Wellentheorien.
/ˈvɛlənˌteɪɔːri/, U.S. /ˈvɛlənˌteɪɔri/ Linguistics.
A theory of linguistic change first advanced by Johannes Schmidt (1843–1901), according to which linguistic innovation spreads in concentric circles from a central point of origin, like the ripples generated when a pebble is thrown into a body of water. Also called wave theory.The theory was formulated in response to perceived problems in the Tree or Pedigree model (see Stammbaumtheorie n. at Stammbaum n. Derivatives), but has not displaced this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > [noun] > linguistic change > theories of
polygenesis1863
Wellentheorie1886
substratum theory1923
neo-linguistics1931
wave theory1933
monogenesis1936
Stammbaumtheorie1954
1886 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 7 444 If, too timid, we struggle to avoid being dashed against the Scylla of Schleicherism, we may be drawn into the Charybdean waves of Schmidt's Wellentheorie.
1891 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 12 357 The author agrees with Leskien, that Johannes Schmidt's ‘Wellentheorie’ by no means supplants the ‘Stammbaumtheorie’.
1964 R. 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 Language 41 106 Rodriguez stresses..the ultimate reconcilability of the Stammbaumtheorie and the Wellentheorie.
1975 Amer. Speech 1971 46 254 Real change..may in some sense be systematic (as in the analysis of style and social variables and the Wellentheorie of linguistic geographers).
1997 J. M. Hall Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiq. vi. 165 One of the most enthusiastic proponents of Wellentheorie as a plausible model for Greek dialectology was Wyatt, who attributed the emergence of the historical Greek dialects to a series of linguistic innovations, radiating from south Greece as a result of linguistic accommodation between social classes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1886