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From the earliest surviving glossaries and translations to nineteenth-century academic philology and the growth of linguistics during the twentieth century, language has been the subject both of scholarly investigation and of practical handbooks produced for the upwardly mobile, as well as for travellers, traders, soldiers, missionaries and explorers. This collection will reissue a wide range of texts pertaining to language, including the work of Latin grammarians, groundbreaking early publications in Indo-European studies, accounts of indigenous languages, many of them now extinct, and texts by pioneering figures such as Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Ferdinand de Saussure.

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171 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Linguistics

Page 1 of 9

Gesammelte sprachwissenschaftliche Schriften
  • Rudolf von Raumer
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    11 December 2014
  • Rudolf von Raumer (1815–76) spent his entire career at the University of Erlangen in Bavaria, working independently of the main linguistic controversies of his time. Realising that historical and comparative phonology needed more precise phonetic concepts and terminology, Raumer proposed many refinements and clarifications in that area. He emphasised both the foundational role of Jacob Grimm's work and the need to progress beyond it; the earliest essay in this volume, dating from 1837, offered fresh insights into Grimm's Law. Raumer also did extensive research on German dialectology and orthography. In 1876 his proposals for spelling reform were partly implemented by the Prussian government, and his influence on spelling is acknowledged in Konrad Duden's famous Die deutsche Rechtschreibung (1872). Raumer published this collection of essays in 1863, as a record of the development and first publication date of his theories, which, he says wryly, 'have been frequently used by others'.

A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European, Sanskrit, Greek and Latin Languages
  • Volume 1
  • August Schleicher
  • Translated by Herbert Bendall
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    25 September 2014
  • August Schleicher (1821–68) is often credited with being the first scholar to apply a 'family tree' model to language groups. He had published extensively on individual European languages before his groundbreaking comparative Indo-European Compendium (also reissued in this series) appeared in German in 1861–2. The book was derived from his lectures, and was intended to save his students note-taking and copying from the blackboard. Each section begins with his reconstruction of a Proto-Indo-European phonological or morphological feature, and then shows how this is reflected in a range of daughter languages. This abridged English translation, based on the German third edition, appeared in 1874–7. Produced for students of Greek and Latin philology, it focuses on the phonology and morphology of 'the original Indo-European language', Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, omitting Schleicher's extensive discussion of other languages and the comparative paradigms provided in the German edition. Volume 1 covers phonology.

A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European, Sanskrit, Greek and Latin Languages
  • Volume 2
  • August Schleicher
  • Translated by Herbert Bendall
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    25 September 2014
  • August Schleicher (1821–68) is often credited with being the first scholar to apply a 'family tree' model to language groups. He had published extensively on individual European languages before his groundbreaking comparative Indo-European Compendium (also reissued in this series) appeared in German in 1861–2. The book was derived from his lectures, and was intended to save his students note-taking and copying from the blackboard. Each section begins with his reconstruction of a Proto-Indo-European phonological or morphological feature, and then shows how this is reflected in a range of daughter languages. This abridged English translation, based on the German third edition, appeared in 1874–7. Produced for students of Greek and Latin philology, it focuses on the phonology and morphology of 'the original Indo-European language', Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, omitting Schleicher's extensive discussion of other languages and the comparative paradigms provided in the German edition. Volume 2 covers morphology.

Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English
  • Containing Words from the English Writers Previous to the Nineteenth Century Which Are No Longer in Use, or Are Not Used in the Same Sense; and Words Which Are Now Used Only in Provincial Dialects
  • Volume 1, A–F
  • Thomas Wright
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    28 August 2014
  • Thomas Wright (1810–77), a respected folklorist and medievalist, wrote prolifically on a wide range of subjects. His work is, however, considered broad rather than deep, and his extensive output, while impressive, sometimes came at the expense of quality. Wright was involved in many academic societies, and co-founded the British Archaeological Association in 1843. Much of his work promoted the use of vernacular literature for research into the Middle Ages, and this dictionary, first published in 1857, was compiled to help readers of historical literature navigate unfamiliar vocabulary. It lists obsolete words and phrases, with particular emphasis on those of Old English and Anglo-Norman origin, and obscure or dialectal words. Many of the definitions include illustrative examples or quotes as well as etymologies. Examples include belly-timber, meaning 'food', and dweezle, a Northamptonshire word that means 'to dwindle away'. Volume 1 covers the letters A–F.

Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English
  • Containing Words from the English Writers Previous to the Nineteenth Century Which Are No Longer in Use, or Are Not Used in the Same Sense; and Words Which Are Now Used Only in Provincial Dialects
  • Volume 2, G–Z
  • Thomas Wright
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    28 August 2014
  • Thomas Wright (1810–77), a respected folklorist and medievalist, wrote prolifically on a wide range of subjects. His work is, however, considered broad rather than deep, and his extensive output, while impressive, sometimes came at the expense of quality. Wright was involved in many academic societies, and co-founded the British Archaeological Association in 1843. Much of his work promoted the use of vernacular literature for research into the Middle Ages, and this dictionary, first published in 1857, was compiled to help readers of historical literature navigate unfamiliar vocabulary. It lists obsolete words and phrases, with particular emphasis on those of Old English and Anglo-Norman origin, and obscure or dialectal words. Many of the definitions include illustrative examples or quotes as well as etymologies. Examples include belly-timber, meaning 'food', and dweezle, a Northamptonshire word that means 'to dwindle away'. Volume 2 covers the letters G–Z.

A History of English Sounds from the Earliest Period
  • With Full Word-Lists
  • Henry Sweet
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    28 August 2014
  • Henry Sweet (1845–1912) began at an early age to teach himself Old English and Old Icelandic. Before going up to Oxford, he spent a year at the University of Heidelberg, studying comparative and Germanic philology, and during his undergraduate career he published an edition of King Alfred's Pastoral Care. His enthusiasm for philology led him to pursue a career in research and teaching, though he did not hold a university post until in 1901 he was appointed to a new readership in phonetics at Oxford. His work on the sounds of English was first published in 1874, and in this revised version in 1888. The work derived from a monograph 'on the history of long e and o', but Sweet's own further research, as well as that of others, led him to a much broader treatment, including an investigation of dialects and medieval and modern English sounds.

A New English Grammar
  • Logical and Historical
  • Volume 2, Syntax
  • Henry Sweet
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
  • The respected phonetician and philologist Henry Sweet (1845–1912) has had a lasting influence on the study and teaching of linguistics, particularly phonetics and Old English. Sweet is also known for being, in part, the inspiration for Henry Higgins in Shaw's Pygmalion. This two-volume work, first published in 1892–8, marks the start of a new tradition in the study of English, although it received little attention in Britain upon its publication. Building on developments in European linguistics, this was the first grammar of English to adopt a scientific approach to the description of language, in particular of phonology. The work is a thorough description of English grammar in comparison with that of Old English, and covers the parts of speech, phonology, accidence and syntax. Volume 2 (1898) presents a detailed description of English syntax.

A New English Grammar
  • Logical and Historical
  • Volume 1, Introduction, Phonology, and Accidence
  • Henry Sweet
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
  • The respected phonetician and philologist Henry Sweet (1845–1912) has had a lasting influence on the study and teaching of linguistics, particularly phonetics and Old English. Sweet is also known for being, in part, the inspiration for Henry Higgins in Shaw's Pygmalion. This two-volume work, first published in 1892–8, marks the start of a new tradition in the study of English, although it received little attention in Britain upon its publication. Building on developments in European linguistics, this was the first grammar of English to adopt a scientific approach to the description of language, in particular of phonology. Volume 1 (1892) contains one of the first studies of English phonology, which applies the same rigorous analysis to the spoken language as to the written, as well as detailed descriptions of the parts of speech, accidence, and the history of English.

Der Vokalismus des Vulgärlateins
  • Volume 3
  • Hugo Schuchardt
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • The German linguist Hugo Schuchardt (1842–1927) made significant contributions to the study of the Basque and Romance languages, publishing also on pidgins and creoles. A critic of the Neogrammarian hypothesis of sound laws, he subscribed to the 'wave model' of language change. His Über die Lautgesetze: Gegen die Junggrammatiker (1885) has been reissued in this series in a volume with Die Verwantschaftsverhältnisse der indogermanischen Sprachen (1872) by Johannes Schmidt (1843–1901). Based on Schuchardt's doctoral dissertation and the painstaking study of extant sources, the present three-volume work appeared between 1866 and 1868. He explores here the development and characteristics of Vulgar Latin, the language of the general population, as opposed to the classical, literary variety. The work focuses on the distinctive vowel changes that took place in Romance vernaculars over many centuries. Volume 3 (1868) is a supplement to the first two volumes and includes corrections.

Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier
  • Ein Beitrag zur Begründung der Alterthumskunde
  • Friedrich von Schlegel
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • Critic, poet and essayist Friedrich von Schlegel (1772–1829) was a leading figure of German Romanticism. Believed to be autobiographical, his unfinished novel Lucinde caused a scandal in 1799 because of its portrayal of a sexual liaison. After exploring the development of philosophy, Schlegel increasingly turned his attention to the study of Sanskrit and Hindu religious writings. This work on the connections between Sanskrit and Indo-European languages, first published in German in 1808, is regarded as an important early contribution to comparative grammar – it was Schlegel himself who introduced this term into linguistics. He was inspired by the example of comparative anatomy, and he also promoted the idea of family trees for languages. The Aesthetic and Miscellaneous Works of Frederick von Schlegel (1849), in English translation, is also reissued in this series.

Language
  • An Introduction to the Study of Speech
  • Edward Sapir
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • Among the most influential figures in the development of modern linguistics, the American scholar Edward Sapir (1884–1939) notably promoted the connection between anthropology and the study of language. His name is also associated with that of his student in the Sapir–Whorf principle of linguistic relativity, the hypothesis that the structure of a language affects how its speakers conceptualise the world. In this seminal work, first published in 1921, Sapir lucidly introduces his ideas about language and explores topics that remain fundamental to linguistics today, such as the relationship between language and culture, the elements of speech, grammatical processes and concepts, historical language development, and the question of how languages influence one another. Especially significant in the history of structural linguistics and ethnolinguistics, this clearly written text remains relevant and accessible to students and scholars across the social sciences.

Der Vokalismus des Vulgärlateins
  • Volume 1
  • Hugo Schuchardt
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • The German linguist Hugo Schuchardt (1842–1927) made significant contributions to the study of the Basque and Romance languages, publishing also on pidgins and creoles. A critic of the Neogrammarian hypothesis of sound laws, he subscribed to the 'wave model' of language change. His Über die Lautgesetze: Gegen die Junggrammatiker (1885) has been reissued in this series in a volume with Die Verwantschaftsverhältnisse der indogermanischen Sprachen (1872) by Johannes Schmidt (1843–1901). Based on Schuchardt's doctoral dissertation and the painstaking study of extant sources, the present three-volume work appeared between 1866 and 1868. He explores here the development and characteristics of Vulgar Latin, the language of the general population, as opposed to the classical, literary variety. The work focuses on the distinctive vowel changes that took place in Romance vernaculars over many centuries. Opening with a thorough introduction and discussion of sources, Volume 1 (1866) examines qualitative vowel changes.

Der Vokalismus des Vulgärlateins
  • Volume 2
  • Hugo Schuchardt
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • The German linguist Hugo Schuchardt (1842–1927) made significant contributions to the study of the Basque and Romance languages, publishing also on pidgins and creoles. A critic of the Neogrammarian hypothesis of sound laws, he subscribed to the 'wave model' of language change. His Über die Lautgesetze: Gegen die Junggrammatiker (1885) has been reissued in this series in a volume with Die Verwantschaftsverhältnisse der indogermanischen Sprachen (1872) by Johannes Schmidt (1843–1901). Based on Schuchardt's doctoral dissertation and the painstaking study of extant sources, the present three-volume work appeared between 1866 and 1868. He explores here the development and characteristics of Vulgar Latin, the language of the general population, as opposed to the classical, literary variety. The work focuses on the distinctive vowel changes that took place in Romance vernaculars over many centuries. Volume 2 (1867) includes discussion of both qualitative and quantitative vowel changes.

Morphologische Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • Volume 1
  • Hermann Osthoff, Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    06 February 2014
  • Hermann Osthoff (1847–1909) and Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) were central figures in the circle of German scholars who rejected a doctrinal approach to the study of linguistics. They came to be known as the Neogrammarian school. At the core of their work was the theory that European languages, together with a subset of languages found in central and southern Asia, have a common origin in a single prehistoric language. They called this ancestor Indo-Germanic (known today as Indo-European) and claimed that its descendants are all related to one another by varying degrees of closeness. This six-volume elaboration of this thesis was published between 1878 and 1910. The preface to Volume 1 (1878) contains the 'Neogrammarian Manifesto' which states categorically that there are no exceptions in the laws of sound change, while new languages are formed only in relation to already existing languages.

Morphologische Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • Volume 6
  • Hermann Osthoff, Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    06 February 2014
  • Hermann Osthoff (1847–1909) and Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) were central figures in the circle of German scholars who rejected a doctrinal approach to the study of linguistics. They came to be known as the Neogrammarian school. At the core of their work was the theory that European languages, together with a subset of languages found in central and southern Asia, have a common origin in a single prehistoric language. They called this ancestor Indo-Germanic (known today as Indo-European) and claimed that its descendants are all related to one another by varying degrees of closeness. This six-volume elaboration of this thesis was published between 1878 and 1910. Volume 6 (1910) contains a number of essays, including one on the common roots of the word 'light' in Greek and Latin, along with further etymological and morphological analyses.

Morphologische Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • Volume 3
  • Hermann Osthoff, Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    06 February 2014
  • Hermann Osthoff (1847–1909) and Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) were central figures in the circle of German scholars who rejected a doctrinal approach to the study of linguistics. They came to be known as the Neogrammarian school. At the core of their work was the theory that European languages, together with a subset of languages found in central and southern Asia, have a common origin in a single prehistoric language. They called this ancestor Indo-Germanic (known today as Indo-European) and claimed that its descendants are all related to one another by varying degrees of closeness. This six-volume elaboration of this thesis was published between 1878 and 1910. In Volume 3 (1880), Brugmann explains the rules for conjugation and focuses particularly on how the aorist tense in Greek, Italian and Celtic is formed. He also gives an account of the vowels a, e and o.

Morphologische Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • Volume 4
  • Hermann Osthoff, Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    06 February 2014
  • Hermann Osthoff (1847–1909) and Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) were central figures in the circle of German scholars who rejected a doctrinal approach to the study of linguistics. They came to be known as the Neogrammarian school. At the core of their work was the theory that European languages, together with a subset of languages found in central and southern Asia, have a common origin in a single prehistoric language. They called this ancestor Indo-Germanic (known today as Indo-European) and claimed that its descendants are all related to one another by varying degrees of closeness. This six-volume elaboration of this thesis was published between 1878 and 1910. Volume 4 (1881) is devoted entirely to Osthoff's study of vowel gradation in Indo-European languages. He makes it clear that his recent research on vowels has led him to revise his earlier views.

Morphologische Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • Volume 2
  • Hermann Osthoff, Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    06 February 2014
  • Hermann Osthoff (1847–1909) and Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) were central figures in the circle of German scholars who rejected a doctrinal approach to the study of linguistics. They came to be known as the Neogrammarian school. At the core of their work was the theory that European languages, together with a subset of languages found in central and southern Asia, have a common origin in a single prehistoric language. They called this ancestor Indo-Germanic (known today as Indo-European) and claimed that its descendants are all related to one another by varying degrees of closeness. This six-volume elaboration of this thesis was published between 1878 and 1910. In Volume 2 (1879) the authors focus on explaining very specific elements in the development of Indo-European languages. They account for the rules of declination and the use of suffixes in various combinations.

Morphologische Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen
  • Volume 5
  • Hermann Osthoff, Karl Brugmann
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    06 February 2014
  • Hermann Osthoff (1847–1909) and Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) were central figures in the circle of German scholars who rejected a doctrinal approach to the study of linguistics. They came to be known as the Neogrammarian school. At the core of their work was the theory that European languages, together with a subset of languages found in central and southern Asia, have a common origin in a single prehistoric language. They called this ancestor Indo-Germanic (known today as Indo-European) and claimed that its descendants are all related to one another by varying degrees of closeness. This six-volume elaboration of this thesis was published between 1878 and 1910. Volume 5 (1890) comprises various essays, including an account of how the numbers 10 and 100 are formed within Indo-European languages and an excursus detailing the forming of the nominative and accusative cases.

English Grammar
  • Adapted to the Different Classes of Learners
  • Lindley Murray
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • American-born lawyer and author Lindley Murray (1745–1826) was hailed by his admirers as the 'father of English grammar'. First published in 1795 and reissued here in its 1830 forty-fourth edition, English Grammar became the definitive textbook on the subject in the early nineteenth century. Murray divides the work into four sections: orthography, etymology, syntax and prosody. Treating his subject methodically, he reasons that sound instruction in grammar should begin with the form and sound of letters, continue to the different types of words, include guidelines on the construction of sentences, and provide advice on correct pronunciation. Accordingly, the book commences with the alphabet before moving on to more complex subjects, from verb conjugation through to versification. An appendix gives advice on writing more effectively. The work's huge success, in Britain and the United States, as well as in translation, testifies to its rigorous and unpretentious approach.

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