Recent publications in the history and philosophy of the language sciences – March 2023

Zanna Van Loon, John Steckley, Toon Van Hal, Andy Peetermans, eds. 2023. Anchored in ink: Pierre-Philippe Potier’s Elementa Grammaticae Huronicae (1745), a Jesuit grammar of Wendat. Potsdam: UniversitĂ€tsverlag Potsdam. 446 p.
ISBN 978-3-86956-516-3. DOI : https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-51306
Book in open access
Publisher’s website

This book serves as a gateway to the Elementa grammaticae Huronicae, an eighteenth-century grammar of the Wendat (‘Huron’) language by Jesuit Pierre-Philippe Potier (1708–1781). The volume falls into three main parts. The first part introduces the grammar and some of its contexts, offering information about the Huron-Wendat and Wyandot, the early modern Jesuit mission in New France and the Jesuits’ linguistic output. The heart of the volume is made up by its second part, a text edition of the Elementa. The third part presents some avenues of research by way of specific case studies.

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Recent publications in the history and philosophy of the language sciences – February 2023

Lorenzo Cigana & Frans Gregersen, ed. 2023. Structuralism as one – structuralism as many – Studies in Structuralisms. Copenhagen: Gads Forlag. 560 p. ISBN 9788773044476
Publisher’s website

This book includes 14 contributions to the study of structuralism as a historical current in the history of European ideas and more particularly in the study of language. The studies combine to contextualize structuralism in both its unity and its diversity, hence the title. In the first section, the reader is introduced to the broader canvas of disciplines and competing ideas surrounding structuralism, starting with Claude LĂ©vi-Strauss’s anthropological structuralism. The second section views structural linguistics from without and investigates its legacy in relation to contemporary linguistics, analyzing its relationship to functionalism and its forerunners. The third section explores structuralism from within, with particular attention to a specific output: Louis Hjelmslev’s theory of glossematics. This constitutes the focus from where the immediate past within the Danish tradition is reanalyzed and its heritage for today’s semiotics and linguistics is discussed.

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Posted in Publications

Recent publications in the history and philosophy of the language sciences – January 2023

Danielle Candel, Didier Samain & Dan Savatovsky, ed. 2023. Eugen WĂŒster et la terminologie de l’école de Vienne. Paris : SHESL (HEL Livres, 2). 338 p. ISBN 979-10-91587-18-1. DOI : 10.5281/zenodo.7503185
Book in open access
Publisher’s website

La terminologie, avec ses analyses thĂ©oriques et ses applications, reprĂ©sente un secteur multidisciplinaire, qui s’est dĂ©veloppĂ© parallĂšlement aux progrĂšs scientifiques ou industriels et aux Ă©changes internationaux. Rares restent toutefois les linguistes ou les Ă©pistĂ©mologues et historiens de la linguistique bien au fait des terminologies ou des langues de spĂ©cialitĂ© et de leurs sources. Cet ouvrage rassemble les actes du colloque organisĂ© par la SHESL (Paris, 3-4 fĂ©vrier 2006) oĂč l’on se proposait de faire connaĂźtre plus largement le fondateur de la terminologie contemporaine, Eugen WĂŒster (1898-1977), et de mettre Ă  la disposition d’un public plus important une documentation qui Ă©tait et demeure souvent inĂ©dite, ou seulement disponible en allemand.
WĂŒster Ă©tait d’abord un ingĂ©nieur, prĂ©occupĂ© d’objets industriels et soucieux d’en proposer une description normĂ©e, mais on aurait tort d’imputer une attitude normalisatrice rigide et rĂ©ductrice Ă  un terminologue qui inclut au contraire dans sa dĂ©marche des rĂ©flexions linguistiques prenant en compte un large spectre de variations langagiĂšres. Ajoutons que ses Ă©crits signalent un rĂ©el souci pĂ©dagogique, dont il serait dommage de continuer Ă  priver les chercheurs. Le prĂ©sent ouvrage dĂ©gage les principales thĂšses linguistiques et Ă©pistĂ©mologiques dĂ©veloppĂ©es par WĂŒster et prĂ©sente l’école viennoise de terminologie et sa portĂ©e actuelle.

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Recent publications in the history and philosophy of the language sciences – December 2022

MichaĂ«l Crevoisier & AurĂ©lien Galateau, ed. 2022. Langage et IdĂ©ologie. Penser le devenir de la langue avec Klemperer. Nice : Éditions Unes. Unes IdĂ©e. 184 p. ISBN 978-2-87704-251-2,
Publisher’s website

Depuis une vingtaine d’annĂ©es, on commence Ă  mieux connaĂźtre en France la vie et l’Ɠuvre de Victor Klemperer, ce philologue juif allemand qui a dĂ©cryptĂ© la langue du TroisiĂšme Reich et lui a miraculeusement survĂ©cu. Ses carnets, dans lesquels il a consignĂ© pendant plus d’une dĂ©cennie les distorsions que les nazis faisaient subir Ă  la langue allemande, sont devenus un document incontournable pour saisir ce qu’est le totalitarisme. 
L’expĂ©rience singuliĂšre et tragique de cet homme qui a trouvĂ© son salut dans l’Ă©tude obsessionnelle de l’idiome nazi est ici le point de dĂ©part d’une rĂ©flexion sur la situation actuelle du langage. Pour peu qu’on l’Ă©coute vraiment, la langue dit toujours la vĂ©ritĂ© d’une Ă©poque. À travers ses transformations, dans la confusion des sentiments et l’ambiguĂŻtĂ© des mots, s’imposent certaines idĂ©es et reprĂ©sentations qu’on a longtemps qualifiĂ©es d’idĂ©ologie avant que ce terme ne tombe en disgrĂące. Cet ouvrage collectif entreprend de montrer les modalitĂ©s suivant lesquelles l’idĂ©ologie se dĂ©ploie aujourd’hui, en croisant l’approche linguistique hĂ©ritĂ©e de Klemperer, la tradition critique en sciences sociales qui a su historiquement la conceptualiser, et une problĂ©matisation des systĂšmes techniques qui permet d’analyser l’automatisation du langage.  
Faire de Klemperer notre contemporain, c’est nous confronter au discours publicitaire et aux algorithmes du web mondialisĂ© en nous armant du principe d’exactitude qui guidait l’Ă©criture de son journal et « apprendre Ă  se colleter Ă  sa propre conscience, plutĂŽt que de surveiller celles des autres », comme nous y invite Walser.”

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Posted in Publications

Podcast episode 30: Interview with Andrew Garrett on Alfred Kroeber

Alfred Kroeber and Ishi

In this episode we talk to Andrew Garrett about the life, work and legacy of American anthropologist Alfred Kroeber. Kroeber achieved a number of firsts in American anthropology: he was Boas’ first Columbia PhD and the first professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. But Kroeber is not only of historical interest. The recent “denaming” of Kroeber Hall at UC Berkeley illustrates the clash of the past with our present-day social and political concerns.

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Cfp: XXXII. International Colloquium of the “Studienkreis ‘Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft’” (SGdS), 6-9 Sept 2023, UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal

The XXXII International Colloquium of the Studienkreis ‘Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft'” (SGdS) will be held at the Universidade de TrĂĄs-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal) from Wednesday, September 6 to Saturday September 9, 2023.

The general theme of the colloquium is: Controversies in the history of linguistics

From the beginnings of the teaching of classical or even modern languages up to the most recent times, there have always been polemical disputes between individual authors or even among representatives of entire schools, which could be reflected in many ways. Even if, in retrospect, not all controversies necessarily brought about the effects desired by their proponents, the area of conflict between long-established and novel considerations in the history of linguistics seems particularly worthy of investigation.

In addition, we also cordially invite papers dedicated to any topic in the History of Linguistics.

Presentations should not exceed the maximum duration of 20 minutes (allowing afterwards for up to 10 minutes of discussion). Proposals should be submitted to sgdsXXXII@utad.pt by 28 February 2023 and should contain the following information:

Name
Institutional affiliation (if any)
email address
and abstract (ca. 250 words, written in the language the paper will be presented in).

Notification of acceptance will be made by 31 March 2023.

Please note that the 2023 Annual Colloquium 2023 of the Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas (HSS) will take place in Vila Real from 4-6 September 2023. Active participation in both Colloquia is cordially invited.

Posted in Announcements, Conferences and workshops

CfP: Henry Sweet Society colloquium 4-6 Sept 2023, UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal

The 2023 annual colloquium of the Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas will be held from Monday 4 September until Wednesday 6 September 2023 at the Universidade de TrĂĄs-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal). 

The general theme of the colloquium is What counts as scientific in the History of Linguistics?

Every scholar who does research in the History of the Language Sciences has an idea of what approaches are ‘scientific’, what are ‘pre-scientific’, or even what might be unscientific. In many ways, we associate these beliefs with certain ‘canonical’ works, to which the literature ascribes an exemplary function in relation to works that appeared later. Are these divisions as clear-cut as we often think they are, or perhaps not? We look forward to all contributions that deal with this issue. 

In addition, we also cordially invite papers dedicated to any topic in the History of Linguistics. We also invite proposals for themed sections or panel discussions.

Presentations should not exceed the maximum duration of 20 minutes (allowing for 10 minutes of discussion). Proposals should be submitted to hss2023@utad.pt by 28 February 2023 and should contain the following information:

Name
Institutional affiliation (if any)
Email address and abstract (ca. 250 words, written in the language the paper will be presented in).

In addition, proposals for panels should include a short statement (ca. 100-150 words) from the panelorganiser(s) giving the rationale for the panel.

Notification of acceptance will be made by 31 March 2023.

Please note that the XXXII.  Internationales Kolloquium des “Studienkreis ‘Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft'” (SGdS) will take place in Vila Real from 7-9 September 2023. Active participation in both Colloquia is cordially invited.

Further information: https://www.henrysweet.org/2023-annual-colloquium

Posted in Announcements, Conferences and workshops

Recent publications in the history and philosophy of the language sciences – November 2022

Lorenzo Cigana. 2022. Hjelmslev e la teoria delle correlazioni linguistiche. Roma: Carocci. Biblioteca di testi e studi. 344 p. ISBN: 9788829017089
Publisher’s website

Il volume traccia la genesi e lo sviluppo della teoria delle correlazioni linguistiche di Louis Hjelmslev, uno dei piĂč importanti linguisti strutturalisti del secolo scorso. Attraverso l’esame dei testi editi e delle fonti inedite, si ricostruisce lo sforzo di Hjelmslev di identificare, descrivere e formalizzare le leggi che regolano la struttura e l’evoluzione dei sistemi linguistici, a partire dall’assunto secondo cui gli elementi di una qualsiasi categoria contraggono opposizioni vaghe, di tipo prelogico. Tale idea, denominata “partecipazione”, costituisce la risposta di Hjelmslev alla teoria della marcatezza sviluppata negli anni Trenta del Novecento da Roman Jakobson e Nikolai Trubeckoj. Esplorandone gli ingredienti concettuali e mostrandone la portata in quanto tentativo di formalizzare il funzionamento della logica naturale del linguaggio, il libro pone un utile tassello nella ricostruzione del pensiero strutturale in quanto tale.

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Posted in Publications

Podcast episode 29: Interview with Marcin Kilarski on the study of North American languages

Masthead of the Cherokee Phoenix

In this interview, we talk to Marcin Kilarski about the history of the documentation and description of the languages of North America.

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Posted in Podcast

Randy Harris’s second take on the Linguistics Wars

Review of
Randy Allen Harris: The Linguistics Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle over Deep Structure. Second edition. Oxford University Press. 2021.

John Goldmith
University of Chicago

Randy Harris has written an extremely engaging account of the rise of generative syntax and of some of the linguists who participated in this development, focusing on the scruffy fights that held a lot of people’s attention in the second half of the 1960s, and then tracking the trajectories of the linguists after that very belligerent moment. The book is great fun to read—Randy is a terrific writer, the likes of which we rarely see among academics—and along the way, the reader learns a lot of linguistics. (We’ll come back to that last point, though, because there are some points, not all of them fine points, which deserve some discussion.) This book is a greatly revised second edition of a book that came out in the early 1990s, and this new edition is longer and covers much more territory. While it is as punchy and pugnacious as the first, it is also more thoughtful and considered. Randy’s academic specialization is rhetoric, so you’ll learn a lot about rhetoric, and rhetoric has a lot to do with this story, which starts off as the story about the first rupture inside the group of young Turks known as generative grammarians back in the mid 1960s, pitting Chomsky and a few of his students, like Ray Jackendoff, against the four horsemen of the Generative Semanticists (Haj Ross, Jim McCawley, Paul Postal, and George Lakoff). Without conflict, there’s no story to tell, so conflict is at the center of the book, but it’s not an evenly matched conflict: it’s CHOMSKY in upper case letters against the others, whose names are in lower case and not set out in neon lights the way a certain other linguist’s are.

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Posted in Review

Upcoming events

28-30 June 2023
Faro, Portugal
International Inter-association (History of Language Teaching) Conference
Language teachers, methodologies and teacher training in historical perspective

4-6 September 2023
Universidade de TrĂĄs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
2023 Annual Colloquium of the Henry Sweet Society
What counts as scientific in the History of Linguistics?

6-9 September 2023
Universidade de TrĂĄs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
XXXII. International Colloquium of the “Studienkreis ‘Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft'” (SGdS)
Controversies in the history of linguistics