Der Vokalismus des Vulgärlateins: Volume 1

Published in German in 1866–8, this three-volume work pioneered a new approach to the history of the Romance languages.

This three-volume work by Hugo Schuchardt (1842–1927), first published between 1866 and 1868, explores the development of Vulgar Latin, the language of the general population, as opposed to the classical, literary variety. The work focuses on the distinctive vowel changes that took place in Romance vernaculars over many centuries.The German linguist Hugo Schuchardt (1842–1927) made significant contributions to the study of the Basque and Romance languages, publishing also on pidgins and creoles. A critic of the Neogrammarian hypothesis of sound laws, he subscribed to the 'wave model' of language change. His Über die Lautgesetze: Gegen die Junggrammatiker (1885) has been reissued in this series in a volume with Die Verwantschaftsverhältnisse der indogermanischen Sprachen (1872) by Johannes Schmidt (1843–1901). Based on Schuchardt's doctoral dissertation and the painstaking study of extant sources, the present three-volume work appeared between 1866 and 1868. He explores here the development and characteristics of Vulgar Latin, the language of the general population, as opposed to the classical, literary variety. The work focuses on the distinctive vowel changes that took place in Romance vernaculars over many centuries. Opening with a thorough introduction and discussion of sources, Volume 1 (1866) examines qualitative vowel changes.