The first series of the History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences Podcast looks at the history of modern linguistics. We begin in this episode by examining the pre-history of comparative-historical grammar.
Blog Archives
Some reflections on the uses and abuses of theory in linguistic thought
Jon Orman My purpose in this piece is to offer a few brief thoughts on a series of questions with which I have become increasingly interested in recent months. Linguistics, it seems to me, is awash with theories and theoretical…
Praxeology and language: Social science as the study of human action
Daniel W. Hieber University of California, Santa Barbara danielhieber.com Introduction Since the formulation and elaboration of speech act theory by Grice (1957; 1969), Austin (1962) and Searle (1962) as part of the ordinary language movement in philosophy,[1]Â the linguistics community has…
Tagged with: Austrian school, Ludwig von Mises, ordinary language philosophy, philosophy of linguistics, pragmatics, praxeology, sociocultural linguistics
Posted in Article, Linguistics, Philosophy, Pragmatics
Posted in Article, Linguistics, Philosophy, Pragmatics
Ludwig Noiré and the Debate on Language Origins in the 19th Century
Jacopo D’Alonzo Sorbonne Nouvelle & Sapienza Università di Roma Introduction Linguistic naturalism was one of the main positions taken in linguistic research during the 19th century (for France, see Auroux 1984 and Desmet 1996; for England, see Aarsleff 1983; for…
Tagged with: animal communication systems, language and labour, language origins, linguistic naturalism, linguistics, Ludwig Noiré
Posted in 19th century, 20th century, Article, Europe, History, Linguistics, Philosophy
Posted in 19th century, 20th century, Article, Europe, History, Linguistics, Philosophy
The utility of constructed languages
A.W. Carus Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, LMU, Munich The question how language, a sequence of events in spacetime, can have meaning — which seems not to be in spacetime — has puzzled philosophers since antiquity, though it only came…
Tagged with: constructed languages
Posted in Article, Constructed languages, Linguistics, Philosophy, Pragmatics
Posted in Article, Constructed languages, Linguistics, Philosophy, Pragmatics
Anforderungen an eine serielle Untersuchung des Pariser Wettbewerbs von 1797/99 zum Einfluss der Zeichen auf das Denken
Kerstin Ohligschlaeger-Lim Universität Potsdam Im folgenden soll die Untersuchung des Pariser Wettbewerbs zum Einfluss der Zeichen auf das Denken (1797/99) vorgestellt werden. Dieser Wettbewerb gliedert sich in epistemologische und semiotische Diskurse des ausgehenden 18. Jahrhunderts in Frankreich ein, in denen…
How Galilean is the ‘Galilean Method’?
Christina Behme Mount St Vincent University In many recent (and some not so recent) publications Noam Chomsky makes an appeal to Galilean science and claims the Galilean framework justifies his own approach to scientific inquiry (e.g., Chomsky, 2002, 2009, 2010,…
Tagged with: Cartesian linguistics, Chomsky, Galilean method
Posted in America, Article, Linguistics, Philosophy
Posted in America, Article, Linguistics, Philosophy
John Stoddart’s The Philosophy of Language: the “last truly universalist work”
Joseph L. Subbiondo California Institute of Integral Studies Introduction Sir John Stoddart (1773-1856) served as England’s advocate in Malta from 1803-1807, editor of The Times from 1814 to 1816, founder and editor of The New Times from 1816 to 1826,…
Tagged with: John Stoddart, universal grammar, William Hazlitt
Posted in 18th century, 19th century, Article, History, Philosophy
Posted in 18th century, 19th century, Article, History, Philosophy
Some Remarks on Objectivity in Pragmatics
Samuel Lewin University of Sydney I Let me start with some background. In recent decades, linguists and philosophers have debated the role played by context in determining what we say, as opposed to what we imply or otherwise mean, when…
Tagged with: Donald Davidson, Grice, meaning, objectivity, pragmatics, Recanati
Posted in Article, Linguistics, Philosophy, Pragmatics, Semantics
Posted in Article, Linguistics, Philosophy, Pragmatics, Semantics
Hendrik Pos and the epistemological foundations of structuralism
Patrick Flack Charles University, Prague The name of Dutch linguist and philosopher Hendrik Josephus Pos (1898-1955) is not one that rings many bells today, except perhaps in the Netherlands and the (growing) circles of Merleau-Ponty specialists. But to the keen…
