The Neogrammarians (German: ''Junggrammatiker'', 'young grammarians') were a German school of

linguists Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, originally at the University of Leipzig, in the late 19th century who proposed the Neogrammarian hypothesis of the regularity of

sound change A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chang ...

Overview

According to the Neogrammarian hypothesis, a diachronic sound change affects simultaneously all words in which its environment is met, without exception. Verner's law is a famous example of the Neogrammarian hypothesis, as it resolved an apparent exception to Grimm's law. The Neogrammarian hypothesis was the first hypothesis of sound change to attempt to follow the principle of falsifiability according to scientific method. Subsequent researchers have questioned this hypothesis from two perspectives. First, adherents of lexical diffusion (where a sound change affects only a few words at first and then gradually spreads to other words) believe that some words undergo changes before others. Second, some believe that it is possible for sound changes to observe grammatical conditioning. Nonetheless, both of these challenges to exceptionlessness remain controversial, and many investigators continue to adhere to the Neogrammarian doctrine. Other contributions of the Neogrammarians to general linguistics were: * The object of linguistic investigation is not the language system, but rather the idiolect, that is, language as it is localized in the individual, and therefore is directly observable. * Autonomy of the sound level: being the most observable aspect of language, the sound level is seen as the most important level of description, and absolute autonomy of the sound level from syntax and semantics is assumed. * Historicism: the chief goal of linguistic investigation is the description of the

historical change History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

of a language. * Analogy: if the premise of the inviolability of sound laws fails,

analogy Analogy (from Greek ''analogia'', "proportion", from ''ana-'' "upon, according to" lso "against", "anew"+ ''logos'' "ratio" lso "word, speech, reckoning" is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject ( ...

can be applied as an explanation if plausible. Thus, exceptions are understood to be a (regular) adaptation to a related form. Leading Neogrammarian linguists included: * Otto Behaghel (1854–1936) * Wilhelm Braune (1850–1926) * Karl Brugmann (1849–1919) * Berthold Delbrück (1842–1922) * August Leskien (1840–1916) * Adolf Noreen (1854–1925) * Hermann Osthoff (1847–1909) * Hermann Paul (1846–1921) * Eduard Sievers (1850–1932) Despite their strong influence in their time, the methods and goals of the Neogrammarians have been criticized for reducing the object of investigation to the idiolect; restricting themselves to the description of surface phenomena (sound level); overvaluation of historical languages and neglect of contemporary ones.

Overview

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