MaĂŻa Ponsonnet Australian National University and Dynamique du Langage (CNRS/UniversitĂ© Lyon 2) Apart from a few fruitful but pointed encounters, linguistics and philosophy of language often talk past each other. In this post, I try and establish a dialogue between…
Yearly Archives: 2013
From Inductivism to Structuralism: the ‘method of residues’ goes to the field
Michael Silverstein University of Chicago It should be clear to anyone who surveys the historical record that the âdiscoveryâ of the phoneme â that is, the codification of phonological theory and method â was key in linguistsâ consciousness of a…
Tagged with: Bauduoin de Courtenay, Bloomfield, Daniel Jones, field linguistics, history of linguistics, Jerzy KuryÆowicz, Neogrammarians, phoneme, phonology, Roman Jakobson, Sapir, Saussure, structuralism, Trubetskoy
Posted in 19th century, 20th century, America, Article, Europe, History, Linguistics, Structuralism
Posted in 19th century, 20th century, America, Article, Europe, History, Linguistics, Structuralism
Historical Chinese phonology as a meeting ground for the Indian, the Chinese, and the Western linguistic tradition
Lei Zhu Shanghai International Studies University The speech sound, being the most important medium between our physical body and linguistic mind, is one of human beingsâ oldest objects of study. In different cultures, it has been understood in different ways,…
Tagged with: China, chinese phonology, chinese scholarship, Europe, fanqie, history of linguistics, India, phonology, rhyme study, Western
Posted in Article, China, Europe, History, India, Linguistics, Phonology
Posted in Article, China, Europe, History, India, Linguistics, Phonology
Authenticity and the correction of errors in the context of language reclamation
Rob Amery University of Adelaide Introduction Most languages spoken in the world today have an unbroken tradition. Languages like English, Japanese, Navajo and Pitjantjatjara have been passed on from generation to generation without intervention. Children in Ernabella, for instance, are…
Otto Neurath’s Isotype and his philosophy of language
James McElvenny University of Sydney The public image of the Vienna Circle, a group of thinkers active in Vienna in the 1920s and 30s (see Haller 1993; Stadler 2001[1997]), was characterised by a near-fanatical faith in ‘scientific’ thinking. In their…
Tagged with: Isotype, Otto Neurath, philosophy of language, physicalism, protocol sentence debate, Rudolf Carnap, Vienna Circle
Posted in 20th century, Article, History, Philosophy
Posted in 20th century, Article, History, Philosophy
Der Artikel ist keine ‘Wortart’! Zur synthetischen Grammatik von Sekiguchi
Kennosuke Ezawa Ost-West-Gesellschaft fĂŒr Sprach- und Kulturforschung, Berlin Die Linguistik war lange nicht zur Erkenntnis dessen gekommen, was durch den Artikel geschieht, wenn er verwendet wird. âAllheitâ ist bekanntlich ein Inhalt, der im Deutschen mit dem sogenannten bestimmten Artikel realisiert…
Tagged with: Article, Artikel, Georg von der Gabelentz, semantics, syntax, synthetische Grammatik, Tsugio Sekiguchi
Posted in Article, Linguistics, Semantics, Syntax
Posted in Article, Linguistics, Semantics, Syntax
Linguists choosing the wrong side: Jacob van Ginneken and other alleged Nazi collaborators
Toon Van Hal University of Leuven Unlike the other posts to this blog, the present post is not intended as a contribution to learning. Its sole ambition is to open a discussion on a rather sensitive topic (which is not…
Tagged with: 20th century, history, Jacob van Ginneken, linguistics, Nazi ideology
Posted in 20th century, Article, History, Linguistics
Posted in 20th century, Article, History, Linguistics
Rethinking the history of the Aryan paradigm
Christopher Hutton University of Hong Kong My involvement with this topic began when I observed that the notion of a superior âAryan raceâ, which functions in the English-speaking world as a near-universal shorthand for Nazi ideology, has no clear counterpart…
Tagged with: Aryan, Germany, history of linguistics, Nazi ideology, race, Volk
Posted in 19th century, 20th century, Article, Germany, History, Linguistics
Posted in 19th century, 20th century, Article, Germany, History, Linguistics
Program July-October 2013
[Program updated 30 July 2013] 24July Rethinking the history of the Aryan paradigmChristopher HuttonUniversity of Hong Kong 31July Break 7August Linguists choosing the wrong side: Jacob van Ginneken and other alleged Nazi collaboratorsToon Van HalUniversity of Leuven 14August Der Artikel…
Do linguists measure anything?
Nick Riemer University of Sydney and Laboratoire dâhistoire des thĂ©ories linguistiques, UniversitĂ© Paris-Diderot Few questions in linguistics can be as hoary, fundamental or, perhaps, as unsatisfactorily handled, as that of the disciplineâs empirical status â a question typically presented as…
Tagged with: philosophy of linguistics, science, scientificity, scientism, semantics
Posted in Article, Linguistics, Philosophy, Semantics
Posted in Article, Linguistics, Philosophy, Semantics
History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences 