Southern Nigeria and Western Cameroon: voice recordings as part of the DFG project Africa Maps *1970–1980: Several trips to Chad to document Chadic languages (Mubi, Migama, Mokilko, etc.) *1989–2002: Several research trips to Northern Nigeria

Scientific work

Jungraithmayr has carried out extensive documentation of

Chadic languages The Chadic languages form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken in parts of the Sahel. They include 196 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, and northern Cameroon. By far the most widely ...

spoken in Central Africa. He has found that Chadic languages are more

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

in the east than in the west.Herrmann Jungraithmayr: Der perfekte Ton. Zur Dreidimensionalität afrikanischer Sprachen. Stuttgart, F. Steiner 2008

Publications

Books

* ''Die Ron-Sprachen.'' Glückstadt 1970: ISBN noch nicht existent * ''Märchen aus dem Tschad.'' Düsseldorf/Köln 1981. * ''Lexique mokilko.'' Berlin 1990. * ''A Dictionary of the Tangale Language.'' Berlin 1991. * (with Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig) ''Lexikon der afrikanistischen Erzählforschung.'' Köln 1998. * ''Sindi. Tangale Folktales.'' Berlin 2002. * ''La langue mubi (République du Tchad).'' Berlin 2013. * ''Der perfekte Ton.'' Stuttgart 2008. * (with Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig) ''Einführung in die Hausa-Sprache.'' Berlin 1976; 3. Aufl. 1985 * (with Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig und Anne Storch) ''Lehrbuch der Hausa-Sprache.'' Köln 2004. * (with Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig) ''Lexikon der Afrikanistik.'' Berlin 1983. * (with D. Ibriszimow) ''Chadic Lexical Roots'', 2 Bände. Berlin 1994. * (with P. I. Diyakal) ''Lyang Lu. One thousand and one proverbs, idioms and sayings in Mushere'' (N. Nigeria). Stuttgart 2008. * ''Die Dreidimensionalität afrikanischer Sprachen''. Marburg 2015, * (with Miroslawa Holubavá) ''The Ngas Language (Shik Ngas)''. Berlin 2016. * (with Marie Ngom) ''workgeheimisse afrikanischer Sprachen''. Marburg 2018.

Periodicals

* Chadic Newsletter 1970–1998 * (with

Hans-Jürgen Greschat Hans-Jürgen (or rarely Hansjürgen) is a German masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Hans-Jürgen Abt of Abt Sportsline, a motor racing and auto tuning company based in Kempten im Allgäu, Germany *Hans-Jürgen von Arnim ( ...

, Wolf Haenisch and Wilhelm Rau) ''Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde'' 1973 ff. * (with H.-J. Greschat) ''Africana Marburgensia'' 1968–1989 * (with N. Cyffer and R. Vossen) ''Westafrikanische Studien'' 1994 ff. * ''Sprache und Oralität in Afrika'', 1989–2010

Audio documentation

* Sprachaufnahmen aus Sudan and Tschad, 1958/9, unter anderem zur Daju-Sprache, 13 Tonbänder, archiviert in Frankfurt a. M. * Sprachaufnahmen aus Nigeria and Tschad, 1962–2004, archiviert im Phonogrammarchiv der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften unter „Sammlung Herrmann Jungraithmayr 1962–2004“

Bibliography

* H. Jungraithmayr: ''Ein Leben mit afrikanischen Sprachen'', Paideuma 52 (2006) and 53 (2007) * Gábor Takács (ed.) ''Semito-Hamitic Festschrift for A. B. Dolgopolsky and H. Jungraithmayr''. Berlin 2008. * ''Studia Chadica (Festschrift zum 80. Geb.)'', Köln 2011

References

External links

List of scientific publications by Herrmann Jungraithmayr
updated May 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jungraithmayr, Herrmann Living people 1931 births Linguists of Chadic languages Linguists from Germany Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt 20th-century Austrian linguists 21st-century linguists University of Vienna alumni University of Hamburg alumni