What do we talk about, when we talk about the history of linguistics?
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Margaret Thomas
Abstract
This paper examines the representation of the history of the language sciences as transmitted through introductory textbooks on linguistics published in the United States in the past sixty years. I analyze the role that textbooks assign to the history of the discipline, the value they invest in it, and the orientations toward earlier language scholarship that these texts implicitly model for students. The goal is to discover, in the context of U.S. higher education, what it is that we have talked about when we talk about the history of linguistics, and what modern students take away from that discussion.
Abstract
This paper examines the representation of the history of the language sciences as transmitted through introductory textbooks on linguistics published in the United States in the past sixty years. I analyze the role that textbooks assign to the history of the discipline, the value they invest in it, and the orientations toward earlier language scholarship that these texts implicitly model for students. The goal is to discover, in the context of U.S. higher education, what it is that we have talked about when we talk about the history of linguistics, and what modern students take away from that discussion.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction ix
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Part I. General and particular issues in the history of linguistics
- What do we talk about, when we talk about the history of linguistics? 3
- On the concept of grammatical tradition and its application to linguistic studies in Brazil 17
- The history of the concept of lexicography 31
- The relation of gesture to thought and language 43
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Part II. Antiquity and Middle Ages
- The ancient Greek and Byzantine notion of dialektos 55
- On the typology of ancient grammars 69
- L’interjection dans la tradition grammaticale latine, de l’Antiquité à l’Humanisme 83
- Classifications of words in ancient Sanskrit grammars 97
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Part III. Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century Works
- Notas sobre la difusión en Portugal del Libellus de constructione octo partium orationis (Londres 1513) durante la primera mitad del siglo XVI 113
- Study of the dialogues in the Sprachbücher by Juan Ángel de Zumaran (fl. 1617–1634) 125
- Models of language and mankind in the milieu of the ‘Idéologues’ 139
- Degérando’s three prize essays and the shift in linguistic thought at the turn of the 19th century 149
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Part IV. Nineteenth to Twentieth Century Studies
- Anton Marty’s philosophy of language and his dialogue with linguists 163
- Voices from the field 177
- Saussure et la temporalité 191
- Compléments indirects et circonstanciels dans la grammaire française au cours de la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle 205
- Poétique saussurienne, poétique jakobsonienne 219
- A first history of Functional Grammar 233
- Polysemy in 19th century linguistic studies in Chile 247
- Presupposition and implicitness in the 20th century 257
- Name index 269
- Subject index 275
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction ix
-
Part I. General and particular issues in the history of linguistics
- What do we talk about, when we talk about the history of linguistics? 3
- On the concept of grammatical tradition and its application to linguistic studies in Brazil 17
- The history of the concept of lexicography 31
- The relation of gesture to thought and language 43
-
Part II. Antiquity and Middle Ages
- The ancient Greek and Byzantine notion of dialektos 55
- On the typology of ancient grammars 69
- L’interjection dans la tradition grammaticale latine, de l’Antiquité à l’Humanisme 83
- Classifications of words in ancient Sanskrit grammars 97
-
Part III. Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century Works
- Notas sobre la difusión en Portugal del Libellus de constructione octo partium orationis (Londres 1513) durante la primera mitad del siglo XVI 113
- Study of the dialogues in the Sprachbücher by Juan Ángel de Zumaran (fl. 1617–1634) 125
- Models of language and mankind in the milieu of the ‘Idéologues’ 139
- Degérando’s three prize essays and the shift in linguistic thought at the turn of the 19th century 149
-
Part IV. Nineteenth to Twentieth Century Studies
- Anton Marty’s philosophy of language and his dialogue with linguists 163
- Voices from the field 177
- Saussure et la temporalité 191
- Compléments indirects et circonstanciels dans la grammaire française au cours de la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle 205
- Poétique saussurienne, poétique jakobsonienne 219
- A first history of Functional Grammar 233
- Polysemy in 19th century linguistic studies in Chile 247
- Presupposition and implicitness in the 20th century 257
- Name index 269
- Subject index 275
