释义 |
‖ Wellentheorie Philol.|ˈvɛlənteori| [G., f. welle wave + theorie theory1.] The theory that linguistic changes spread like waves over a speech-area and the dialects of adjacent districts resemble each other most; = wave theory (b) s.v. wave n. 10.
1939L. H. Gray Foundations of Lang. ii. 42 To account for the spread and relationship of languages, two main hypotheses have been advanced, both, it is true, primarily for the Indo-European group, but, in principle, equally applicable to all others. These are the pedigree-theory (Stammbaumtheorie) advanced by August Schleicher in 1866 and the wave-theory (Wellentheorie) proposed by Johannes Schmidt in 1872. 1964R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics viii. 349 The theory of common characteristics resulting from the spreading of linguistic features ‘in waves’ over adjacent dialects within a family is called the ‘Wellentheorie’. 1965[see Stammbaum]. 1975Amer. Speech 1971 XLVI. 254 Real change..may in some sense be systematic (as in the analysis of style and social variables and the Wellentheorie of linguistic geographers). |