History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences

Podcast episode 5: Comparativism in the mid-19th century – August Schleicher and materialism


Listen Later

In this episode, we look at the expansion of comparative-historical linguistics around the middle of the nineteenth century. We focus in particular on the figure of August Schleicher, the great consolidator of the field, and his “materialist” philosophy of science.

https://hiphilangsci.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/hiphilangsci_005_epx.mp3

Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

Archive DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4767838

References for Episode 5
Primary Sources

Bleek, Wilhelm (1862–1869), A Comparative Grammar of South African Languages, 2 vols., London: Trübner and Co. Google Books: Vol. I, Vol. II

Bopp, Franz (1841), Über die Verwandtschaft der malayisch-polynesischen Sprachen mit den indisch-europäischen, Berlin: Dümmler. archive.org

Caldwell, Robert (1856), A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages, London: Harrison. archive.org

Diez, Friedrich Christian (1836–1844), Grammatik der romanischen Sprachen, 3 vols., Bonn: Weber. Vol. I, Vol. II, Vol. III

Gabelentz, Hans Conon von der (1861–1873), ‘Die melanesischen Sprachen nach ihrem grammatischen Bau und ihrer Verwandtschaft unter sich und mit den malaiisch-polynesischen Sprachen untersucht’, Abhandlungen der Königlich-Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philologische-historische Classe, 3: 1–266, 7: 1–186. Google Books: Part I, Part II

Lepsius, Richard (1861), ‘Über die Umschrift und Lautverhältnisse iniger hinterasiatischer Sprachen, namlentlich der Chinesischen und der Tibetischen’, Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1860: 449–496. Google Books

Miklosich, Franz von (1852–1875), Vergleichende Grammatik der slavischen Sprachen, 4 vols., Wien: Braumüller.

Schleicher, August (1861–1862), Compendium der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen, Weimar: Böhlau. archive.org: Vol. I, Vol. II

(English trans.: (1874-1877), A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European, Sanskrit, Greek and Latin Languages, trans. Herbert Bendall, London: Trübner. archive.org: Part I, Part II)

Schleicher, August (21873 [1863]), Die Darwinsche Theorie und die Sprachwissenschaft, Weimar: Böhlau. archive.org

(English trans.: (1869), Darwinism Tested by the Science of Language, trans. Alex V. W. Bikkers, London: John Camden Hotton. archive.org)

Schleicher, August (1865), Über die Bedeutung der Sprache für die Naturgeschichte des Menschen, Weimar: Böhlau. archive.org

Schleicher, August (1868), ‘Eine fabel in indogermanischer ursprache’, Beiträge zur vergleichenden Sprachforschung 5: 206-208. archive.org

Vogt, Carl (1854 [1847]), Physiologische Briefe für Gebildete aller Stände, Gießen: Ricker’sche Buchhandlung. archive.org: Vol. I, Vol. II

Zeuß, Johann Caspar (1853), Grammatica Celtica, 2 vols., Leipzig: Weidmann. archive.org: Vol. I, Vol. II

Secondary Sources

Beiser, Frederick C. (2014), After Hegel: German philosophy 1840–1900, Princeton: Princeton University Press. See Chap. 2.

Chakravartty, Anjan (2017), ‘Scientific Realism’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 Edition), ed. Edward N. Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/scientific-realism/

Gregory, Frederick (1977), Scientific Materialism in Nineteenth Century Germany, Dordrecht: Reidel.

McElvenny, James (2018), ‘August Schleicher and materialism in 19th-century linguistics’, Historiographia Linguistica 45: 1-2, 133-152. Green open access version

Morpurgo Davies, Anna (1998), History of Linguistics, vol. 4: Nineteenth-century Linguistics, London: Longman. See Chap. 7.

Powell, Eric A. and Andrew Byrd (2013), ‘Telling Tales in Proto-Indo-European’ [includes Byrd’s recording of Schleicher’s fable], Archaeology. https://www.archaeology.org/exclusives/articles/1302-proto-indo-european-schleichers-fable

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

History and Philosophy of the Language SciencesBy James McElvenny

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

13 ratings


More shows like History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences

View all
Philosophize This! by Stephen West

Philosophize This!

15,200 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,728 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

295 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,471 Listeners

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps by Peter Adamson

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

1,602 Listeners

Jacobin Radio by Jacobin

Jacobin Radio

1,449 Listeners

Philosophy For Our Times by IAI

Philosophy For Our Times

317 Listeners

The Atlantic Interview by The Atlantic

The Atlantic Interview

2,127 Listeners

Red Menace by Red Menace

Red Menace

1,126 Listeners

Know Your Enemy by Matthew Sitman

Know Your Enemy

2,045 Listeners

Blocked and Reported by Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal

Blocked and Reported

3,810 Listeners

The Ancients by History Hit

The Ancients

3,229 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,076 Listeners

Close Readings by London Review of Books

Close Readings

78 Listeners

Past Present Future by David Runciman

Past Present Future

320 Listeners