CHAPTER 2 The Early History of Historical Phonology Robert W. Murray 2.1 Introduction This chapter treats the development of historical phonology during the nineteenth century, from its beginnings to what even today might still be considered its zenith—at least in terms of prestige and impact on the ield of linguistics—by the end of the century. 1 Focus is pri- marily on the two central subields of the discipline; comparative phonology, with its foun- dations in ‘letter theory’, and the investigation of sound change. he chapter is not intended as a survey of the period, but rather treats selected issues that resonate to the present day (parts of Salmons & Honeybone, this volume, pick up the discussion of the development of historical phonology from the twentieth century to the present). Discussion here is limited to particular protagonists, primarily neogrammarians and Hugo Schuchardt. 2.2 From Permutationes Litterarum to Buchstabenlehre (‘Letter Theory’) 2.2.1 A Glimpse at the Prehistory of Historical Phonology General linguistic overviews of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries oten focus on some of the more unusual ideas of the period; for example, that Latin could be derived 1 his work was completed during my stays as a Senior Research Fellow at the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies (May 2009, May/August 2010). I am particularly grateful to the directors of the School of Language and Literature, Peter Auer and Werner Frick, for their invitation to FRIAS. OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – REVISES, Tue Sep 01 2015, NEWGEN 02-9780199232819-c02.indd 11 9/1/2015 8:43:53 PM