On the reception and revivification of Cartesian linguistics
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Margaret Thomas
Abstract
Fifty years after its publication, it is timely to return to Noam Chomsky’s Cartesian linguistics to explore what this controversial text accomplished, what it didn’t accomplish, and for whom. I begin with the context of midcentury American linguists’ historical consciousness into which Cartesian linguistics initially appeared, then review responses to the book by (first) philosophers and historians of linguistics, and (second) generative linguists versus linguists not associated with generativism, especially those in the United States. I evaluate whether the book achieved Chomsky’s own goals, then close by calling attention to an emerging second life of Cartesian linguistics, beginning around 2000.
Abstract
Fifty years after its publication, it is timely to return to Noam Chomsky’s Cartesian linguistics to explore what this controversial text accomplished, what it didn’t accomplish, and for whom. I begin with the context of midcentury American linguists’ historical consciousness into which Cartesian linguistics initially appeared, then review responses to the book by (first) philosophers and historians of linguistics, and (second) generative linguists versus linguists not associated with generativism, especially those in the United States. I evaluate whether the book achieved Chomsky’s own goals, then close by calling attention to an emerging second life of Cartesian linguistics, beginning around 2000.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword and acknowledgements ix
- Editors’ introduction xiii
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Part I. Notions
- Un essai d’histoire comparée de la grammatisation des langues romanes 3
- Linguistic description and language philosophy in Wilhelm von Humboldt’s North American grammars 21
- La phrase grammaticale moderne 35
- Wegener’s Wortsatz and the notion of sentence 49
- Why is it so hard to establish gestalt ideas within linguistics? 65
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Part II. Representations of language and reception of theories
- Klaproth, Balbi and the language atlas 81
- Nation and race in the twentieth century scientific discourse on Viking Age runestones 101
- L’homme dans la langue 113
- Saussure/Mallarmé 129
- Introducing and translating Otto Jespersen in China in the past 100 years 143
- On the reception and revivification of Cartesian linguistics 157
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Part III. Pedagogy, linguistic policy and codification
- Greek grammatical learning papyri 173
- The history of language learning and teaching (HoLLT) in the history of linguistics 189
- Sprache der Nähe vs. Sprache der Distanz and the nineteenth century codification of Modern Czech 205
- Linguists and lawyers 221
- Name index 237
- Subject index 241
- Name index 237
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword and acknowledgements ix
- Editors’ introduction xiii
-
Part I. Notions
- Un essai d’histoire comparée de la grammatisation des langues romanes 3
- Linguistic description and language philosophy in Wilhelm von Humboldt’s North American grammars 21
- La phrase grammaticale moderne 35
- Wegener’s Wortsatz and the notion of sentence 49
- Why is it so hard to establish gestalt ideas within linguistics? 65
-
Part II. Representations of language and reception of theories
- Klaproth, Balbi and the language atlas 81
- Nation and race in the twentieth century scientific discourse on Viking Age runestones 101
- L’homme dans la langue 113
- Saussure/Mallarmé 129
- Introducing and translating Otto Jespersen in China in the past 100 years 143
- On the reception and revivification of Cartesian linguistics 157
-
Part III. Pedagogy, linguistic policy and codification
- Greek grammatical learning papyri 173
- The history of language learning and teaching (HoLLT) in the history of linguistics 189
- Sprache der Nähe vs. Sprache der Distanz and the nineteenth century codification of Modern Czech 205
- Linguists and lawyers 221
- Name index 237
- Subject index 241
- Name index 237
