Abstract The formulation of a principle that sound change is inherently exceptionless, even when appearances may suggest otherwise, is commonly attributed to the Junggram matiker or ‘Neogrammarians’-a group of Indo-European comparativists who worked at the University of Leipzig in the 1870s. In this historical context it is clear that the Neogrammarian hypothesis was inspired by the then recent successes of Hermann Grassmann (1863) and Karl Verner (1876) in explaining phonological changes which had long appeared to be exceptions to Grimm’s Law. According to Lehmann (1967: 197) ‘the central axiom, that sound laws have no exceptions, was first published by the oldest of the group, August Leskien in Die Deklination im Slavisch-litauischen und Germanischen (1876).’ Two years later, in the preface to a new journal founded by Hermann Osthoff and Karl Brugmann, Brugmann wrote (and both founders signed) a statement of philosophical position which can, with some justification, be called the ‘N eogrammarian manifesto’.

The Neogrammarians of the Leipzig School introduced the principle that sound changes are regular and that this regularity is without exceptions. At least as a working hypothesis, this principle has remained the basis of the comparative method up to this day. In the first part of this paper, I give a short account of how historical linguists have defended this principle and have dealt with apparent counter evidence. In the second part, I explore if a sound change can be regular if it is attested in one instance only. I conclude that it is, provided that the concomitant phonetic (and phonotactic) evidence supporting it is also based on regularity. If the single instance of a sound change is the result of developments which are all regular in themselves, it is still in line with the regularity principle.

comparative method. Sound laws are regular instances of change to a language's phonological system, typically viewed as exceptionless under the Neogrammarian The Indo-European language family comprises a vast number of languages and dialects spoken throughout the world today. All of these languages are descended from a common ancestor known as Proto-Indo-European, which scholars estimate was spoken about six thousand years ago. This common ancestor has been reconstructed by historical linguists using the comparative method. Sound laws are regular insta The Indo-European language family comprises a vast number of languages and dialects spoken throughout the world today. All of these languages are descended from a common ancestor known as Proto-Indo-European, which scholars estimate was spoken about six thousand years ago. This common ancestor has been reconstructed by historical linguists using the comparative method. Sound laws are regular instances of change to a language's phonological system, typically viewed as exceptionless under the Neogrammarian hypothesis. For example, the Romance languages, all descended from Latin, each have sound changes that affect the Latin c sound before a front vowel, leading to the pronunciation of [t͡ʃ] in Italian (cento, 'one hundred'; celo, 'sky') but [s] in French (cent, ciel) and [θ] in European Spanish (cien, cielo). By tracking these kinds of changes, linguists can map out the relationships between languages with common origins. This glossary provides a list of sound laws that have been formulated by linguists for the various Indo-European languages. It contains any named sound law which affects any of the major branches of the Indo-European family or more than one descendant language. Laws affecting one language may be included if a family has fewer than five well-attested members. While it is generally thought that the Anatolian languages broke off first, the internal relations of the other widely-accepted subfamilies – Albanian, Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Indo-Iranian, Italic, and Tocharian – are unclear and the subject of scholarly debate. I…

... changes to which there were no exceptions at all : indeed , this they proposed as their definition of a sound ... human speech organs . Minimal shifts of articulation built up over ... exceptionless sound laws had been solely respon ... Originally published in 1981, this book covers the development of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from its inception to the end of the Weimar republic. Within a historical framework it analyses the role and operation of the SPD in the changing social and political climate of Germany and describes the party’s internal struggles throughout the period. The party continually debated its aims and the means to achieve them. Conducted by people such as Kautsky, Bernsteina dn Rosa Luxemburg, with close links to Marx, Engels and other leaders of the international socialist movement, this debate within the party was one of the most fundamental socialist controversies, whose relevance remains today.