August+Leskien

= **August Leskien ** =



====**August Leskien** , (born July 8, 1840, Kiel, Holstein—died Sept. 20, 1916, Leipzig **), German linguist **noted for wide-ranging contributions to comparative **Indo-European linguistics** , particularly for his still authoritative work on the **Baltic and Slavic groups.** He significantly contributed to the development of the idea that “//phonetic laws have no exceptions//,” meaning that linguistic change occurs neither haphazardly nor by chance but under definable, constant conditions. ==== As a professor at the **University of Leipzig ** (1870–1916), Leskien became a chief proponent of the **Neogrammarian school of linguistics** , which advocated rigorous research methods and clung to the principles expressed by his catchphrase.

Biography
====Leskien was born in **Kiel**. He studied philology at the **universities of Kiel and Leipzig**, receiving his doctorate from the latter in **1864**. He taught **Latin** and **Ancient Greek** at the **Thomasschule zu Leipzig** from **1864-1866**. In **1866** he began studying comparative linguistics under August Schleicher at the <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">**University of Jena.** He completed his habilitation in 1867 and went on to lecture at the<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> **University of Göttingen**. He was appointed as the außerordentlicher professor of comparative linguistics and **Sanskrit at Jena** in **1868**. Two years later he was named as the außerordentlicher professor of **Slavic philology** at the <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">**University of Leipzig**. He was promoted to full professorship in **1876** and remained in the position until **1915**. Leskien was a founding member of the journal //Archiv für slavische Philologie//. He died in Leipzig. ====

**Research, Writings and Thought**
====<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Leskien was a central figure in the group of linguists at **Leipzig** who later became known as the <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">**Neogrammarians**. The group strove to approach linguistics in a scientific manner; Leskien formulated their main doctrine, namely that **phonetic laws** have no exceptions (Ausnahmslosigkeit der Lautgesetze). Leskien's hypothesis was that phonetic shifts do not occur randomly or haphazardly, but instead are the product of directly observable conditions. Among the students that Leskien taught are: <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//**Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay, Ferdinand de Saussure, Leonard Bloomfield, Nikolai Trubetzkoy, Karl Verner and Adolf Noreen**.// Thus Leskien can be seen as a key founder of modern comparative linguistics, particularly in the fields of **Baltic** and **Slavic languages**. ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">In his **1881** essay '//**Die Quantitätsverhältnisse im Auslaut des Litauischen**//', Leskien formulated <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">**Leskien's La** w, a sound law devised to describe a particular aspect of sound change in the Lithuanian language. According to this law long vowels, along with the diphthongs ie and ou, with an acute intonation are shortened in the final syllable of a word. Leskien is also the author of Handbuch der altbulgarischen sprache, a guide to **Old Church Slavonic**. Although superseded in places by more recent studies, the book is still in print and remains in use by scholars to the present day. ==== <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #003366; font-family: Georgia,'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"> **References**
 * Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus (eds.) (1997). Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie (DBE). Band 6: Kogel – Maxsein. München (u. a.): K.G. Saur. p. 342.
 * Wilhelm Streitberg: "//August Leskien//". In: Indogermanisches Jahrbuch I (1913). p. 216–218.
 * Wilhelm Streitberg: "//August Leskien//". In: Indogermanisches Jahrbuch VII (1919). p. 138–143.
 * Harald Wiese: Eine Zeitreise zu den Ursprüngen unserer Sprache. Wie die Indogermanistik unsere Wörter erklärt, Logos Verlag Berlin, 2007.