Hugo Schuchardt

Hugo Ernst Mario Schuchardt (4 February 1842, Gotha (Thuringia) – 21 April 1927, Graz (Styria)) was an eminent German linguist, best known for his work in the Romance languages, the Basque language, and in mixed languages, including pidgins, creoles, and the Lingua franca of the Mediterranean. Schuchardt grew up in Gotha. From 1859–1864, he studied in Jena and Bonn with many important linguists of the time, notably August Schleicher and Kuno Fischer in Jena, as well as Friedrich Ritschl and Otto Jahn in Bonn. In 1864, Schuchardt earned a doctorate with a dissertation entitled De sermonis Romani plebei vocalibus ('On the vowels of Vulgar Latin'). Based upon a perusal of "an incredible amount of texts never really considered before him", it was subsequently published 1866-1868 in a three-volume German language edition as Der Vokalismus des Vulgärlateins (The Vowels of Vulgar Latin). In 1870, Schuchardt was promoted to professor ('habilitation') at the University of Leipzig, and in 1873, he became professor of Romance philology at the University of Halle, which was then a stronghold of the neogrammarians. Meanwhile, Schuchardt primarily worked on traditional topics in Romance philology with a strong historic orientation but also developed an interest in language contact and language mixing (as found in mixed languages and creole languages). In 1876, Schuchardt became chair for Romance Philology at the University of Graz, with the help of Johannes Schmidt. He did field work in Wales (1875) and Spain (1879) where he collected material for his Celtic and Basque/Romance research. Schuchardt became interested in two new fields, creole and Basque linguistics, thereby becoming a respected forefather of both linguistic subdisciplines. He is also the first linguist to have promulgated seriously the idea that creole languages are in no way inferior to other languages. With his 1888 publication "Auf Anlass des Volapüks" he promoted the creation of a new auxiliary world language for all nations.