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Henry Sweet (15 September 1845 – 30 April 1912) was an English
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
,
phonetic Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
ian and
grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
ian.''Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language'', as hosted o
encyclopedia.com
/ref> As a philologist, he specialized in the
Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
s, particularly
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
and
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
. In addition, Sweet published works on larger issues of phonetics and grammar in language and the teaching of languages. Many of his ideas have remained influential, and a number of his works continue to be in print, being used as course texts at colleges and universities.


Life and work

Henry Sweet was born in
St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in north London. It was originally a medieval ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the area it covered now forms around ...
. He was educated at
Bruce Castle School Bruce Castle School, at Bruce Castle, Tottenham, was a progressive school for boys established in 1827 as an extension of Rowland Hill's Hazelwood School at Edgbaston. It closed in 1891. Origins In 1819, Rowland Hill moved his father's Hill To ...
and
King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London an ...
, London."SWEET, Henry MA, PhD, LLD", in '' Who Was Who 1897–1915'' (London: A. & C. Black, 1988 reprint, ) In 1864, he spent a short time studying at
Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
. Upon his return to England, he took up an office job with a trading company in London. Five years later, aged twenty-four, he won a
scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...
in
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
and entered
Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
in
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. Sweet neglected his formal academic coursework, concentrating instead on pursuing excellence in his private studies. Early recognition came in his first year at Oxford, when the prestigious
Philological Society The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language as well as a registered Charitable organization, charity. The current Society was established in 1842 to ...
(of which he was later to become president) published a paper of his on
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
. In 1871, still an undergraduate, he edited
King Alfred Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...
's translation of the '' Cura Pastoralis'' for the
Early English Text Society The Early English Text Society (EETS) is a text publication society founded in 1864 which is dedicated to the editing and publication of early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes contain editions of ...
(''King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care: With an English Translation, the Latin Text, Notes, and an Introduction''), his commentary establishing the foundation for Old English
dialectology Dialectology (from Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , '' -logia'') is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their ass ...
. He graduated, nearly thirty years old, with a fourth-class degree in '' literae humaniores''. Subsequent works on Old English included ''An Anglo-Saxon Reader'' (1876), ''The Oldest English Texts'' (1885) and ''A Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon'' (1896). Sweet, like his contemporary
Walter Skeat Walter William Skeat, (21 November 18356 October 1912) was a British philologist and Anglican deacon. The pre-eminent British philologist of his time, he was instrumental in developing the English language as a higher education subject in t ...
, felt under particular pressure from German scholars in English studies who, often state-employed, tenured, and accompanied by their
comitatus ''Comitatus'' was in ancient times the Latin term for an armed escort or retinue. The term is used especially in the context of Germanic warrior culture for a warband tied to a leader by an oath of fealty and describes the relations between a lo ...
of eager graduate students, "annexed" the historical study of English. Dismayed by the "swarms of young program-mongers turned out every year by German universities," he felt that "no English dilettante can hope to compete with them—except by Germanizing himself and losing all his nationality." In 1877, Sweet published ''A Handbook of Phonetics'', which attracted international attention among scholars and teachers of English in Europe. He followed up with the ''Elementarbuch des gesprochenen Englisch'' (1885), which was subsequently adapted as ''A Primer of Spoken English'' (1890). This included the first scientific description of educated London speech, later known as
received pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent traditionally regarded as the Standard language, standard and most Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been ...
, with specimens of connected speech represented in
phonetic script Phonetic transcription (also known as phonetic script or phonetic notation) is the visual representation of speech sounds (or ''phones'') by means of symbols. The most common type of phonetic transcription uses a phonetic alphabet, such as the ...
. In addition, he developed a version of
shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...
called Current Shorthand, which had both orthographic and phonetic modes. His emphasis on spoken language and phonetics made him a pioneer in
language teaching Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: ...
, a subject which he covered in detail in ''The Practical Study of Languages'' (1899). In 1901, Sweet was made
reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...
in phonetics at Oxford. ''The Sounds of English'' (1908) was his last book on English pronunciation. Other books by Sweet include ''An Icelandic Primer with Grammar, Notes and Glossary'' (1886), ''The History of Language'' (19001995: ; 2007: ), and a number of other works he edited for the Early English Text Society. Sweet was also closely involved in the early history of the
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
. Despite the recognition he received for his scholarly work, Sweet never received a university professorship, a fact that disturbed him greatly, although he was appointed reader. He had done poorly as a student at Oxford, he had annoyed many people through bluntness, and he failed to make every effort to gather official support.Howatt, Anthony Philip Reid; Widdowson, Henry George: ''A History of English Language Teaching''. Oxford University Press (2004), pp. 198–207.
Online text
His relationship with the
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
was often strained. Sweet died on 30 April 1912 in Oxford, of
pernicious anemia Pernicious anemia is a type of vitamin B12 deficiency anemia, a disease in which not enough red blood cells are produced due to the malabsorption of vitamin B12. Malabsorption in pernicious anemia results from the lack or loss of intrinsic fa ...
; he left no children. Kunitz, Stanley; Haycraft, Howard: ''British Authors of the Nineteenth Century''. The H. Wilson Company (1936), p. 598.


Other interests

In '' Who's Who, 1911'', Sweet gave his recreations as:


Legacy

Sweet has retained a reputation as "the man who taught Europe phonetics". His work established an
applied linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, communication rese ...
tradition in language teaching which has continued without interruption to the present day. A bibliography and ''Collected Papers'' were published by
H. C. Wyld Henry Cecil Kennedy Wyld (27 March 1870–26 January 1945) was a notable English lexicographer and philologist. Early life Wyld was born in 1870 and attended Charterhouse School from 1883 to 1885; he was then privately educated in Lausanne ...
. In the preface to his 1913 play ''
Pygmalion Pygmalion or Pigmalion may refer to: Mythology * Pygmalion (mythology), a sculptor who fell in love with his statue Stage * ''Pigmalion'' (opera), a 1745 opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau * ''Pygmalion'' (Rousseau), a 1762 melodrama by Jean-Jacques ...
'',
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
stated that " enryHiggins is not a portrait of Sweet, to whom the adventure of Eliza Doolittle would have been impossible; still, as will be seen, there are touches of Sweet in the play."
Leslie Howard Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 18931 June 1943) was an English actor, director and producer.Obituary ''Variety'', 9 June 1943. He wrote many stories and articles for ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and '' Vanity Fair'' and was one ...
portrayed the character of Higgins in the 1938 film ''
Pygmalion Pygmalion or Pigmalion may refer to: Mythology * Pygmalion (mythology), a sculptor who fell in love with his statue Stage * ''Pigmalion'' (opera), a 1745 opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau * ''Pygmalion'' (Rousseau), a 1762 melodrama by Jean-Jacques ...
''; Henry Higgins was notably portrayed by
Rex Harrison Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play ''French Without Tears'', in what ...
in the 1956 stage musical ''
My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons f ...
'' and its 1964 screen adaptation. The
Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas Henry may refer to: People * Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portuga ...
(founded 1984) is named after him. It holds annual colloquia, and publishes the journal ''Language and History''.


References


Further reading

*
Charles Leslie Wrenn Charles Leslie Wrenn (1895–1969) was an English scholar. After taking an MA at the University of Oxford, he worked for a year as a lecturer in the department of English Language and Literature at the University of Leeds in 1928–29. Following hi ...
, 'Henry Sweet', ''Transactions of the Philological Society''; vol. 45, pp. 177–201 (1946) * *


External links


The Henry Sweet Society
* * * *


An Anglo-Saxon primer
Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection.
Cornell University Library Digital Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweet, Henry 1845 births 1912 deaths Deaths from pernicious anemia Anglo-Saxon studies scholars People educated at King's College School, London English philologists Phoneticians Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Linguists of Germanic languages Linguists of English People educated at Bruce Castle School Paleolinguists Linguists of Indo-Uralic languages Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala