Schleicher August. Comparative historical linguistics and August Schleicher. Slavic language classes

(47 years old)

Biography

Son of a doctor in Meiningen. At the age of 16, he entered the gymnasium in Coburg, where, in addition to Latin, Greek and Hebrew, he began to study botany. At that time, Schleicher was already interested in the Chinese language and Sanskrit. After spending 6 years in the gymnasium, where, despite his private studies, and perhaps thanks to them, he was far from the first student, Schleicher left it and prepared at home for the matriculation exam, having passed which, he entered the theological faculty of the University of Leipzig. Here, in addition to theological sciences, he listened to Arabic (from G. L. Fleischer). After the first semester, he moved to Tübingen, where he listened to the famous Baur and the orientalist Ewald.

Slavic language classes

Meanwhile, Schleicher did not abandon his studies of Slavic languages, especially Church Slavonic, which soon brought him the fame of their best expert among German scientists. In the spring of the year, he was invited to the German University of Prague, temporarily to the department of classical philology, together with G. Curtius, with whom he established the best relationship. From Mr. Schleicher he moved to the department of Sanskrit and comparative linguistics, announcing purely linguistic courses (Old and Middle High German, Lithuanian-Slavic languages). His stay in Prague allowed him to improve his knowledge of Czech and other Slavic languages. He owned the first one completely freely.

From this time on, Schleicher’s works on Slavic linguistics began to appear more and more often:

in the city - an article on Czech grammar (in “Zeitschrift für die österreich. Gymnasien”),
in the city an article on some Slavic case forms (“Sitzungsberichte” of the Vienna Academy, February 1852),
separate work “Formenlehre der kirchenslaw. Sprache, erklärend und vergleichend dargestellt” (Bonn), which contained a comparative grammatical presentation of Old Church Slavonic morphology that stood at the level of modern knowledge.

Lithuanian studies

These works led him to the need to study the Lithuanian language, as Schleicher decided back in 1848. Having received an allowance from the Vienna Academy, after the publication of his “Formenlehre...”, Schleicher went to Lithuania in June. Arriving at the place, he began to practically study the Lithuanian language, and soon he could already speak it. Having mastered the language, he began to write down Lithuanian songs, fairy tales, riddles and other works of folk literature. In mid-October, with a rich supply of new materials and knowledge, he returned to Prague and began processing what he had collected. Already in June, Schleicher’s first work dedicated to the Lithuanian language appeared: “Lituanica” (“Sitzungsberichte” of the Vienna Academy) - a series of essays on the bibliography and grammar of the Lithuanian language, Lithuanian folklore, etc. But the main fruit of Schleicher’s linguistic journey was his famous “Handbuch der litauischen Sprache”, the first part of which (grammar) was published in the summer of 1855. It was followed by the second part (reader and dictionary, 1857). The scientific and accurate grammatical presentation of the features of the Lithuanian language and the abundance of new and fresh material from Lithuanian folk literature made Schleicher’s manual the primary and for a long time the only guide to the study of the said language, which did not lose its value for a long time.

Comparative linguistics

In between, Schleicher wrote a number of small articles, such as “Die Darwinsche Theorie und die Sprachwissenschaft” (), which contained an interesting (albeit unsuccessful) application of Darwin’s doctrine of the origin of species to explain the diversity of languages; “Über die Bedeutung der Sprache für die Naturgeschichte des Menschen” (), which served as a complement to the previous one; “Die Unterscheidung von Nomen und Verbum in der lautlichen Form” (), etc. In 1865, his publication of the works of the Lithuanian poet Donelaitis appeared (St. Petersburg publishing house of the Imperial Academy of Sciences) with the addition of a dictionary.

In the last years of his life, Schleicher published a number of small articles on the comparative grammar of Slavic languages in publications of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences: “A brief outline of the prehistoric life of the northeastern department of the Indo-Germanic languages” (“Notes of the Imperial Academy of Sciences”, vol. VIII, book 1,) ; “All-Slavic Dictionary” (vol. IX, book 2, ); “Themes of numeral names (cardinal and ordinal) in Lithuanian-Slavic and German languages” (vol. X, book 1, ); "Declination of stems into - at- in Slavic languages" (vol. XI, book 1,). His last major work was “Indogermanische Chrestomathie” (Weimar, 1869), which contained a number of texts in the main Indo-European languages and glossaries for them. It was compiled by Schleicher with the participation of his students A. Leskin, I. Schmidt and the famous celtologist G.V. Ebel, and was supposed to serve as a guide for beginning linguists practically studying Indo-European languages. After Schleicher’s death, a grammar of the extinct Polabian language, compiled by him on behalf of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, was published: “Laut- und Formenlehre der Polabischen Sprache” (St. Petersburg, 1871). It was followed by a comparative grammar of Slavic languages, which remained unfinished.

Meaning

The short life of Schleicher, who died at the age of 48 (December 6, 1868), was obviously rich in results. An excellent gymnast who cultivated his health and possessed iron endurance and energy, he worked tirelessly and left behind a number of first-class works, despite cramped material conditions (in Jena, until his death, Schleicher did not receive a real professor’s salary, being considered the so-called “ Honorarprofessor", although he has already gained fame as a famous scientist). The main feature of Schleicher's scientific thinking was the desire to bring linguistics closer to the natural sciences in terms of accuracy and rigor of method.

A great lover of the latter and especially botany, which he studied not only as an excellent practical gardener, but also scientifically (his microscopic preparations could do honor to a professional botanist), Schleicher also classified linguistics as a natural science, considering language the same organism as, for example, is a plant or an animal, and under the influence of Haeckel transferred Darwin’s then just emerging theory of the origin of species into the science of language in its entirety. The influence of the ideas of Darwinism explains both his imitation of natural scientific research methods and his love for the terms of this scientific field, transferred to linguistics: the “organism” of language, linguistic “families” and “branches”, the family tree... Schleicher’s botanical tastes were also reflected in his desire systematize, put the living diversity of the language into a few and, I must admit, rather wooden headings. Dogmatism, a certain mechanicalness and pedantry were undoubtedly inherent in Schleicher's mind and left their mark on his natural-historical way of understanding language, partly paralyzing the positive advantages of this latter.

Nevertheless, Schleicher had a major influence on the methodology of linguistics in the late 19th century. Schleicher's merits were also great in the development of the Baltic and Slavic languages. Having delivered completely new scientific material with his trip to Lithuania and giving for the first time a reliable guide to the study of such an important language in comparative linguistics as Lithuanian, Schleicher also contributed more than any of his contemporaries to the illumination of Slavic languages using the comparative grammatical method. With his “Compendium...” he completed an entire period in the history of comparative linguistics, summing up with it the final result of everything that was done then in science after F. Bopp. Lacking the genius of the latter, Schleicher surpassed him in systematicity and precision of mind, especially reflected in his development of comparative phonetics of Indo-European languages, and can rightfully be ranked among the main creators of new linguistics. A. Schleicher left behind many students (G. Curtius, A. Leskin, I. Schmidt, G. Schuchardt), who created their scientific works, discarding elements of primitive biologism and developing the most valuable ideas of their teacher.

Literature

S. K. Bulich. //

early years

Son of a doctor in Meiningen. At the age of 16, he entered the gymnasium in Coburg, where, in addition to Latin, Greek and Hebrew, he began to study botany. At that time, Schleicher was already interested in the Chinese language and Sanskrit. After spending 6 years in the gymnasium, where, despite his private studies, and perhaps thanks to them, he was far from the first student, Schleicher left it and prepared at home for the matriculation exam, having passed which, he entered the theological faculty of the University of Leipzig. Here, in addition to theological sciences, he listened to Arabic (from Fleischer). After the first semester, he moved to Tübingen, where he listened to the famous Baur and the orientalist Ewald.

Slavic language classes

Meanwhile, Schleicher did not abandon his studies of Slavic languages, especially Church Slavonic, which soon brought him fame as their best expert among German scientists. In the spring of the year, he was invited to the German University of Prague, temporarily to the department of classical philology, together with G. Curtius, with whom he established the best relationship. From Mr. Schleicher he moved to the department of Sanskrit and comparative linguistics, announcing purely linguistic courses (Old and Middle High German, Lithuanian-Slavic languages). His stay in Prague allowed him to improve his knowledge of Czech and other Slavic languages. He owned the first one completely freely.

From this time on, Sh.’s works on Slavic linguistics began to appear more and more often:

in the city - an article on Czech grammar (in “Zeitschrift für die österreich. Gymnasien”),
in the city an article on some Slavic case forms (“Sitzungsberichte” of the Vienna Academy, February 1852),
separate work “Formenlehre der kirchenslaw. Sprache, erklärend und vergleichend dargestellt” (Bonn), which contained a comparative grammatical presentation of Old Church Slavonic morphology that stood at the level of modern knowledge.

Lithuanian studies

These works led him to the need to study the Lithuanian language, as Schleicher decided back in 1848. Having received an allowance from the Vienna Academy, after the publication of his “Formenlehre...”, Schleicher went to Lithuania in June. Arriving at the place, he began to practically study the Lithuanian language, and soon he could already speak it. Having mastered the language, he began to write down Lithuanian songs, fairy tales, riddles and other works of folk literature. In mid-October, with a rich supply of new materials and knowledge, he returned to Prague and began processing what he had collected. Already in June, Schleicher’s first work dedicated to the Lithuanian language appeared: “Lituanica” (“Sitzungsberichte” of the Vienna Academy) - a series of essays on the bibliography and grammar of the Lithuanian language, Lithuanian folklore, etc. But the main fruit of Schleicher’s linguistic journey was his the famous “Handbuch der litauischen Sprache”, the first part of which (grammar) was published in the summer of 1855. It was followed by the second part (reader and dictionary, 1857). The scientific and accurate grammatical presentation of the features of the Lithuanian language and the abundance of new and fresh material from Lithuanian folk literature made Schleicher’s manual the primary and for a long time the only guide to the study of the said language, which did not lose its value for a long time.

Comparative linguistics

In between, Schleicher gave a number of small articles, such as “Die Darwinsche Theorie und die Sprachwissenschaft” (), which contained an interesting (albeit unsuccessful) application of Darwin’s doctrine of the origin of species to explain the diversity of languages; “Ueber die Bedeutung der Sprache für die Naturgeschichte des Menschen” (), which served as a supplement to the previous one; “Die Unterscheidung von Nomen und Verbum in der lautlichen Form” (), etc. In 1865, his publication of the works of the Lithuanian poet Donelaitis appeared (St. Petersburg publishing house of the Imperial Academy of Sciences) with the addition of a dictionary.

In the last years of his life, Schleicher published a number of small articles on the comparative grammar of Slavic languages in publications of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences: “A brief outline of the prehistoric life of the northeastern department of the Indo-Germanic languages” (“Notes of the Imperial Academy of Sciences”, vol. VIII, book 1,) ; “All-Slavic Dictionary” (vol. IX, book 2, ); “Themes of numeral names (cardinal and ordinal) in Lithuanian-Slavic and German languages” (vol. X, book 1, ); “The declension of stems in Slavic languages” (vol. XI, book 1,). His last major work was “Indogermanische Chrestomathie” (Weimar, 1869), which contained a number of texts in the main Indo-European languages and glossaries for them. It was compiled by Schleicher with the participation of his students A. Leskin, I. Schmidt and the famous celtologist Ebel, and was supposed to serve as a guide for beginning linguists practically studying Indo-European languages. After Schleicher’s death, a grammar of the extinct Polabian language, compiled by him on behalf of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, was published: “Laut- und Formenlehre der Polabischen Sprache” (St. Petersburg, 1871). It was followed by a comparative grammar of Slavic languages, which remained unfinished.

Meaning

A great lover of the latter and especially botany, which he studied not only as an excellent practical gardener, but also scientifically (his microscopic preparations could do honor to a professional botanist), Schleicher also classified linguistics as a natural science, considering language the same organism as, for example, is a plant or an animal, and under the influence of Haeckel transferred Darwin’s then just emerging theory of the origin of species into the science of language in its entirety. Schleicher's botanical tastes were also reflected in his desire to systematize, to put the living diversity of language into a few and, we must admit, rather wooden headings. Dogmatism, a certain mechanicalness and pedantry were undoubtedly inherent in Schleicher's mind and left their mark on his natural-historical way of understanding language, partly paralyzing the positive advantages of this latter.

Literature

S. Lefmann, "August Schleicher" (Leipzig, 1870);
“Erinnerungen an Prof. Dr. August Schleicher in Prag” (“Bohemia”, 1869, No. 16 et seq.);
J. Schmidt, "Nachruf" ("Beiträge zur vergleich. Sprachforschung", vol. VI);
an assessment of Schleicher's scientific significance was made by Delbrück in his “Einleitung in das Sprachstudium” (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1893, chapter III, 41-56);
D. N. Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky, “Bopp and Schleicher, an episode from the history of the science of language” (“Life”, 1900, No. XI).

p·o·r Evolutionists
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Cosmic evolution	Shklovsky, Joseph Samuilovich ·
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early years

Son of a doctor in Meiningen. At the age of 16, he entered the gymnasium in Coburg, where, in addition to Latin, Greek and Hebrew, he began to study botany. At that time, Schleicher was already interested in the Chinese language and Sanskrit. After spending 6 years in the gymnasium, where, despite his private studies, and perhaps thanks to them, he was far from the first student, Schleicher left it and prepared at home for the matriculation exam, having passed which, he entered the theological faculty of the University of Leipzig. Here, in addition to theological sciences, he listened to Arabic (from Fleischer). After the first semester, he moved to Tübingen, where he listened to the famous Baur and the orientalist Ewald.

First major works

Slavic language classes

From this time on, Sh.’s works on Slavic linguistics began to appear more and more often:

in the city - an article on Czech grammar (in “Zeitschrift für die österreich. Gymnasien”),
in the city an article on some Slavic case forms (“Sitzungsberichte” of the Vienna Academy, February 1852),
separate work “Formenlehre der kirchenslaw. Sprache, erklärend und vergleichend dargestellt” (Bonn), which contained a comparative grammatical presentation of Old Church Slavonic morphology that stood at the level of modern knowledge.

Lithuanian studies

These works led him to the need to study the Lithuanian language, as Schleicher decided back in 1848. Having received an allowance from the Vienna Academy, after the publication of his “Formenlehre...”, Schleicher went to Lithuania in June. Arriving at the place, he began to practically study the Lithuanian language, and soon he could already speak it. Having mastered the language, he began to write down Lithuanian songs, fairy tales, riddles and other works of folk literature. In mid-October, with a rich supply of new materials and knowledge, he returned to Prague and began processing what he had collected. Already in June, Schleicher’s first work dedicated to the Lithuanian language appeared: “Lituanica” (“Sitzungsberichte” of the Vienna Academy) - a series of essays on the bibliography and grammar of the Lithuanian language, Lithuanian folklore, etc. But the main fruit of Schleicher’s linguistic journey was his the famous “Handbuch der litauischen Sprache”, the first part of which (grammar) was published in the summer of 1855. It was followed by the second part (reader and dictionary, 1857). The scientific and accurate grammatical presentation of the features of the Lithuanian language and the abundance of new and fresh material from Lithuanian folk literature made Schleicher’s manual the primary and for a long time the only guide to the study of the said language, which did not lose its value for a long time.

Comparative linguistics

Later years

Happy with his return to Germany, Schleicher rejected the offer of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, which invited him, as an already famous Slavist, to become its member. Refusing to move to Russia, Schleicher, however, agreed to work for the academy and was elected its foreign corresponding member. By this time, he completed the work he had begun two years ago on German dialectology and partly folklore: “Volkstümliches aus Sonneberg im Meininger Oberlande” (a grammar of the local dialect, a collection of local regional words, stories, legends, songs, riddles and proverbs). In 1859, Schleicher's first work appeared in the "Memoirs" of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences: "Zur Morphologie der Sprache", which contained a number of thoughts on the morphological classification of languages, and in 1860 - the famous book "Die deutsche Sprache", which aimed to introduce a wider a circle of readers from an educated society with the results of the general science of language and the main features of the native German language. The book, however, for all its scientific merits, was not successful in society, and its second edition, revised by Schleicher, was published after his death under the editorship of one of his most prominent students, I. Schmidt. Schleicher's fame, however, continued to grow, and his lectures were among the most attended at the University of Jena. German language and literature, general linguistics, history and comparative grammar of Indo-European languages (he stopped reading Sanskrit) constituted their content. From these lectures grew his famous “Compendium der vergleich. Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen,” the first edition of which appeared in 1861, glorifying the name of Schleicher everywhere. The conciseness and clarity of presentation, the systematicity and clarity in the distribution of material, a number of new views and explanations that reflected the results of the lively scientific work of the 40s and 50s of the 19th century, fully justified the outstanding success of Schleicher’s new work, which was published 5 years later in its second edition (), followed by the third () and fourth (posthumous, ).

In the last years of his life, Schleicher published a number of small articles on the comparative grammar of Slavic languages in publications of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences: “A brief outline of the prehistoric life of the northeastern department of the Indo-Germanic languages” (“Notes of the Imperial Academy of Sciences”, vol. VIII, book 1,) ; “All-Slavic Dictionary” (vol. IX, book 2, ); “Themes of numeral names (cardinal and ordinal) in Lithuanian-Slavic and German languages” (vol. X, book 1, ); “The declension of stems in Slavic languages” (vol. XI, book 1,). His last major work was “Indogermanische Chrestomathie” (Weimar, 1869), which contained a number of texts in the main Indo-European languages and glossaries for them. It was compiled by Schleicher with the participation of his students A. Leskin, I. Schmidt and the famous celtologist Ebel, and was supposed to serve as a guide for beginning linguists practically studying Indo-European languages. After Schleicher’s death, a grammar of the extinct Polabian language, compiled by him on behalf of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, was published: “Laut- und Formenlehre der Polabischen Sprache” (St. Petersburg, 1871). It was followed by a comparative grammar of Slavic languages, which remained unfinished.

Meaning

The short life of Schleicher, who died at the age of 48 (December 6), was obviously rich in results. An excellent gymnast who cultivated his health and possessed iron endurance and energy, he worked tirelessly and left behind a number of first-class works, despite cramped material conditions (in Jena, until his death, Schleicher did not receive a real professor’s salary, being considered the so-called “ Honorarprofessor", although he has already gained fame as a famous scientist). The main feature of Schleicher's scientific thinking was the desire to bring linguistics closer to the natural sciences in terms of accuracy and rigor of method.

A great lover of the latter and especially botany, which he studied not only as an excellent practical gardener, but also scientifically (his microscopic preparations could do honor to a professional botanist), Schleicher also classified linguistics as a natural science, considering language the same organism as, for example, is a plant or an animal, and under the influence of Haeckel transferred Darwin’s then just emerging theory of the origin of species into the science of language in its entirety. Schleicher's botanical tastes were also reflected in his desire to systematize, to put the living diversity of language into a few and, we must admit, rather wooden headings. Dogmatism, a certain mechanicalness and pedantry were undoubtedly inherent in Schleicher's mind and left their mark on his natural-historical way of understanding language, partly paralyzing the positive advantages of this latter.

Nevertheless, Schleicher must be recognized as one of the creators of the modern linguistic method, undoubtedly contributing to the development of the precision and rigor that now characterizes it. Schleicher’s merits were also great in the development of Lithuanian-Slavic languages. Having delivered completely new scientific material with his trip to Lithuania and giving for the first time a reliable guide to the study of such an important language in comparative linguistics as Lithuanian, Schleicher also contributed more than any of his contemporaries to the illumination of Slavic languages using the comparative grammatical method. With his “Compendium...” he completed an entire period in the history of comparative linguistics, summing up with it the final result of everything that was done then in science after F. Bopp. Lacking the genius of the latter, Schleicher surpassed him in systematicity and precision of mind, especially reflected in his development of comparative

Dictionary: Chenier - Shuisky Monastery. Source: t. XXXIXa (1903): Chenier - Shuisky Monastery, p. 691-694 () Other sources: MESBE :

Schleicher(August Schleicher) - famous German linguist. The son of a doctor in Meiningen, Sh. was born on February 19, 1821. At the age of 13, he entered the gymnasium in Coburg, where, in addition to Latin, Greek and Hebrew, he began to study botany. At that time Sh. was already interested in the Chinese language and Sanskrit. Having spent 6 years in the gymnasium, where, despite his private studies, and perhaps thanks to them, he was far from the first student, Sh. left it and prepared at home for the matriculation exam, having passed which, he entered the theological faculty of the University of Leipzig. Here, in addition to theological sciences, he listened to Arabic (from Fleischer). After the first semester, he moved to Tübingen, where he listened to the famous Baur and the orientalist Ewald. In 1843 he moved to the Faculty of Philosophy in Bonn, where Fr. Welker and Fr. Richl. At the seminars of both scientists, Sh. received a thorough training in classical philology, while at the same time studying Germanic philology from Dietz and Sanskrit and Arabic from Lassen and Gildemeister. Lassen, Dietz and Ritschl had the greatest influence on him: the first two in terms of special interests, the last in terms of method. After staying here for 6 semesters, Sh. received a doctorate in 1846 for his work on the works of the Roman grammarian Varro. Only in the theses of the dissertation did the future comparative linguist show his influence. In the same year, Sh. acted in Bonn as an assistant professor of comparative linguistics, but soon went on a trip (to Belgium, Paris, etc.). To have a livelihood, Sh. corresponded to German newspapers.

In the winter of 1848-49 he went to Prague to study Czech, under the influence of Lassen, who advised him to pay attention to Slavic languages. In a short time he learned Czech, but had to soon leave Prague, arousing the suspicions of the Austrian police, and resumed his readings in Bonn. In 1848 he completed his first larger work "Zur vergleichenden Sprachengeschichte" = 1 part of his "Sprachvergleichende Untersuchungen". It is interesting in its intention - to present an overview of one phonetic phenomenon (the so-called “zetacism”, i.e. one of the types of palatalization of consonants) in different not only related, but also unrelated languages (in Greek, Sanskrit, Avestan, Old Persian, Latin , Gothic, Lithuanian, Prakrit, Pali, Romance and Germanic languages, Celtic, Latvian, Slavic, Semitic, Manchu, Magyar, Mongolian, Tibetan and Chinese). It was followed (1850) by the second part: “Die Sprachen Europas im systematischer Uebersicht”, an experience in reviewing the languages of Europe (including non-Indo-European ones) with a description of their morphological and semasiological features. The general historical ideas that served as the basis for Sh.'s work were borrowed by him from Hegel. Meanwhile, Sh. did not abandon his studies of Slavic languages, especially Church Slavonic, which soon brought him the fame of their best expert among German scientists. In the spring of 1850, he was invited to the German University of Prague, temporarily to the department of classical philology, together with G. Curtius, with whom he established the best relations. Since 1852, Sh. moved to the department of Sanskrit and comparative linguistics, announcing purely linguistic courses (ancient and Middle High German, Lithuanian-Slavic languages). His stay in Prague allowed him to improve his knowledge of Czech and other Slavic languages. He owned the first one completely freely. From this time on, Sh.’s works on Slavic linguistics began to appear more and more often: in 1850 - an article on Czech grammar (in “Zeitschr. für die österreich. Gymnasien”), in 1852 an article on some Slavic case forms (“Sitzungsberichte "Vienna Academy, February 1852) and a separate work "Formenlehre der kirchenslaw. Sprache, erklärend und vergleichend dargestellt” (Bonn), which contained a comparative grammatical presentation of Old Church Slavonic morphology that stood at the level of modern knowledge. These works led him to the need to study the Lithuanian language, as Sh. decided back in 1848. Having received an allowance from the Vienna Academy, after the publication of his “Formenlehre ...”, Sh. went to Lithuania in June 1852. Arriving at the place, he began to practically study the Lithuanian language, and soon he could already speak it. Having become accustomed to the language, Sh. began to write down Lithuanian songs, fairy tales, riddles, and other works of folk literature. In mid-October, with a rich supply of new materials and knowledge, he returned to Prague and began processing what he had collected. Already in June 1853, Sh.’s first work dedicated to the Lithuanian language appeared: “Lituanica” (“Sitzungsberichte” of the Vienna Academy) - a series of essays on the bibliography and grammar of the Lithuanian language, Lithuanian folklore, etc. But the main fruit of Sh.’s linguistic journey. there was his famous “Handbuch der litanischen Sprache”, the first part of which (grammar) was published in the summer of 1855. It was followed by the second part (reader and dictionary, 1857). The scientific and accurate grammatical presentation of the features of the Lithuanian language and the abundance of new and fresh material from Lithuanian folk literature made Sh.’s manual the primary and for a long time the only tool for studying the said language, which has not lost its value in our time.

In 1857, Sh. left Prague and moved to Jena. The despotism of the Austrian government regime, the suspicion of the police, who saw in the open and partly free-thinking Sh. a dangerous conspirator, strained relations with the local Czech society, which still saw a German in Sh., made his stay in Prague painful and forced him to leave Austria forever. At this time, a certain revival was observed in comparative linguistics: the completion of the 1st edition of Bopp’s comparative grammar, the appearance of the first editions of the Sanskrit dictionary by Betling and Roth (from 1853), the founding by Kuhn of the “Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung” (from 1852) - were symptoms of this revival, in which Sch. took an active part with his (and Kuhn’s) magazine “Beiträge zur vergleichenden Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der arischen, celtischen und slawischen Sprachen” (since 1858). A number of valuable articles by Sh. himself and the best modern scientists appeared on the pages of this publication. Happy with his return to Germany, Sh. rejected the offer of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, which invited him, as an already famous Slavist, to become its member. Refusing to move to Russia, Sh, however, agreed to work for the academy and was elected its foreign corresponding member. By this time, he completed the work he had begun two years ago on German dialectology and partly folklore: “Volkstümliches aus Sonneberg im Meininger Oberlande” (a grammar of the local dialect, a collection of local regional words, stories, legends, songs, riddles and proverbs). In 1859, Sh.'s first work appeared in the "Memoirs" of our Academy of Sciences: "Zur Morphologie der Sprache", which contained a number of thoughts on the morphological classification of languages, and in 1860 - the famous book "Die deutsche Sprache", which aimed to introduce more a wide range of readers from an educated society with the results of the general science of language and the main features of the native German language. The book, however, for all its scientific merits, was not successful in society, and its second edition, revised by Sh., was published after his death under the editorship of one of his most prominent students, I. Schmidt. Sh.'s fame, however, grew, and his lectures were among the most attended at the University of Jena. German language and literature, general linguistics, history and comparative grammar of Indo-European languages (he stopped reading Sanskrit) constituted their content. From these lectures grew his famous “Compendium der vergleich. Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen", the first edition of which appeared in 1861. , glorifying the name of Sh. everywhere. The conciseness and clarity of presentation, the systematicity and clarity in the distribution of material, a whole series of new views and explanations that reflected the results of the lively scientific work of the 40s and 50s of the 19th century, fully justified the outstanding success of Sh.’s new work, which was published 5 years later as the second edition (1866), followed by the third (1871) and fourth (posthumous, 1876). In between, Sh. gave a number of small articles, such as “Die Darwinsche Theorie und die Sprachwissenschaft” (1863), which contained an interesting (albeit unsuccessful) application of Darwin’s doctrine of the origin of species to explain the diversity of languages; “Ueber die Bedeutung der Sprache für die Naturgeschichte des Menschen” (1865), which served as a supplement to the previous one; “Die Unterscheidung von Nomen und Verbum in der lautlichen Form” (1865), etc. In 1865, his publication of the works of the Lithuanian poet Donaleitis appeared (St. Petersburg publishing house of the Imperial Academy of Sciences) with a dictionary attached. In the last years of his life, Sh. published a number of small articles on the comparative grammar of Slavic languages in publications of our Academy of Sciences: “A brief outline of the prehistoric life of the northeastern department of the Indo-Germanic languages” (“Notes of the Imperial Academy of Sciences,” vol. VIII, book 1, 1865); “All-Slavic Dictionary” (vol. IX, book 2, 1866); “Themes of numeral names (cardinal and ordinal) in the Lithuanian-Slavic and German languages” (vol. X, book 1, 1866); “Declination of stems in Slavic languages” (vol. XI, book 1, 1867). His last major work was “Indogermanische Chrestomathie” (Weimar, 1869), which contained a number of texts in the main Indo-European languages and glossaries for them. It was compiled by Sh. with the participation of his students Leskin, I. Schmidt and the famous celtologist Ebel, and was supposed to serve as a guide for beginning linguists practically studying Indo-European languages. After Sh.’s death, a grammar of the extinct Polabian language, compiled by him on behalf of our academy, was published: “Laut- und Formenlehre der Polabischen Sprache” (St. Petersburg, 1871). It was followed by a comparative grammar of Slavic languages, which remained unfinished.

The short life of Sh., who died at the age of 48 (December 6, 1868), was obviously rich in results. An excellent gymnast who tempered his health and possessed iron endurance and energy, he worked tirelessly and left behind a number of first-class works, despite cramped material conditions (in Jena, until his death, Sh. did not receive a real professorial salary, being considered the so-called "Honorarprofessor", although he has already acquired the fame of a famous scientist). The main feature of Sh.’s scientific thinking was the desire to bring linguistics closer to the natural sciences in terms of accuracy and rigor of method. A great lover of the latter and especially botany, which he studied not only as an excellent practical gardener, but also scientifically (his microscopic preparations could do honor to a professional botanist), Sh. also classified linguistics as a natural science, considering language the same organism as, for example , is a plant or an animal, and under the influence of Haeckel transferred Darwin’s then just emerging theory of the origin of species into the science of language in its entirety. Sh.'s botanical tastes were also reflected in his desire to systematize, to put the living diversity of the language into a few and, I must admit, rather wooden headings. Dogmatism, a certain mechanicalness and pedantry were undoubtedly inherent in Sh.’s mind and left their mark on his natural-historical way of understanding language, partly paralyzing the positive advantages of this latter; but be that as it may, Sh. must be recognized as one of the creators of the modern linguistic method, undoubtedly contributing to the development of the accuracy and rigor that is now inherent in it. Sh.’s great achievements were also in the development of Lithuanian-Slavic languages. Having delivered completely new scientific material with his trip to Lithuania and for the first time given reliable guidance for the study of such an important language in comparative linguistics as Lithuanian, Sh. also contributed more than any of his contemporaries to the illumination of Slavic languages using the comparative grammatical method. With his “Compendium...” he completed an entire period in the history of comparative linguistics, summing up with it the final result of everything that was done then in science after Bopp. Lacking the genius of the latter, Sh. surpassed him in systematicity and precision of mind, especially reflected in his development of comparative phonetics of Indo-European languages, and can rightfully be ranked among the main creators of new linguistics.

Literature. S. Lefmann, "August Schleicher" (Leipzig, 1870); “Erinnerungen an Prof. Dr. August Schleicher in Prag” (“Bohemia”, 1869, No. 16 et seq.); J. Schmidt, "Nachruf" ("Beiträge zur vergleich. Sprachforschung", vol. VI); an assessment of the scientific significance of Sh. was made by Delbrück in his “Einleitung in das Sprachstudium” (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1893, chapter III, 41-56); Professor Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky, “Bopp and Schleicher, an episode from the history of the science of language” (“Life”, 1900, No. XI).

Plan:

1 Biography
- 1.1 First major works
- 1.2 Slavic language classes
- 1.3 Lithuanian studies
- 1.4 Comparative linguistics
- 1.5 Recent years
2 Meaning

Introduction

August Schleicher(German) August Schleicher; February 19, 1821 - December 6, 1868) - German linguist.

1. Biography

Son of a doctor in Meiningen. At the age of 16, he entered the gymnasium in Coburg, where, in addition to Latin, Greek and Hebrew, he began to study botany. At that time, Schleicher was already interested in the Chinese language and Sanskrit. After spending 6 years in the gymnasium, where, despite his private studies, and perhaps thanks to them, he was far from the first student, Schleicher left it and prepared at home for the matriculation exam, having passed which, he entered the theological faculty of the University of Leipzig. Here, in addition to theological sciences, he listened to Arabic (from Fleischer). After the first semester, he moved to Tübingen, where he listened to the famous Baur and the orientalist Ewald.

In 1843, he moved to the Faculty of Philosophy in Bonn, where Fr. Welker and Fr. Richl. In the seminars of both scholars, Schleicher received a thorough training in classical philology, while studying Germanic philology from Dietz and Sanskrit and Arabic from Lassen and Gildemeister. Lassen, Dietz and Ritschl had the greatest influence on him: the first two in terms of special interests, the last in terms of method. After staying here for 6 semesters, Schleicher received a doctorate in 1846 for his work on the works of the Roman grammarian Varro. Only in the theses of the dissertation did the future comparative linguist show his influence. In the same year, Schleicher acted in Bonn as an assistant professor of comparative linguistics, but soon left on a trip (to Belgium, Paris, etc.). To earn a living, Schleicher corresponded with German newspapers.

In the winter of 1848-1849 he went to Prague to study Czech, under the influence of Lassen, who advised him to pay attention to Slavic languages. In a short time he learned Czech, but had to soon leave Prague, arousing the suspicions of the Austrian police, and resumed his readings in Bonn.

1.1. First major works

In 1848 he completed his first larger work, Zur vergleichenden Sprachengeschichte, the first part of his Sprachvergleichende Untersuchungen. It is interesting in its design - to present an overview of one phonetic phenomenon (the so-called “zetacism”, that is, one of the types of palatalization of consonants) in different not only related, but also unrelated languages (in Greek, Sanskrit, Avestan, Old Persian, Latin, Gothic , Lithuanian, Prakrit, Pali, Romance and Germanic languages, Celtic, Latvian, Slavic, Semitic, Manchu, Magyar, Mongolian, Tibetan and Chinese). It was followed (1850) by the second part: “Die Sprachen Europas im systematischer Uebersicht”, an experience in reviewing the languages of Europe (including non-Indo-European ones) with a description of their morphological and semasiological features. The general historical ideas that Schleicher based his work on were borrowed by him from Hegel.

1.2. Slavic language classes

Meanwhile, Schleicher did not abandon his studies of Slavic languages, especially Church Slavonic, which soon brought him fame as their best expert among German scientists. In the spring of 1850, he was invited to the German University of Prague, temporarily to the department of classical philology, together with G. Curtius, with whom he established the best relationship. Since 1852, Schleicher moved to the department of Sanskrit and comparative linguistics, announcing purely linguistic courses (ancient and middle high German, Lithuanian-Slavic languages). His stay in Prague allowed him to improve his knowledge of Czech and other Slavic languages. He owned the first one completely freely.

From this time on, Sh.’s works on Slavic linguistics began to appear more and more often:

in 1850 - an article on Czech grammar (in “Zeitschrift für die österreich. Gymnasien”),
in 1852, an article on some Slavic case forms (“Sitzungsberichte” of the Vienna Academy, February 1852),
separate work “Formenlehre der kirchenslaw. Sprache, erklärend und vergleichend dargestellt” (Bonn), which contained a comparative grammatical presentation of Old Church Slavonic morphology that stood at the level of modern knowledge.

1.3. Lithuanian studies

These works led him to the need to study the Lithuanian language, as Schleicher decided back in 1848. Having received an allowance from the Vienna Academy, after the publication of his “Formenlehre...”, Schleicher went to Lithuania in June 1852. Arriving at the place, he began to practically study the Lithuanian language, and soon he could already speak it. Having mastered the language, he began to write down Lithuanian songs, fairy tales, riddles and other works of folk literature. In mid-October, with a rich supply of new materials and knowledge, he returned to Prague and began processing what he had collected. Already in June 1853, Schleicher’s first work dedicated to the Lithuanian language appeared: “Lituanica” (“Sitzungsberichte” of the Vienna Academy) - a series of essays on the bibliography and grammar of the Lithuanian language, Lithuanian folklore, etc. But the main fruit of Schleicher’s linguistic journey was his famous “Handbuch der litauischen Sprache”, the first part of which (grammar) was published in the summer of 1855. It was followed by the second part (reader and dictionary, 1857). The scientific and accurate grammatical presentation of the features of the Lithuanian language and the abundance of new and fresh material from Lithuanian folk literature made Schleicher’s manual the primary and for a long time the only guide to the study of the said language, which did not lose its value for a long time.

1.4. Comparative linguistics

In 1857, Schleicher left Prague and moved to Jena. The despotism of the Austrian government regime, the suspicion of the police, who saw a dangerous conspirator in the open and partly free-thinking Schleicher, strained relations with the local Czech society, which still saw a German in Schleicher, made his stay in Prague painful and forced him to leave Austria forever. At this time, a certain revival was observed in comparative linguistics: the completion of the first edition of Bopp’s comparative grammar, the appearance of the first editions of the Sanskrit dictionary by Betling and Roth (from 1853), the founding by Kuhn of the “Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung” (from 1852) - were symptoms of this revival, in which Schleicher also took an active part with his (and Kuhn’s) journal “Beiträge zur vergleichenden Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der arischen, celtischen und slawischen Sprachen” (since 1858). A number of valuable articles by Schleicher himself and the best modern scientists appeared on the pages of this publication.

1.5. Last years

Happy with his return to Germany, Schleicher rejected the offer of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, which invited him, as an already famous Slavist, to become its member. Refusing to move to Russia, Schleicher, however, agreed to work for the academy and was elected its foreign corresponding member. By this time, he completed the work he had begun two years ago on German dialectology and partly folklore: “Volkstümliches aus Sonneberg im Meininger Oberlande” (a grammar of the local dialect, a collection of local regional words, stories, legends, songs, riddles and proverbs). In 1859, Schleicher's first work appeared in the "Memoirs" of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences: "Zur Morphologie der Sprache", which contained a number of thoughts on the morphological classification of languages, and in 1860 - the famous book "Die deutsche Sprache", which aimed to introduce a wider a circle of readers from an educated society with the results of the general science of language and the main features of the native German language. The book, however, for all its scientific merits, was not successful in society, and its second edition, revised by Schleicher, was published after his death under the editorship of one of his most prominent students, I. Schmidt. Schleicher's fame, however, continued to grow, and his lectures were among the most attended at the University of Jena. German language and literature, general linguistics, history and comparative grammar of Indo-European languages (he stopped reading Sanskrit) constituted their content. From these lectures grew his famous “Compendium der vergleich. Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen,” the first edition of which appeared in 1861, glorifying the name of Schleicher everywhere. The conciseness and clarity of presentation, the systematicity and clarity in the distribution of material, a number of new views and explanations that reflected the results of the lively scientific work of the 40s and 50s of the 19th century, fully justified the outstanding success of Schleicher’s new work, which was published 5 years later in its second edition (1866), followed by the third (1871) and fourth (posthumous, 1876).

In between, Schleicher gave a number of small articles, such as “Die Darwinsche Theorie und die Sprachwissenschaft” (1863), which contained an interesting (albeit unsuccessful) application of Darwin’s theory of the origin of species to explain the diversity of languages; “Ueber die Bedeutung der Sprache für die Naturgeschichte des Menschen” (1865), which served as a supplement to the previous one; “Die Unterscheidung von Nomen und Verbum in der lautlichen Form” (1865), etc. In 1865, his publication of the works of the Lithuanian poet Donelaitis appeared (St. Petersburg publishing house of the Imperial Academy of Sciences) with a dictionary attached.

In the last years of his life, Schleicher published a number of small articles on the comparative grammar of Slavic languages in publications of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences: “A brief outline of the prehistoric life of the northeastern department of the Indo-Germanic languages” (“Notes of the Imperial Academy of Sciences”, vol. VIII, book 1, 1865 ); “All-Slavic Dictionary” (vol. IX, book 2, 1866); “Themes of numeral names (cardinal and ordinal) in Lithuanian-Slavic and German languages” (vol. X, book 1, 1866); “The declension of stems in Slavic languages” (vol. XI, book 1, 1867). His last major work was “Indogermanische Chrestomathie” (Weimar, 1869), which contained a number of texts in the main Indo-European languages and glossaries for them. It was compiled by Schleicher with the participation of his students A. Leskin, I. Schmidt and the famous celtologist Ebel, and was supposed to serve as a guide for beginning linguists practically studying Indo-European languages. After Schleicher’s death, a grammar of the extinct Polabian language, compiled by him on behalf of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, was published: “Laut- und Formenlehre der Polabischen Sprache” (St. Petersburg, 1871). It was followed by a comparative grammar of Slavic languages, which remained unfinished.

2. Meaning

A great lover of the latter and especially botany, which he studied not only as an excellent practical gardener, but also scientifically (his microscopic preparations could do honor to a professional botanist), Schleicher also classified linguistics as a natural science, considering language the same organism as, for example, is a plant or an animal, and under the influence of Haeckel he transferred Darwin’s then just emerging theory of the origin of species into the science of language in its entirety. Schleicher's botanical tastes were also reflected in his desire to systematize, to put the living diversity of language into a few and, we must admit, rather wooden headings. Dogmatism, a certain mechanicalness and pedantry were undoubtedly inherent in Schleicher's mind and left their mark on his natural-historical way of understanding language, partly paralyzing the positive advantages of this latter.

Nevertheless, Schleicher had a major influence on the methodology of linguistics in the late 19th century. Schleicher's merits were also great in the development of the Baltic and Slavic languages. Having delivered completely new scientific material with his trip to Lithuania and giving for the first time a reliable guide to the study of such an important language in comparative linguistics as Lithuanian, Schleicher also contributed more than any of his contemporaries to the illumination of Slavic languages using the comparative grammatical method. With his “Compendium...” he completed an entire period in the history of comparative linguistics, summing up with it the final result of everything that was done then in science after F. Bopp. Lacking the genius of the latter, Schleicher surpassed him in systematicity and precision of mind, especially reflected in his development of the comparative phonetics of Indo-European languages, and can rightfully be ranked among the main creators of new linguistics.

Literature

S. Lefmann, "August Schleicher" (Leipzig, 1870);
“Erinnerungen an Prof. Dr. August Schleicher in Prag” (“Bohemia”, 1869, No. 16 et seq.);
J. Schmidt, "Nachruf" ("Beiträge zur vergleich. Sprachforschung", vol. VI);
an assessment of Schleicher's scientific significance was made by Delbrück in his “Einleitung in das Sprachstudium” (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1893, chapter III, 41-56);
D. N. Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky, “Bopp and Schleicher, an episode from the history of the science of language” (“Life”, 1900, No. XI).

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