BIBLIOTHEK INDOGERMANISCHER GRAMMATIKEN BEARBEITET VON F. BÜCHELER, B. DELBRÜCK, K. FOY, H. HÜBSCHMANN, A. LESKIEN, G. MEYER, E. SIEVERS, H. WEBER, W. D. WHITNEY, E. WINDISCH. BAND IV. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE: A CRITICAL SURVEY OF THE HISTORY AND METHODS OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. BY B. DELBRÜCK. LEIPZIG, DRUCK UND VERLAG VON BREITKOPF & HÄRTEL. 1882. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE: A CRITICAL SURVEY OF THE HISTORY AND METHODS EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. BY B. DELBRÜCK. AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION, WITH A PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR. BREITKOPF AND HÄRTEL. LONDON, TRÜBNER & CO. 57 AND 59, LUDGATE HILL, E. C. 8. ENTD STA. HALL. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by E. Channing in the office PREFACE. The character of the present work is mainly determined by the circumstance that it is intended by the author to facilitate the study of the "Grammars" which BREITKOPF & HÄRTEL are publishing, as well as the comprehension of comparative philology in its newest form. The field of this "Introduction" is no broader than that of the above-mentioned "Grammars". Wherever in the following pages language, language-development, phonetic laws etc. are discussed, Indo-European language, Indo-European language-development etc., must alone be understood. I have felt the less inclination to discuss questions which lie outside the Indo-European domain, as for example those suggested by universal philology, because in reality the influence of philosophical linguistic research upon the science founded by BOPP has always been of slight account, and is very trifling at present. In limiting myself to the departments of phonetics and inflection I have also followed the "Grammars", but I must acknowledge that I should not, perhaps, have practised this self-denial if I had not just shown, in the fourth volume of my syntactical investigations (Die Grundlagen der griechischen Syntax, Halle, 1879), how in my opinion the comparative syntax of the Indo-European languages should be treated. The book here laid before the public is divided into a historical and an analytical part. In the former the development of philology from BOPP's time to the present is roughly sketched, |
