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ology; The second one, using a methodical study of phonetic and formal structure of the Icelandic language
proves its close kinship with the other “gotic” (i.e. Germanic) languages; the third part is devoted to the
proof of its kinship with other European languages, especially with their Slavic- Lithuania group; more
detailed is discussed the relationship of Germanic languages to the Greek and Latin languages, which Rusk
perceives as the most southern language.
In the same part, establishing sound correspondence between Germanic and relative languages, Rusk
is a precursor to Grimm in the defining of the famous law of the consonants’movementin Germanic lan-
guages,underlining almost all of its major and basic features. The historical value of this work must be put
along with the works of Bopp and Grimm.
The danish scientist Rasmus Christian Rusk strongly emphasized that grammar compliance is much
more important than the lexical one, because borrowing of the word modification , and in particular of
the flections, “never takes place”. Rusk compared Icelandic language with that of Greenland, Basque and
Celtic languages and denied their kinship (in regard of the Celtic language Rusk later changed his opin-
ion). Rusk then compared Icelandic with Norwegian, then with other Scandinavian languages (Swedish,
Danish), then with other Germanic languages, and, finally, with Greek and Latin. Rusk did not involve
Sanskrit in this circle. Perhaps, in this respect, he concedes Bopp . But the attraction of the Slavic and
Baltic languages,in particular, made up for this flaw.
So, F. Bopp (1791-1867) proved the genetic relationship of Indo-European languages,J. Grimm wrote
the story of the language as a doctrine of “changes of the language practices in time”, and the language is
as a product of historical and cultural development of the people. Building on the ideas of J. Grimm, F. Diz
laid the foundations of the comparative grammar of the Roman languages, and I.Zeis of the studies of celt-
ic language. A. Schleicher published “A compendium of the comparative grammar of the Indo-European
languages” (1861-1862), A. Fick “Comparative dictionary of indo-german languages” (1868).
Thus, Humboldt, Bopp and Grimm are the founders of Indo-European linguistics.
Independently from chiefs of the Indo-European studies comparative and historical methods were
made by the Russian scholar of the early 19th century, Vostokov. He can be called the founder of the com-
parative-historical Slavic linguistics. In his “Reasoning on the Slavic language” (1820) based on the study
of ancient Slavic monuments and contemporary living dialects,Vostokov reveals the true nature of yus, as
signs for nasal vowels. Moreover,the scientist gave the first scientific,though, formal grammar of Russian.
These works make extensive use of the experience of previous studies and partly of some earlier theories.
(This applies in particular to F. Bopp and Y. Grimm.)
That is why the minor and rare theoretical reasoning seems somewhat naive, and Grimm has strongly
cloudy manner of presentation, which reflected his membership of the romantic school. But the scientific
merits of the above mentioned linguists cannot be judged solely on the basis of their theoretical judge-
ments, since they do not reflect adequately their genuine achievements. The main value of the work lies in
the practice of scientific research.
These works had a positive quality in that they are characterized by the fact that they are trying to do
away with the bare theoretical attitude, which was so characteristic for previous eras, and in particular for
the 18th century .They involved a huge and diverse material for scientific research. But their main merit
lies in the fact that, following the example of other sciences they introduce a comparative and historical ap-
proach into Linguistics to the study of language facts, and at the same time develop new specific methods
of scientific research. Comparative-historical study of the languages, that is done in the above mentioned
works at different material (A.H. Vostokov on the material of Slavic languages, J. Grimm - on Germanic
languages) and with breadth (most commonly by F. Bopp), was closely associated with the formation of
the idea of genetic relations of Indo-European languages.
Application of new techniques of scientific research led to specific discoveries in the sphere of struc-
ture and form of the Indo-European languages; some of them (for example, formulated by J.Grimm “The
law of the German movement of consonants” or proposed by a. H. Vostokov method for determining sound
meaning of yus and tracing the root of ancient Slavic languages combinations in tj, dj, and kt in the position
before e, i) have an overall methodical value and are thus beyond the study of the specific language data.
It should be noted that not all of the mentioned works have had the same impact on the further devel-
opment of the language science . Written in languages not known outside their countries,the works of A.
H. Vostokov and R. Rusk did not receive the scientific effect,which they deserved to expect, while works
by F. Bopp and J. Grimm served as a starting point for the further development of the comparative-histor-
ical study of the Indo-European languages.
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