Über die Kawi-sprache auf der Insel Java

This 1836–9 publication analyses the classical literary language of Java in the context of Sanskrit and several Pacific languages.

This monumental work by the German linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835), published posthumously in 1836–9, analyses the classical literary language of Java. Volume 3 focuses on Austronesian languages from the South Seas including Tongan, Tagalog, Tahitian and Hawaiian, and their relationship with Kawi.Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) was a German philologist, diplomat and philosopher. While Minister of Education he was responsible for reforming the Prussian education system. His pioneering achievements in linguistics influenced many later scholars including Chomsky. This monumental three-volume study of Kawi, a traditional formal and literary language of Java belonging to the Austronesian language family, was published posthumously in 1836–9. The manuscript was prepared for the press by J. K. E. Buschmann, a protégé of Humboldt's friend and colleague Bopp, whose work is also reissued in this series. Humboldt considered Kawi, which includes many Sanskrit loan-words, to be the common ancestor of all the Malayo-Polynesian languages, though this view is no longer accepted. Volume 3 focuses on the comparative grammar, as attested in epics, songs, arithmetic books and bible translations, of several South Sea languages including Tagalog, Tongan, Tahitian and Hawaiian, and their relationship with the Malayan languages.