Faculty of Philology University of Belgrade

History of linguistics

Influence from other disciplines

Olga Maksimovi, 090914

In this essay I will try to answer the question about the influence of other academic subjects in historical linguistics with no special regards to any prominent linguist of the time as word limit do not allow me wide descriptions of their work and contribution I will also name the main source of influence and talk about its importance From !enaissance onwards linguistic interest was mainly oriented towards the historical and genetic relationship between languages and the systematic material gathering was mostly connected to religion and "hristian worship #anguage classification was based on the story of the $ower of Babel and Hebrew was regarded the oldest language %ther academic disciplines which discussed different aspects of origin were faced with similar situation & namely' hypothesis that get along with what is described in the %ld $estament In linguistics' the focus was on the comparison of vocabularies and structures of modern (uropean languages with #atin' also followed by e)amination of human speech and language *aterial gathered during +,th century was not united by any directing theory and it handled general theories on the origin and development of language speculations without data from corresponding languages $he basis for +-th and ./th & century typology was established on morphological features 0nd it was in +-th century when boarders between typology and etymology were established In focus of the +-th century scholars 1mostly 2ermans3 was the comparison of the infle)ional and derivational morphology of 4anskrit and Indo&(uropean languages 2radually ! 5 !ask' 6 2rimm' F Bopp and 7 von Humboldt contributed with their work so that a methodology was established and detailed e)emplification from different languages were now a substitution for a priori assumptions of the +,th century universal grammarians 2rimm considered the sound shift a general tendency' thus not a necessity and applied Herder8s ideas of specific national spirit connected with language to the historical side of it $hese sound changes made it possible to reconstruct earlier state of grammar and it was 4chleicher who introduced 9 1astrisk symbol3 claiming that the ancestor language could be reconstructed through systematic comparison of corresponding forms in various sub&families $he linguistic changes which happened with all +-th century scholars were

considered to be the turning point and 4anskrit the nearest language to the original by its morphology $he scholars highlighted the use of comparative methodology and the process of change as degeneration from primary integrity 0n obvious impact of ruling positivism and darwinism could be seen' also a need to put linguistics on scientific grounds #inguistic theory was in line with current evolutionary thoughts' striving to structural perfection 4chleicher considered his thoughts to be in line with :arwin8s and his subject' language' should be treated by methods of natural science In biology' he searched for a scientific model for historical linguistics ;early at the same time Bopp wrote that <languages should be regarded as natural organic objects that grow according to definite laws' go through the phases of development' and in the end perish= + 4chleicher regarded the current linguistic typology to present the historical stages in the growth of languages to the culmination of their organi>ation *ore fle)ional structure of classical languages he described as decline through historical development e)emplifying this thesis with (nglish ;evertheless' the main linguistic controversy of the late +-th century concerned ;eogrammarians who wanted to make historical linguistic an e)act science within natural sciences' such as geology or physics $hey considered sound changes to be based on certain laws' as they were influenced by the universality of natural laws' realistically devised $hey denied the a priori and speculative ideas of a prehistoric growth and historic decline ? they did not acknowledge any linguistic changes :ialect studies were in their focus and dialect atlases began to be published during this period Idealists' another streaming in the late +-th century influenced by Humboldt' considered that each change of language begins with a change in a language of an individual' which happens consciously $hese ideas followed social movements of the time ? nationalism and l'art pour l'art.2 In the beginning of the +-th century a new scientific paradigm was coming reflecting new' modernised society $he modern theoretical and methodological conceptions were
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!obins ' ! H ' 1+--/3 A Short History of Linguistics 1third edition3. #ondon@ #ongman
0rt for art8s sake

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brought in focus both in the field of historical and linguistic activity Interdisciplinary approach prevailed and scholars tried to base historical linguistics on evolutionary biology and science in general From the +-th century afterwards scholars began building up previous work of their predecessors and critici>ing their contemporaries It was the time when basis for modern linguistics was set up

Bibliography@ !obins ' ! H ' 1+--/3 A Short History of Linguistics 1third edition3. #ondon@ #ongman