Versuch einer Allegemeinen Sprachlehre
Mit einer Einleitung über den Begriff und Ursprung der Sprache und einem Anhange über die Anwendung der allgemeinen Sprachlehre auf die Grammatik einzelner Sprachen und auf die Pasigraphie

A theoretical essay proposing the idea of a general linguistic theory applicable to all languages, a novelty in 1801.

Johann Severin Vater (Author)

9781108006880, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 November 2010

320 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.8 cm, 0.41 kg

Johann Severin Vater (1771–1826) was professor of theology and Oriental languages at Halle, but his linguistic interests ranged far more widely. This 1801 publication is the thirty-year-old scholar's ambitious attempt to outline a universal theory of language. Vater begins with a short definition of language, and two chapters speculating on the origins of human language and mechanisms for language change. These theoretical chapters, Vater says, were intended to be accessible to students making the transition from classics to philosophy. Vater then proposes the possibility of an overarching theory that could accommodate the different sounds, structures and vocabularies used to encode language functions, and which could be used by scholars to describe the grammar of different languages. He goes a stage further in suggesting that this could be the basis of a universal language. The book ends with a fascinating bibliography of early modern writings on language.

1. Über den Begriff der Sprache
2. Über den Ursprung der Sprache
3. Über den Begriff und die Begrundung der allgemeinen Sprachlehre
4. Entwurf der allgemeinen Sprachlehre
5. Anwendung der allgemeinen Sprachlehre bei den Grammatiken einzelner Sprachen
6. Berwendung der allgemeinen Sprachlehre für Pasigraphie
7. Litteratur.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]