Ernst Tappolet

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ernst Tappolet-Schlub (1870–1939) o. Prof. for Romance Philology at the Univ. Basel, family grave at the Hörnli cemetery, Riehen, Basel-Stadt
Family grave in the Hörnli cemetery , Riehen, Basel-Stadt

Ernst Emanuel Tappolet , in French-language publications Ernest Tappolet (born October 21, 1870 in Hittnau , † November 2, 1939 in Basel ), was a Swiss Romance studies . Together with Louis Gauchat and Jules Jeanjaquet , he founded the Glossaire des patois de la Suisse romande in 1899 . His opinion, expressed in 1901, that Zurich was the first Swiss city in which standard German replaced the dialect as a colloquial language is still occasionally quoted today.

Life

Ernst Tappolet came from a family who had emigrated from Essertines-sur-Yverdon in the canton of Vaud to Küsnacht around 1800 and who acquired Zurich citizenship in 1826. His father was a pastor in the Zurich Oberland .

Tappolet studied in Marburg , Paris , Florence and Zurich and did his doctorate at the University of Zurich under Heinrich Morf on the subject of the Romance family names, with special emphasis on the French and Italian dialects; a contribution to comparative lexicology (Strasbourg 1895). This work proved to be groundbreaking for Romance onomasiological research and was the beginning of a large number of studies on the vocabulary of Romance languages . His habilitation also took place in Zurich in 1902 with the work on the status of dialects in German and French Switzerland (Zurich 1901).

After working for a few years as a French teacher at the Zurich Cantonal School , he was appointed to the University of Basel in 1904 , where he then worked as a professor of Romance philology. From 1924 he also worked as an editor on the Glossaire des patois de la Suisse romande , which he founded in 1899 together with Louis Gauchat and Jules Jeanjaquet . In 1935 he was honored with a festschrift on his 65th birthday .

Tappolet was married to Johanna Elisabeth Schlub (1866–1941) from 1897.

Act

university

At the center of Tappolet's teaching were onomasiology (word field research) of the Romance languages ​​and Romance dialectology . He imparted knowledge to his students that they could apply directly in modern language lessons . In addition, he dealt with fundamental questions about the nature of languages, which led to the publications The Language of the Child (1907) and The Causes of Verbosity in Pet Names in French-speaking Switzerland (1913).

The future tense of all in the dialects of French-speaking Switzerland, card for an article by Ernst Tappolet

Glossaire des patois de la Suisse romande

For the Glossaire des patois de la Suisse romande , Tappolet wrote the articles ados, affaire, agreblyé, agron, aise, aisement, aller, alyon, âme, amour, anneau, ansela, anson, apondre, archal, argent, argile, arin , armalyi, arode, aselye, avec, avoir, Bâle, ban, banc, banneret, bas, beau and ber . He was particularly fond of articles in which folklore aspects played an important role. In order to obtain material for the dictionary, Tappolet himself was in contact with the sources, and he was also involved in recording the patois on gramophone records.

One of the fruits of the collections of material he made for the glossary was the two-volume publication The Alemannic Loan Words in the Dialects of French-speaking Switzerland, cultural-historical-linguistic investigation (published in 1914 and 1917). In it he discussed the cultural, factual and affective motives that led to the adoption of the Swiss-German verbatim into the patois, distinguishing between "needless word" and "luxury loan word" and characterizing their respective areas of validity. He also precisely described the phonetic adaptations of the Alemannic words to the Franco-Provencal and French dialects.

Tappolet planned to retire in 1940 in order to put all his energy at the disposal of the glossary . His unexpected death the year before put an abrupt end to this request.

Tappolet and the future of Swiss German

Caricature in Nebelspalter about Tappolets fear of the decline of the Swiss German

In his revision on the status of dialects in German and French Switzerland from 1901, Tappolet took the view that German-speaking Switzerland would follow the development in Suisse romande and Germany and would give up dialect as a colloquial language in favor of the standard language within fifty years; the first city would be Zurich. Otto von Greyerz 'conviction that Swiss-German-High German bilingualism ( diglossia ) is possible, he expressly did not share. With his work, which was accepted as a habilitation thesis by the University of Zurich, Tappolet reached a wide audience, although reactions were divided. A reviewer in the Allgemeine Schweizer Zeitung did not share Tappolet's pessimism, but said the publication made it clear that the Swiss should stand up for their own language and cultivate their dialects. For Tappolet's statement that a person from Zurich would be downright embarrassed on the train in which language he should address a stranger, the Nebelspalter was only ridiculous (see the illustration). - The view that German-speaking Switzerland and Zurich were faced with a change of language around 1900 is still occasionally given today, although in most cases neither the author of this opinion nor the contradiction it aroused are known.

Works (selection)

  • The Romance family names. Trübner, Strasbourg 1895.
  • Wustmann and linguistics. Speidel, Zurich 1898.
  • About the state of the dialects in German and French Switzerland (= communications from the Society for the German Language in Zurich. Issue VI). Zürcher & Furrer, Zurich 1901.
  • The child's language. Walz & Miéville, Basel and Paetel, Berlin 1907.
  • The causes of the verbosity in the pet names of French-speaking Switzerland. Westermann, Braunschweig / Berlin 1913.
  • The Alemannic loanwords in the dialects of French-speaking Switzerland. 2 parts. Trübner, Strasbourg 1914 (treatise), 1917 (etymological dictionary).

literature

Obituaries

  • Jakob Jud : Ernst Tappolet 1870–1939. In: Romania 65, 1939, pp. 558-60.
  • Jakob Jud: Ernst Tappolet 1870–1939. In: Vox Romanica 5, 1940, pp. 332-334 ( digitized version ).
  • (different authors :) In memory of Prof. Ernst Tappolet, 1870–1939. Zbinden & Hübin, Basel 1940.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ^ E. Stauber: Tappolet. In: Historical-Biographical Lexicon of Switzerland, Volume VI. Neuchâtel 1931, p. 637.
  2. ↑ a b Jakob Jud: Ernst Tappolet 1870–1939. In: Vox Romanica 5, 1940, pp. 332–334, here on p. 332.
  3. ↑ Lucienne Hubler: Ernst Tappolet. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (incorrectly written Schlup in the printed edition ); Life dates according to stone on the family grave.
  4. ↑ a b c Jakob Jud: Ernst Tappolet 1870–1939. In: Vox Romanica 5, 1940, pp. 332–334, here on p. 333.
  5. ^ Anne-Marguerite Fryba:  Tappolet, Ernst. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-428-11206-7 , p. 789 ( digitized version ).
  6. ↑ Jakob Jud: Ernst Tappolet 1870-1939. In: Vox Romanica 5, 1940, pp. 332–334, here on p. 334.
  7. ↑ Tappolet's book on the Alemannic loanwords in French-speaking Swiss patois was found in Emil Steiner's The French loanwords in the Alemannic dialects of Switzerland. Cultural-historical-linguistic investigation with etymological dictionary (1921) his counterpart.
  8. ^ Ernst Tappolet: About the state of the dialects in German and French Switzerland (=  communications of the Society for German Language in Zurich. Issue VI). Zurich 1901, p. 35.
  9. ^ Ernst Tappolet: About the state of the dialects in German and French Switzerland (=  communications of the Society for German Language in Zurich. Issue VI). Zurich 1901, p. 37.
  10. ↑ [without author]: The tenacity of our dialects. In: Allgemeine Schweizer Zeitung, Morgenblatt of April 26, 1901, pp. 1–2, here on p. 1.
  11. ^ Nebelspalter of October 26, 1901, last page.
personal data
SURNAME Tappolet, Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tappolet, Ernst Emanuel (full name); Tappolet, Ernest
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Romance philologist and lexicographer
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Hittnau
DATE OF DEATH November 2, 1939
Place of death Basel