The Neogrammarians (, , ) were a German school of

linguists Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures ...

, originally at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), 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 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

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

sound change In historical linguistics, a sound change is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chan ...

Overview

According to the Neogrammarian hypothesis, a

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

sound change affects simultaneously all words in which its environment is met, without exception. Verner's law 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 Consonant Shift or 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 first millennium BC, first d ...

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

falsifiability Falsifiability (or refutability) is a deductive standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses, introduced by the Philosophy of science, philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book ''The Logic of Scientific Discovery'' (1934). ...

according to

the scientific method ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

. 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-condi ...

(where a sound change affects only a few words at first and then gradually spreads to other words) believe that some words change 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 Analogy is a comparison or correspondence between two things (or two groups of things) because of a third element that they are considered to share. In logic, it is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as oppose ...

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 language, German and Middle High German language via philo ...

(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 ins ...

(1850–1926) *

Karl Brugmann Friedrich Karl Brugmann (; 16 March 1849 – 29 June 1919) was a German linguist. He is noted for his work in Indo-European linguistics. Biography Friedrich Karl Brugman was born in Wiesbaden to a middle-class family in 1849. He was educated a ...

(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 u ...

(1842–1922) *

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

(1840–1916) *

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

(1854–1925) *

Hermann Osthoff Hermann Osthoff (18 April 1847 – 7 May 1909) 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-European word-formation and m ...

(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 literature in ...

(1846–1921) *

Eduard Sievers Eduard Sievers (; 25 November 1850 – 30 March 1932) was a German 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 influential historical ...

(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

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Further reading