- Carl Meinhof
Carl Friedrich Michael Meinhof (
July 23 ,1857 –February 11 ,1944 ) was a German linguist and one of the first linguists to studyAfrican languages .Early years and career
Meinhof was born in Barzwitz near Rügenwalde in the
Province of Pomerania . In 1905 he became professor at theSchool of Oriental Studies inBerlin .Works
His most notable work was developing comparative
grammar studies of theBantu languages , building on the pioneering work ofWilhelm Heinrich Immanuel Bleek . In his work, Meinhof looked at the commonBantu languages such as Swahili andZulu to determine similarities and differences.In his work, Meinhof looked at noun classes with all Bantu languages having at least 10 classes and with 22 classes of nouns existing throughout the Bantu languages, though his definition of noun class differs slightly from the accepted one. While no language has all 22,
Sesotho has 18. All Bantu languages have a noun class specifically for humans (sometimes including other animate beings).Meinhof also looked at other African languages including the
Kordofanian languages ,Bushman ,Khoikhoi andHamitic languages. During his career, Meinhof published several books on African languages and made recordings of East African music in 1902 which was one of the first recordings made of traditionalAfrican music .Family
Carl Meinhof was the brother of
Ulrike Meinhof 's grandfather and thus the great-uncle of the woman who would be a founding member of the GermanRed Army Faction (RAF).References
*cite book|last=Meinhof|first=Carl|year=1906|title=Grundzüge einer vergleichenden Grammatik der Bantusprachen|publisher=Reimer|location=Berlin
* Sara Pugach, "Images of Race and Redemption. The Protestant missionary contribution to Carl Meinhof's Zeitschrift für Kolonialsprachen", _LFM. Social sciences & missions_, No.15, Dec. 2004, pp.59-96
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