Essays in the History of Linguistics

Essays in the History of Linguistics
Author: E. F. K. Koerner
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027245940

The present volume follows the author's tradition of bringing together at certain intervals selections of articles which more often than not had previously been published in not easily accessible places, or which had not been published before. These papers do not typically represent mere reprints but in most instances thoroughly revised versions.This volume contains twelve articles organized under three headings, "Programmatic Papers in the History of Linguistics," "Studies in Linguistic Historiography," and "Sketches historiographical and (auto)biographical," plus as an appendix a complete list of Zellig Harris' writings as an illustration of Koerner's penchant for and belief in the importance of good bibliographies as a basis for historical research. While the first two sections, which take up the bulk of the volume, either show the author as an historian engage or demonstrate his work as a historiographer of 19th and 20th century linguistics, the third section is much shorter and less heavy going. Indexes of Biographical Names and of Subjects, Terms & Languages round out the volume, which also contains a number of portraits of linguists and other illustrations.

From Whitney to Chomsky

From Whitney to Chomsky
Author: John E. Joseph
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2002-12-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027275378

What is ‘American’ about American linguistics? Is Jakobson, who spent half his life in America, part of it? What became of Whitney’s genuinely American conception of language as a democracy? And how did developments in 20th-century American linguistics relate to broader cultural trends?This book brings together 15 years of research by John E. Joseph, including his discovery of the meeting between Whitney and Saussure, his ground-breaking work on the origins of the ‘Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis’ and of American sociolinguistics, and his seminal examination of Bloomfield and Chomsky as readers of Saussure. Among the original findings and arguments contained herein: • why ‘American structuralism’ does not end with Chomsky, but begins with him; • how Bloomfield managed to read Saussure as a behaviourist avant la lettre; • why in the long run Skinner has emerged victorious over Chomsky; • how Whorf was directly influenced by the mystical writings of Madame Blavatsky; • how the Whitney–Max Müller debates in the 19th century connect to the intellectual disparity between Chomsky’s linguistic and political writings.

Essays in the History of Linguistic Anthropology

Essays in the History of Linguistic Anthropology
Author: Dell H. Hymes
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 436
Release: 1983
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 902724507X

Anthropology and linguistics, as historically developing disciplines, have had partly separate roots and traditions. In particular settings and in general, the two disciplines have partly shared, partly differed in the nature of their materials, their favorite types of problem the personalities of their dominant figures, their relations with other disciplines and intellectual current. The two disciplines have also varied in their interrelation with each other and the society about them. Institutional arrangements have reflected the varying degrees of kinship, kithship, and separation. Such relationships themselves form a topic that is central to a history of linguistic anthropology yet marginal to a self-contained history of linguistics or anthropology as either would be conceived by most authors. There exists not only a subject matter for a history of linguistic anthropology, but also a definite need.

On the Origin of Language

On the Origin of Language
Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2012-04-26
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0226923282

This volume combines Rousseau's essay on the origin of diverse languages with Herder's essay on the genesis of the faculty of speech. Rousseau's essay is important to semiotics and critical theory, as it plays a central role in Jacques Derrida's book Of Grammatology, and both essays are valuable historical and philosophical documents.

Linguistics and Literary History

Linguistics and Literary History
Author: Leo Spitzer
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2015-12-08
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1400878101

Spitzer discusses the method he evolved for bringing together the two disciplines, linguistics and literary history, and examines the work of Cervantes, Racine, Diderot, and Claudel in the light of this theory. Originally published in 1967. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Essays in the History of Linguistic Anthropology

Essays in the History of Linguistic Anthropology
Author: Dell H. Hymes
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 432
Release: 1983-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027286469

Anthropology and linguistics, as historically developing disciplines, have had partly separate roots and traditions. In particular settings and in general, the two disciplines have partly shared, partly differed in the nature of their materials, their favorite types of problem the personalities of their dominant figures, their relations with other disciplines and intellectual current. The two disciplines have also varied in their interrelation with each other and the society about them. Institutional arrangements have reflected the varying degrees of kinship, kithship, and separation. Such relationships themselves form a topic that is central to a history of linguistic anthropology yet marginal to a self-contained history of linguistics or anthropology as either would be conceived by most authors. There exists not only a subject matter for a history of linguistic anthropology, but also a definite need.

Foundational Issues in Linguistic Theory

Foundational Issues in Linguistic Theory
Author: Robert Freidin
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2008-05-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0262562332

Essays by leading theoretical linguists—including Noam Chomsky, B. Elan Dresher, Richard Kayne, Howard Lasnik, Morris Halle, Norbert Hornstein, Henk van Riemsdijk, and Edwin Williams—reflect on Jean-Roger Vergnaud's influence in the field and discuss current theoretical issues Jean-Roger Vergnaud's work on the foundational issues in linguistics has proved influential over the past three decades. At MIT in 1974, Vergnaud (now holder of the Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in Humanities at the University of Southern California) made a proposal in his Ph.D. thesis that has since become, in somewhat modified form, the standard analysis for the derivation of relative clauses. Vergnaud later integrated the proposal within a broader theory of movement and abstract case. These topics have remained central to theoretical linguistics. In this volume, essays by leading theoretical linguists attest to the importance of Jean-Roger Vergnaud's contributions to linguistics. The essays first discuss issues in syntax, documenting important breakthroughs in the development of the principles and parameters framework and including a famous letter (unpublished until recently) from Vergnaud to Noam Chomsky and Howard Lasnik commenting on the first draft of their 1977 paper “Filters and Controls.” Vergnaud's writings on phonology (which, the editors write, “take a definite syntactic turn”) have also been influential, and the volume concludes with two contributions to that field. The essays, rewarding from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, not only offer insight into Vergnaud's impact on the field but also describe current work on the issues he introduced into the scholarly debate. Contributors Joseph Aoun, Elabbas Benmamoun, Cedric Boeckx, Noam Chomsky, B. Elan Dresher, Robert Freidin, Morris Halle, Norbert Hornstein, Richard S. Kayne, Samuel Jay Keyser, Howard Lasnik, Yen-hui Audrey Li, M. Rita Manzini, Karine Megerdoomian, David Michaels, Henk van Riemsdijk, Alain Rouveret, Leonardo M. Savoia, Jean-Roger Vergnaud, Edwin Williams

Essays on Linguistic Realism

Essays on Linguistic Realism
Author: Christina Behme
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2018-07-26
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027263949

This book contains new articles by leading philosophers and linguists discussing a promising philosophical framework distinct from currently dominant ones: Linguistic Realism. As opposed to Nominalism and Chomskyian Conceptualism, this approach distinguishes between use of language, knowledge of language, and language as such. The latter is conceived as part of the realm of abstract objects. The authors show how adopting Linguistic Realism overcomes entrenched problems with other frameworks and suggest that Linguistic Realism will best serve those interested in formal linguistics, the cognitive dimension of natural language, and linguistic philosophy. The essays offer different perspectives on Linguistic Realism, either supporting this paradigm or taking it as a starting point for developing modified conceptions of linguistics and for further tying linguistics to the kind of formal theories of sensory cognition that were pioneered in visual perception by David Marr—whose work is predicated on exactly the object/knowledge distinction made by Linguistic Realists.

Skeptical Linguistic Essays

Skeptical Linguistic Essays
Author: Paul Martin Postal
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2004
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 019516671X

This volume consists of an introduction and two groups of essays by Paul M. Postal, each with a connecting theme. The first, positive group of papers, contains five previously unpublished studies of English syntax. These include a long study of so-called "locative inversion," two investigations related to raising to non-subject status, an argument for the existence of a hitherto ignored nominal grammatical category and a study of vulgar negative polarity items. Each investigation of specific English details is argued to have significant theoretical consequences. The second, negative group of papers, contains seven essays each of which seeks to show that aspects of contemporary linguistic activity are in part contaminated by elements of what is called "junk linguistics." Postal uses the term to denote work which advances proposals, puts forward claims and asserts deep results which, he argues, can only be accepted by ignoring serious standards of inquiry and scholarship. Postal claims that much of this work is nonetheless currently considered not only serious but prestigious reveals the problem to exist at the core of the field, not its periphery. These chapters include documentation of "junk linguistic" aspects in National Science Foundation refereeing, work on the foundations of linguistics, and even in widespread terminological usages. The final chapter briefly lists personal suggestions for dealing with this problem.