3 Review(s)

Karl Brugmann originally intended to include a volume on syntax in his comparative grammar of Indo-European, but as that ambitious project expanded, he and his publisher enlisted Berthold Delbruck (1842-1922) to take on the treatment of syntax. Delbruck's three volumes on inflection and phrase and sentence structure appeared between 1893 and 1900 and remain the fullest treatment of Indo-European syntax to this day. In this final volume, Delbruck again explains that he has not treated the full range of Indo-European languages, nor tried to explain how the attested forms and usages arose. Even so, Delbruck marshalls an impressive range of material as he discusses a comprehensive range of structures from apposition and simple questions to complex sentences involving co-ordination and subordination. The volume ends with thorough indexes of words (100 pages), subjects, literary references, and authors to all three volumes on syntax.