Drechsel, Emanuel J. 2024. Wilhelm von Humboldt and Early American Linguistics: Resources and Inspirations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 346 p. ISBN 9781108966801. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108966801
Publisher’s webpage

Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835), an early pioneer in the philosophy of language, linguistic and educational theory, was not only one of the first European linguists to identify human language as a rule-governed system –the foundational premise of Noam Chomsky’s generative theory – or to reflect on cognition in studying language; he was also a major scholar of Indigenous American languages. However, with his famous naturalist brother Alexander ‘stealing the show,’ Humboldt’s contributions to linguistics and anthropology have remained understudied in English until today. Drechsel’s unique book addresses this gap by uncovering and examining Humboldt’s influences on diverse issues in nineteenth-century American linguistics, from Peter S. Duponceau to the early Boasians, including Edward Sapir. This study shows how Humboldt’s ideas have shaped the field in multiple ways. Shining a light on one of the early innovators of linguistics, it is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the field.

Dumarty, Lionel, ed. 2024. Langue idéale, langue réelle. Description et normalisation des langues classiques du IIIe s. av. J.-C. au XIIe s. de notre ère. Turnhout : Brepols. (Corpus Christianorum). 268 p. ISBN 978-2-503-60901-0
Publisher’s website

Depuis la naissance de la grammaire, les premiers théoriciens de la langue se sont heurtés à un paradoxe : est-il possible de réduire la somme indéfinie des faits de langue à un ensemble fini de règles ? Ce paradoxe appelle d’autres prolongements : les travaux des grammairiens témoignent-ils tous, et tous de la même manière, du rapport, parfois contradictoire, entre la langue qu’ils observent, avec ses variantes, ses particularismes, et celle qu’ils donnent à voir comme un système ordonné et fondé en raison ? Et s’il y a pour eux tension entre les deux démarches, comment se comportent-ils face à la difficulté ? Cherchent-ils à résoudre la contradiction ou à la contourner ? Y parviennent-ils et, dans ce cas, quelles stratégies déploient-ils pour y parvenir ?
Les huit contributions de ce volume couvrent une large période, courant sur plus d’un millénaire, depuis les scholiastes d’Homère, pères de la grammaire alexandrine (III^e s. av. J.-C.), jusqu’au commentateurs médiévaux de Priscien (XII^e s. ap. J.-C.). Le problème du rapport entre norme et usage y est abordé dans divers domaines et sous de nombreux aspects : la question de l’orthographe et de la syntaxe et le statut de la correction de la langue (la pureté linguistique : Hellenismos, Latinitas) et de la faute (barbarisme et solécisme) ; le problème de la règle (analogia), de ses extensions, de ses limites ; le rôle fondamental de l’étymologie et, derrière le rapport entre la forme et le sens, la question de la pathologie linguistique.

McElvenny, James. 2024. A History of Modern Linguistics: From the Beginnings to World War II. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 208 p. ISBN 9781474470025
Publisher’s website

In this book, McElvenny offers a concise history of modern linguistics from its emergence in the early nineteenth century up to the end of World War II. Written as a collective biography of the field, it concentrates on the interaction between the leading figures of linguistics, their controversies, and the role of the social and political context in shaping their ideas and methods.
While A History of Modern Linguistics focuses on disciplinary linguistics, the boundaries of the account are porous: developments in neighbouring fields – in particular, philosophy, psychology and anthropology – are brought into the discussion where they have contributed to linguistic research.

Garrett, Andrew. 2023. The Unnaming of Kroeber Hall. Language, Memory, and Indigenous California. Cambridge: MIT Press. 472 p. ISBN 9780262547093
Publisher’s website

In January 2021, at a time when many institutions were reevaluating fraught histories, the University of California removed anthropologist and linguist Alfred Kroeber’s name from a building on its Berkeley campus. Critics accused Kroeber of racist and dehumanizing practices that harmed Indigenous people; university leaders repudiated his values. In The Unnaming of Kroeber Hall, Andrew Garrett examines Kroeber’s work in the early twentieth century and his legacy today, asking how a vigorous opponent of racism and advocate for Indigenous rights in his own era became a symbol of his university’s failed relationships with Native communities. Garrett argues that Kroeber’s most important work has been overlooked: his collaborations with Indigenous people throughout California to record their languages and stories.
The Unnaming of Kroeber Hall offers new perspectives on the early practice of anthropology and linguistics and on its significance today and in the future. Kroeber’s documentation was broader and more collaborative and multifaceted than is usually recognized. As a result, the records Indigenous people created while working with him are relevant throughout California as communities revive languages, names, songs, and stories. Garrett asks readers to consider these legacies, arguing that the University of California chose to reject critical self-examination when it unnamed Kroeber Hall.