Franz Nikolaus Finck
Encyclopedia
Franz Nikolaus Finck was a German
philologist, born in Krefeld
. He was a professor of General Linguistics at the University of Berlin.
Finck visited the Aran Islands
of Ireland
, where he lived with speakers of Irish Gaelic. His research on the phonology of Irish resulted in the book Die araner mundart: ein betrag zur erforschung des westirischen (The Aran Dialect: A Contribution to the Exploration of Western Irish). This work was characteristic of Finck's emphasis on the study of remote dialects of languages.
He went on to work on a broad variety of languages, but was best known to his colleagues for his work on languages of the Caucasus. He also worked extensively on the Armenian language
, compiling a grammar of that language.
Finck held the belief (now known to be mistaken) that all of the languages of the Caucasus were related.
Among his students was John Peabody Harrington
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
philologist, born in Krefeld
Krefeld
Krefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...
. He was a professor of General Linguistics at the University of Berlin.
Finck visited the Aran Islands
Aran Islands
The Aran Islands or The Arans are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. They constitute the barony of Aran in County Galway, Ireland...
of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, where he lived with speakers of Irish Gaelic. His research on the phonology of Irish resulted in the book Die araner mundart: ein betrag zur erforschung des westirischen (The Aran Dialect: A Contribution to the Exploration of Western Irish). This work was characteristic of Finck's emphasis on the study of remote dialects of languages.
He went on to work on a broad variety of languages, but was best known to his colleagues for his work on languages of the Caucasus. He also worked extensively on the Armenian language
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
, compiling a grammar of that language.
Finck held the belief (now known to be mistaken) that all of the languages of the Caucasus were related.
Among his students was John Peabody Harrington
John Peabody Harrington
John Peabody Harrington was an American linguist and ethnologist and a specialist in the native peoples of California. Harrington is noted for the massive volume of his documentary output, most of which has remained unpublished: the shelf space in the Library of Congress dedicated to his work...
.