Hugo Schuchardt, neogrammatics and phonetic laws : a debate of historiographical interest

Abstract

The text aims at a reflection about the work of Hugo Ernst Mario Schuchardt (1842-1927), notably about Schuchardt contra os Neogramáticos, in the organization, introduction, translation and notes to Portuguese of Maria Clara Paixão de Sousa (2010), whose original edition in German, Über die Lautgesetze: Gegen die Junggrammatiker, was published in 1885. In this sense, we seek to bring to the discussion the contextualization and reference to some texts of great relevance that illustrated the scenario of debates of the time about the phonetic laws, including the texts of the Neogrammaticians. (Junggrammatiker). Moreover, it also seeks to highlight the importance of translation for understanding the discussions provoked by Schuchardt and the prospective horizon (reception) of his ideas during the 60s and 70s of the twentieth century, between structuralist and generative phonology. Quotations and references to other little-known works by Schuchardt were necessary to better understand some aspects of his linguistic ideas, little known and disseminated among us.