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'Voices of the People': Linguistic Research Among Germany's Prisoners of War During World War I.
- Source :
- Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences; Summer2013, Vol. 49 Issue 3, p281-305, 25p
- Publication Year :
- 2013
-
Abstract
- This paper investigates the history of the Royal Prussian Phonographic Commission, a body that collected and archived linguistic, ethnographic, and anthropological data from prisoners-of-war (POWs) in Germany during World War I. Recent literature has analyzed the significance of this research for the rise of conservative physical anthropology. Taking a complementary approach, the essay charts new territory in seeking to understand how the prison-camp studies informed philology and linguistics specifically. I argue that recognizing philological commitments of the Phonographic Commission is essential to comprehending the project contextually. My approach reveals that linguists accommodated material and contemporary evidence to older text-based research models, sustaining dynamic theories of language. Through a case study based on the Iranian philologist F. C. Andreas (1846-1930), the paper ultimately argues that linguistics merits greater recognition in the historiography of the behavioral sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00225061
- Volume :
- 49
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 88938701
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1002/jhbs.21607