History of Linguistics

Schools

Geneva school:

• Structuralism → Saussure → lang et parole

• Language as a structured system: A network of interrelated sytstems where meaning arises from relationships between signifier and signified

Prague school:

• Language as a functional tool: A system where each element serves a purpose within communication, emphasizing phonology and stylistics.

• Functionalism

• Phonology → phoneme concept of Jakobson → “Phoneme is minimal functional unit.”

• Jakobson, Trubetzkoy

Copenhagen School:

• Relational Grammar

• Built on Saussureian structuralism by Hjelmslev

London School:

• Functionalism

• “Language is a tool for social communication.” Language as a social phenomenon (social context)”

• Malinowski, Firth (SG), Halliday (SFG), Henry Sweet

American Structuralism:

• Descriptivism and behaviorism

• “Language is a behavior.”

• Franz boas and his students → Sapir and Whorf, Bloomfield

Generative School:

• Generativism → Chomsky

• Sytnax, UG , LAD, Poverty of stimuli, finite Generative grammar → finite rules infinite sentences, modularity, cognitive science

Sociolinguistics School:

• William Labov → sociolinguistics

• variation and language change

• Hymes → ethnography of communication

Roman Jakobson and Prague School

• As a reaction to formal (structural linguistics), Saussure.

• “language as a tool for communication”

• Language as a functional tool: A system where each element serves a purpose within communication, emphasizing phonology and stylistics.

• functionalism

• every language has specific function in specific context

• Trubetzkoy

• Phonology → phoneme: the minimal functional unit of language, not meaningful. - Jakobson

• binart oppositions

• Jakobson’s communicative functions:

  • referential, phatic, emotive, poetic, conative, metalingual

• binary oppositions of Jakobson → they are important to understand languge

London School

• Henry Sweet, Malinoski, Firth, Halliday

• “Language is a tool for social communication.” Language as a social phenomenon (social context)”

• “Language is a system of choices for meaning-making.” - Halliday

Henry Sweet:

• phonetics and grammar

• Historical linguistics, the importance of context

Malinowski:

• an anthropologist → social and cultural context

• context of situation in language use

• Highlighted how language functions in specific cultural or social context. → that shapes the early pragmatics

Firth:

• Systemic grammar: He introduced the idea that grammar is not just about rules but about systems of options

Halliday: Inspired by Saussure’s structuralism and Jakobson’s functionalism

• metafunctions:

  • Ideational

  • Interpersonal

  • Textual

American Structuralism - Descriptivists

• Descriptivism → Boas and his students

• Structuralism - Saussure’s influence

• Bloomfield, Franz Boas, Sapir and Whorf

• “Language as a behavior..” Language consists of interrelated systems.”

• As a reaction to prescriptivism

• Linguistics as a natural science

• phonology and morphology → observable linguistic behaviors

• no meaning studies → meaning is subjective

• 1- Natural data → natural language using

• 2- Linguistic relativity → strong (linguistic determinism), weak (linguistic influence)

• 3- Scientific objectivity → observable linguistic behavior like phonology and morphology

• 4- Language change → Langauges evolve constantly and they are all equal.

Franz Boas

• ethnography → culture → Sapir and horf hypothesis will be inspired by this

Sapir and Whorf:

• hopi language (indigenous languages) have not time perception → Linguistic relativity

• Linguistic relativity → strong (linguistic determinism) and weak (linguistic influence) sides.

  • Language determines the thought (our perception of reality)

  • Language influence the thought (our perception of reality)

Brent Berlin and Paul Key will be inspired by this while studying cognitive linguistics → universality in color terms

Bloomfield:

• LSA (linguistic society of America) → language journal → promoting linguistics as scientific field

• behaviorism - Influenced by Skinner

• “Language as a behavior".”

• phonetics, morphology and syntax but no semantics why? Because meaning is subjective.

• Behaviorism:

  • habit formation, stimulus- response (as opposed to Chomsky’s poverty of stimuli), punishment, conditioning, reinforcement, trial error, imitation (as opposed to Chomsky’s LAD)

• language teaching methods

American Generativists

• Chomsky

• Generative grammar as opposed to functionalism

• Generative Grammar - UG - syntax

• Universality in language → All languages have common grammatic structures and they are innate.

• Cognitive scientist but he is different from other cognitive linguists in the way of not focusing on context.

• LAD (Language acquisition devices) → children are born with an innate capacity of acquiring languages naturally.

• Poverty of stimuli → Critique of Behaviorism of Bloomfield → not enough stimuli to acquire (learn) language for children

• Generative grammar → finite rules but infinite grammatical sentences, it does not have to be meaningful → “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”

• Modularity of mind → We are born with specialized faculties in our mind like the language faculty.