A Demonstratio magyar nyelvtani forrásai

Demonstratio (1770) is a fundamental work of comparative linguistics, it is the first scientific demonstration of the affinity of Hungarian and a Finno-Ugric language. The paper examines the Hungarian grammatical sources of Demonstratio and the Hungarian spelling system used in the work. Among the Hungarian grammatical sources, the grammars of Albert Molnár Szenczi (1610) and Pál Pereszlényi (1682) can be identified. Sajnovics referred to the Protestant morphological spelling system, however, in practice, he used the phonetic Catholic one. Sajnovics used the theory of monosyllabic roots as proof of linguistic affinity. Root theory played an important role in early language comparison as well as in later stages.

kulcsszavak: Sajnovics János, Demonstratio, helyesírás, gyökelmélet, összehasonlító nyelvészet, tudománytörténet