Abstract

The article is devoted to the place of J. Grimm's «German grammar» among school German grammar books of the XIX century Germany. The work that appeared at the beginning of the century opened a new page in the history of linguistics – the development of comparative historical language study and the formation of linguistics as a science. The paper provides information on some of the most important German grammar textbooks in Germany of the XIX century, used in secondary schools. They were grammar books by J. Ch. Gottsched, J. Ch. Adelung, J. Ch. A. Heyse, J. G. Radlof, S. G. A. Herling, F. J. Schmitthenner, M. W. Götzinger, etc. The author of the article compares J. Grimm's «German grammar» with the above-mentioned grammar works of that time and puts forward a hypothesis that in the XIX century Germany there appeared an opposition between scientific approach to grammar and that of school grammar books, which, according to the author, reflects dramatically different goals set by both sides. Unlike school textbooks which task is to consistently initiate students into the system of their native language, often on the basis of the matrix created by Alexandrian grammarians, scientific grammar is based on the results of linguistic research and seeks to answer questions about language phenomena. J. Grimm rejected any normative grammar based on logics, that resulting in the aversion on the part of the pedagogical community. Nevertheless, the publication of «German grammar» resulted in appearance of German language textbooks the writers of which tried to build their work on the basis of Grimm’s work, thereby contributing to the popularization of the ideas of the great linguist both among the pedagogical community and the students (A. F. H. Vilmar and K. A. J. Hoffmann).

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