American linguistics
Encyclopedia
The history of linguistics
in the United States
begins with William Dwight Whitney
, the first US-taught academic linguist, who founded the American Philological Association
in 1869.
Leonard Bloomfield
(1878-1949), professor at the University of Chicago
from 1921, founded the Linguistic Society of America
in 1924. Other linguists active in the first half of the 20th century include Edward Sapir
, Benjamin Whorf
.
From the 1950s, American linguistic tradition began to diverge from the de Saussurian
structuralism
taught in European academia, notably with Noam Chomsky
's "nativist
" transformational grammar
and successor theories, which during the 1970s "Linguistics Wars
" and the hey-day of postmodernism
gave rise to a bewildering variety of competing grammar frameworks.
American linguistisics outside the Chomskian tradition includes functional grammar
with proponents including Talmy Givón
, and cognitive grammar
advocated by Ronald Langacker
and others.
linguistic typology
: controversially mass lexical comparison
by Joseph Greenberg
.
Historical linguistics
, especially Indo-European studies
, is taught at Harvard, UCLA and Austin, Texas.
History of linguistics
Linguistics as a study endeavors to describe and explain the human faculty of language.In ancient civilization, linguistic study was originally motivated by the correct description of classical liturgical language, notably that of Sanskrit grammar by , or by the development of logic and rhetoric...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
begins with William Dwight Whitney
William Dwight Whitney
William Dwight Whitney was an American linguist, philologist, and lexicographer who edited The Century Dictionary.-Life:William Dwight Whitney was born in Northampton, Massachusetts on February 9, 1827. His father was Josiah Dwight Whitney of the New England Dwight family...
, the first US-taught academic linguist, who founded the American Philological Association
American Philological Association
The American Philological Association , founded in 1869, is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization...
in 1869.
Leonard Bloomfield
Leonard Bloomfield
Leonard Bloomfield was an American linguist who led the development of structural linguistics in the United States during the 1930s and the 1940s. His influential textbook Language, published in 1933, presented a comprehensive description of American structural linguistics...
(1878-1949), professor at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
from 1921, founded the Linguistic Society of America
Linguistic Society of America
The Linguistic Society of America is a professional society for linguists. It was founded in 1924 to advance linguistics, the scientific study of human language. The LSA has over 5,000 individual members and welcomes linguists of all kinds. It works to advance the discipline and to communicate...
in 1924. Other linguists active in the first half of the 20th century include Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist-linguist, widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics....
, Benjamin Whorf
Benjamin Whorf
In studying the cause of a fire which had started under the conditions just described, Whorf concluded that it was thinking of the "empty" gasoline drums as "empty" in the meaning described in the first definition above, that is as "inert," which led to a fire he investigated...
.
From the 1950s, American linguistic tradition began to diverge from the de Saussurian
Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...
structuralism
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
taught in European academia, notably with Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
's "nativist
Psychological nativism
In the field of psychology, nativism is the view that certain skills or abilities are 'native' or hard wired into the brain at birth. This is in contrast to empiricism, the 'blank slate' or tabula rasa view, which states that the brain has inborn capabilities for learning from the environment but...
" transformational grammar
Transformational grammar
In linguistics, a transformational grammar or transformational-generative grammar is a generative grammar, especially of a natural language, that has been developed in the Chomskyan tradition of phrase structure grammars...
and successor theories, which during the 1970s "Linguistics Wars
Linguistics Wars
Linguistics Wars is a colloquial term for a protracted academic dispute in American generative linguistics which took place mostly in the 1960s and 1970s....
" and the hey-day of postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
gave rise to a bewildering variety of competing grammar frameworks.
American linguistisics outside the Chomskian tradition includes functional grammar
Functional grammar
Functional theories of grammar include a range of functionally based approaches to linguistics, the scientific study of language. The grammar model developed by Simon Dik bears this qualification in its name, functional grammar, as does Michael Halliday's systemic functional grammar.Role and...
with proponents including Talmy Givón
Talmy Givón
Thomas Givon is a linguist and writer. He is one of the founders of functionalism in linguistics...
, and cognitive grammar
Cognitive grammar
Cognitive grammar is a cognitive approach to language developed by Ronald Langacker, which considers the basic units of language to be symbols or conventional pairings of a semantic structure with a phonological label. Grammar consists of constraints on how these units can be combined to generate...
advocated by Ronald Langacker
Ronald Langacker
Ronald Wayne Langacker is an American linguist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego. He is best known as one of the founders of the cognitive linguistics movement and the creator of Cognitive Grammar....
and others.
linguistic typology
Linguistic typology
Linguistic typology is a subfield of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features. Its aim is to describe and explain the common properties and the structural diversity of the world's languages...
: controversially mass lexical comparison
Mass lexical comparison
Mass comparison is a method developed by Joseph Greenberg to determine the level of genetic relatedness between languages. It is now usually called multilateral comparison...
by Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Harold Greenberg was a prominent and controversial American linguist, principally known for his work in two areas, linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.- Early life and career :...
.
Historical linguistics
Historical linguistics
Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...
, especially Indo-European studies
Indo-European studies
Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. Its goal is to amass information about the hypothetical proto-language from which all of these languages are descended, a language dubbed Proto-Indo-European , and its speakers, the...
, is taught at Harvard, UCLA and Austin, Texas.
See also
- North American Association for Computational LinguisticsNorth American Association for Computational LinguisticsThe North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics provides a regional focus for members of the Association for Computational Linguistics in North America as well as in Central and South America, organizes annual conferences, promotes cooperation and information exchange...
- American Association for Applied LinguisticsAmerican Association for Applied LinguisticsThe American Association for Applied Linguistics is an American organization, founded in 1977, of scholars interested in applied linguistics....
- SIL InternationalSIL InternationalSIL International is a U.S.-based, worldwide, Christian non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages,...