Title: Die Kerenzer Mundart des Kantons Glarus in ihren Grundzügen dargestellt
First published: 1876
Description: Linguistics, Phonology
thesis  by Jost Winteler, a Swiss linguist,  concerning the dialect of the village of his childhood. 
This work fell into obscurity when it was not happily received by the linguistic community of the time. Only later (1931) Trubetzkoy extolled the remarkable foresight of Winteler, his unprecedented vistas and methods.
He acknowledged that this pioneering work about phonology might have been influential for the later coming up structuralism.
"Winteler disclosed in his dissertation the principle of 'configurational relativity' (Relativitaet der Verhaeltnisse)  with special reference to the sound pattern of  language. In particular his theory required a consistent distinction between the relational invariants and variables within language, respectively termed 'essential' and 'accidental' properties. According to Winteler's insight, speech sounds cannot be evaluated in isolation but only in their relation to all other sound units of the given language and to the linguistic functions assigned to them in such amanifold." (Jakobson, 1972:75)
 Jakobson suggested that Winteler's interest in linguistic relativity may have contributed to Einstein's theory of physical relativity. The young Einstein lodged with Professor Jost Winteler's family in Aarau, when preparing for his admission to the polytechnic in Zurich.
"Till the last of his days, Einstein remembered Winteler fondly and acknowledged him as a primary source for some of his own insights."  (Douglas Oliver)
Subjects: German language, Dialects
Time periods: 1876, linguistics, phonology