Sprachgefuhl - 11/17/01 10:32 PM
this is one that really applies here:
[Ger., f. sprache speech + gefühl feeling.]
The intuitive feeling of a speaker for the essential character of a language; linguistic instinct. Also loosely, the character or genius of a language.
1938 E. Partridge World of Words ii. vi. 163 The Sprachgefühl, feeling for speech, exercises a pervasive influence in a language so long cultivated as English. 1953 K. H. Jackson Lang. & Hist. in Early Britain 682 It may be thought that the language was in some way committed by its Sprachgefühl to a penultimate accent. 1976 Amer. Speech 1973 XLVIII. 224 Whether this development is associated with the loss of sprachgefühl in a community where the use of a language is declining is a possibility to be considered.
[Ger., f. sprache speech + gefühl feeling.]
The intuitive feeling of a speaker for the essential character of a language; linguistic instinct. Also loosely, the character or genius of a language.
1938 E. Partridge World of Words ii. vi. 163 The Sprachgefühl, feeling for speech, exercises a pervasive influence in a language so long cultivated as English. 1953 K. H. Jackson Lang. & Hist. in Early Britain 682 It may be thought that the language was in some way committed by its Sprachgefühl to a penultimate accent. 1976 Amer. Speech 1973 XLVIII. 224 Whether this development is associated with the loss of sprachgefühl in a community where the use of a language is declining is a possibility to be considered.