"Voices of the People": Linguistic Research Among Germany's Prisoners of War During World War I. Issue 3 (21st May 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kaplan, Judith
• Is Part Of: Journal of the history of the behavioral sciences. Volume 49:Issue 3(2013)
• Page Start: 281
• Page End: 305
• Publication Date: 2013-05-21
• Subjects: Psychology -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Periodicals; 150
• DOI: 10.1002/jhbs.21607
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-5061

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>This paper investigates the history of the Royal Prussian Phonographic Commission, a body that collected and archived linguistic, ethnographic, and anthropological data from prisoners‐of‐war (POWs) in Germany during World War I. Recent literature has analyzed the significance of this research for the rise of conservative physical anthropology. Taking a complementary approach, the essay charts new territory in seeking to understand how the prison‐camp studies informed philology and linguistics specifically. I argue that recognizing philological commitments of the Phonographic Commission is essential to comprehending the project contextually. My approach reveals that linguists accommodated material and contemporary evidence to older text‐based research models, sustaining dynamic theories of language. Through a case study based on the Iranian philologist F. C. Andreas (1846–1930), the paper ultimately argues that linguistics merits greater recognition in the historiography of the behavioral sciences.</p> </abstract>