Blog Archives

Galant grammarians: Donneau de Visé’s Mercure galant

Doyle Calhoun Yale University (Department of French) What was the Mercure galant and why should it interest historians of linguistics? Founded in 1672 by Jean Donneau de Visé (1638–1710) — journalist and royal historiographer under Louis XIV — the bestselling

Posted in 17th century, 18th century, Article, Grammars

What is Syriac and what is Aramaic according to Syriac grammarians (8th-16th cent.)

Margherita Farina Histoire des Théories Linguistiques (Paris) What is Aramaic? In modern linguistic terms, we can say that Aramaic is a linguistic group, composed by dialectal varieties defined on a geographical, chronological and socio-cultural basis. For example, we speak about

Posted in Article, Grammars, Syriac, Uncategorized

Being critical: Elements of Critical Theory in the work of critical discourse analysts

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Diego Romeo University of Edinburgh The constellation of linguistic research broadly labelled as Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) can hardly be understood as the homogeneous product of a monolithic theory or methodology. The variety of approaches employed by critical discourse analysts

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Posted in Article, Linguistics

Der Siegener Diskursmonitor – ein Onlineportal zur strategischen Kommunikation

Friedemann Vogel, Fabian Deus & Clemens Knobloch Universität Siegen 1. Gegenstand und Ziel des Diskursmonitors Der “Diskursmonitor” (www.diskursmonitor.de) ist ein disziplinenübergreifendes, webbasiertes Informations- und Dokumentationsportal zur strategischen Kommunikation in öffentlichen Diskursen.[1] Das Portal richtet sich nicht nur an die Fachcommunity

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Posted in Article, Linguistics

Has the LSA Been a Generativist-Dominated Organisation?

Frederick J. Newmeyer University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and University of Washington There are two stories about how the field of linguistics (at least in the United States) reacted sociologically to the advent of generative grammar. I call

Posted in 20th century, America, Article, Linguistics, Uncategorized

Une bonne langue pour chanter ? Réflexions sur les caractéristiques phonétiques des langues et sur le chant baroque

Claudia Schweitzer Histoire des Théories Linguistiques, CNRS, Université de Paris Dans sa Lettre sur la musique française (1753 : 91), Rousseau déclare « qu’il n’y a ni mesure ni mélodie dans la Musique Française, parce que la langue n’en est pas

Posted in 17th century, 18th century, Article, Europe, Uncategorized

Language in and out of society: Converging critiques of the Labovian paradigm

Johannes Woschitz University of Edinburgh The following text is based on and is, where appropriate, an elaboration of Woschitz (2019), a paper I have recently published and which is the centrepiece of my PhD thesis. A different title could have

Posted in America, Article, Dialectology, Linguistics, Phonetics, Phonology, Sociolinguistics

The journal WORD and the structural heritage of usage-based linguistics: Three functional tenets and an overarching principle

Enrico Torre Università degli Studi di Genova The first issue of WORD was launched in 1945, announced on its front cover as “the journal of the Linguistic Circle of New York, devoted to the study of linguistic science in all

Posted in 20th century, America, Article, History, Linguistics

The formalisation of grammatical meanings in Copenhagen structural linguistics. Some remarks.

Lorenzo Cigana University of Copenhagen (NorS) The aim of this outline contribution, which will receive a proper treatment elsewhere, is to describe a single piece within the broader mosaic of European Structuralism: an undercurrent of Danish structural linguistics focused on

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Posted in Article, Europe, Grammars, Linguistics, Structuralism

The foreign entanglements of Mandarin Chinese in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Mårten Söderblom Saarela Academia Sinica in Taipei This blog post will discuss some transnational aspects of the history of Mandarin Chinese, what in the twentieth century became codified as the national language of China. I will first briefly discuss what

Posted in 18th century, 19th century, 20th century, Article, China, History, Uncategorized

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 Trás-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 Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
XXXII. International Colloquium of the “Studienkreis ‘Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft'” (SGdS)
Controversies in the history of linguistics