Hans Kähler

Hans Kähler (born February 16, 1912 in Uetersen ; † May 8, 1983 in Hamburg ) was a German linguist and professor at the University of Hamburg and visiting professor at the University of De La Salle in Manila.

Life

Kähler studied linguistics at the University of Hamburg . During his studies he was active in the Corps Irminsul , to which he belonged until his death. After completing his studies, Kähler received his doctorate at the Philosophical Faculty in Hamburg.

During the Second World War, Kähler was on a multi-year research trip to the Dutch East Indies and was interned when the war broke out because of his German citizenship. Kähler used the time of his internment to research the languages ​​of Indonesia. Among other things, he discovered the Enggano language during his internment .

After the Second World War, Kähler was appointed professor at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Hamburg. From 1956–1979, Kähler was institute director for South Seas languages ​​at the University of Hamburg until his retirement.

He refrained from daring hypotheses based on a lexico-statistical basis. As a result, he refused to the end of the linguistic history or regional assignment of language elements of Enggano whose origin he could not clearly identify. However, if Kähler had found a solution to a problem that seemed to him imperative, he clung to it confidently and also defended it against other supposedly glamorous scientific processes - mostly rightly, as we can see today. An example of this was his thought, always presented with conviction, on the core question of Austronesian linguistic research: the reconstruction of linguistic relations and thus a linguistic history of the Pacific region. At first completely on his own, Kähler contributed the proof that the Polynesian “dialects” were based on Indonesian languages ​​in terms of their typological structure and linguistic spirit.

From 1952 to 1955, he provided evidence of this much-noticed consideration by convincingly demonstrating his knowledge of Western Australian languages ​​with their wealth of formations and the consistency of their sound inventory.

The “Journal for native languages” or “Africa and Overseas” and supplements were the preferred medium for publishing his work until his own publication series was founded. In them, Hans Kähler sought to include oral literature and ethnolinguistic considerations beyond purely linguistic problems . His “investigations into the emergence of classificatory prefixes in Austronesian languages” are considered a masterpiece of original comparative linguistics. Another characteristic of Kähler is the addition to the title “Reports on a sinking culture”, which he placed in front of his work “Texts from the island of Enggano” (1975). His linguistic research led him to Austronesian marginalized groups such as the peoples on the west and east coast of Sumatra or the Cape Malay in South Africa. With his research he helped them to obtain evidence of their culture.

Kähler also devoted himself to what is now the most important Austronesian language in terms of number of speakers, the Indonesian national language. His systematic presentation of their grammar in the form of a textbook has helped students to understand the structure of Bahasa Indonesia for decades . Kähler's "Grammar of Bahasa Indonesia", published in the 3rd edition in 1983, is still a fundamental work. This grammar, but also the 1966 published cf. Jakarta dialect dictionary ( Omong Jakarta ) represent another characteristic attitude of the scientist, who used profound specialist knowledge for the practical application of scientific knowledge.

As a professor, Kähler was not only active as a scientist, but also as a teacher and promoter and founder of scientific institutions. He introduced his students to the world of Austronesian studies with passion and enthusiasm and was considered a role model for a scientist who worked with accuracy and perseverance. If he accidentally lit two cigarettes at the same time, the students knew that explaining a problem would drag him away, contrary to his North German character. Objectivity in the argumentation, accuracy in the argumentation and caution in judgment have always been his scientific maxims.

Despite all adversities, Hans Kähler was able to look back on a life's work that goes beyond his scientific work and endures: the maintenance and promotion of the traditional seminar for Indonesian and South Seas languages, for which he has secured a future with his tireless work.

In addition to working with the state “Center for Language Structure and Development” ( Pusat Pembinaan dem Pengembangan Bahasa ) in Jakarta, he also promoted German-Indonesian relations. Jakarta, whose flair he loved and where he felt at home, was an important stop on numerous trips to Southeast Asia and the South Seas. He was a welcome guest and speaker, which also underscores his work as visiting professor at De La Salle University in Manila in 1976. It is at the same time an expression of the intensive scientific communication and collaboration that Hans Kähler maintained with colleagues from Asia, Australia and the Pacific island world.

After his retirement, Kähler devoted himself to the scientific work that he wanted to complete. He returned to the Enggano language in the last years of his life and prepared the publication of an Enggano dictionary, which appeared posthumously.

After the war, Kähler published his research results in the "Publications of the seminar for Indonesian and South Seas languages ​​of the University of Hamburg", which he founded. This includes a total of more than 20 monographs as well as dissertations and habilitation theses.

Fonts

• Hans Kähler: Texts from the island of Enggano. Reports about a sinking culture (= publications of the seminar for Indonesian and South Sea languages ​​of the University of Hamburg. Vol. 9, ZDB -ID 1018530-6 ). D. Reimer, Berlin 1975.
• Hans Kähler: Enggano - German dictionary (= publications of the seminar for Indonesian and South Sea languages ​​of the University of Hamburg. Vol. 14). Edited from the estate and provided with a German Enggano dictionary by Hans Schmidt. D. Reimer, Berlin et al. 1975, ISBN 3-496-00178-X .

literature

• Hartmut Elers, Andreas Walther: 125 years of Corps Irminsul. Hamburg 2005.
• Herman C. Kemp: Oral Traditions of Southeast Asia and Oceania. A Bibliography (= Seri tradisi lisan Nusantara 18). Yayasan Obor Indonesia, Jakarta 2004, ISBN 979-461483-1 .
• Rainer Carle: In memoriam Hans Kähler. In: Africa and overseas. Vol. 67, 1984, ISSN  0002-0427 , pp. 3-6.

Web links

• Literature by and about Hans Kähler in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ZES XXXV, 1949-1950.