An Annotated Chronological Bibliography of Western Histories of Linguistic Thought, 1822–1972

After some general statements about the study of language (7–19) and an excourse on various writing systems (19–34), a survey of the history of IE linguistics from the Renaissance to the beginning of the 20th century is given, with emphasis on the beginning of comparative linguistics (39–58), represented by Gyarmathi, Rask, Bopp, and Grimm. There is no bibliography and no index. An E. transl. by Caroline C. and Peter A. Henriksen is in preparation.

The series remained unfinished; the part Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft never appeared. Of the other part entitled Die Erforschung der indogermanischen Sprachen, the following volumes were published: I (1916, viii + 312 pp), Die griechische Sprache (1–126), by Albert Thumb (1865–1915); Die italischen Sprachen (127–230), by Alois Walde (1869–1924); Vulgärlatein (231–80), by Karl von Ettmayer (1874–1938), and Die keltischen Sprachen (281–305), by Rudolf Thurneysen (1857–1940); ‘Gelehrtenverzeichnis’ (306–12); II:1+2 (1927–36, viii + 455 pp.), Germanisch: Allgemeiner Theil und Lautlehre by Wilhelm Streitberg and, after his death, completed by Victor Michels (1866–1929), with the assistance of Max-Hermann Jellinek (1868–1938); III (1917, v + 154 pp.), Slavisch-Litauisch (1–107), by Aleksander Brückner (1856–1939); Albanisch (109–51), by Norbert Jokl (1877–1942), and index of authors (152–54); IV:1 (1929, x + 112 pp.), Indisch by Walter Wüst (b.1901); IV:2 (1927, iv + 104 pp.), Iranisch (1–84), by Hans Reichelt (1877–1939), and Armenisch (85–104), by Heinrich Zeller (no dates); no index; V:l (1931, 78 pp.), Hethitisch und ‘kleinasiatische’ Sprachen by Johannes Friedrich (1893–1972); index of authors (77–78); V:2 (1935, vi + 49 pp.), Tocharisch by Ernst Schwentner (b.1890); index of authors (p.49); V:4 (1931, 81 pp.), Etruskisch by Eva Fiesel (1891–1937); bibliography (69–79, and index of authors (80–81). The vols. may still be useful for the more linguistic aspects of the history of IE linguistics but do not constitute actual histories in themselves.

Supplement-vol.: Philologie und Altertumskunde in Indien (Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1921; repr. Liechtenstein: Kraus, 1966), 38 pp. Still the standard work in the field. From the ‘discovery’ of Sanskrit until 1918.

A brief survey of the history of (classical) philology from the Renaissance to the turn of this century; no bibliographical references whatever (including footnotes!) .

Unpublished; abstract printed at Zweibrücker Druckerei [in Zweibrücken? ] in 1921, 8 pp. According to the summary (pp. 3–7), the study analyzes the grammatical, philosophical, and pedagogical aspects of the Port-Royal grammar of Arnauld and Lancelot (1660) and its aftermath in 18th-century linguistic thought in France.

Gives a useful survey of (mainly 19th century) developments in linguistics; in particular, J. devotes ample space to scholars usually overlooked in the ‘standard’ histories of linguistics, e.g., Jakob Hornemann Bredsdorff (70–71), Daniel Jenisch (29–31), Karl Moritz Rapp (68–70), and others.

The chap. contains a survey of 19th-century linguistic developments (though it begins with the philosophies of Descartes and Leibniz), in particular of Humboldt (98–106), Schleicher (106–12), and subsequent stages until the turn of this century (112–21). E. transl., “The Problem of Language in the History of Philosophy”, Philosophy of Symbolic Forms by E. Cassirer, transl. by Ralph Manheim, vol.I, 117–76. New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1953, xiv + 328 pp.

The vol. was the basis for Pedersen 1931; it contains neither a bibliography nor an index of names. For details, see the latter item. Cf. also Pedersen 1916.

Not seen by the compiler; obviously, the study is fairly limited in scope.

This history of shorthand writing and related inventions surveys the development from antiquity to modern times. Vol.I, 461 pp., begins, after a general introd. (11–16), with Greece (17–25), and Rome (26–48), and covers England (57–312!), North America (313–37), and France (338–457); index of authors (458–61); vol.II, 613 (+ 1 page of errata), treats Germany (11–298), Sweden (299–440), Norway (441–53), Denmark (454–94), Finland (495–507), other European (508–43) and non-European countries and aspects (544–606); index of authors (608–13).

A brief but informative account relating Polish linguistic scholarship of more than half a century; for accounts on Jan Baudouin de Courtenay (1845–1929), and Mikołaj Kruszewski (1851–87), see pp.47–51, 71–74, and 51–53, respectively.

Rev. G. version of Thomsen 1902, with a name index (100–01). This volume has been more frequently consulted than the original and the following translations: Istorija jazykovedenija do konca XIX ved ed. by Rozalija Osipovna Šor (1894–1939), Moscow: Gos. učeb.-ped. izd. narkomprosa RSFSR, 1938, 160 pp., and Historia de la lingüística transl., with a preface and an epilogue, by Javier de Echave-Sustaeta, Barcelona: Ed. Labor, 1945. – A survey of western linguistic studies from the early beginnings to 1900; bibliographical footnotes. No chapters. An E. transl. is in preparation (Amsterdam: J. Benjamins.)

Surveys linguistic ideas in France from the first publication of the Port-Royal grammar (1660) to the appearance of Raynouard’s Grammaire comparée des langues de l’Europe latine (1821), which in H.’s view marks the beginning of linguistics as a science in that country (cf. p.13). The six chaps, are entitled: 1) “Raisons des dates choisis (1660–1821)” (13–18); 2) “Port-Royal” (19–28); 3) “Les continateurs de Port-Royal” (29–42); 4) “Les grammairiens empiristes” (43–67); 5) “Les indépendants” (68–81), and “Le sanskrit. Les romanistes” (82–90). The study concludes with a bibliography (91–95), which makes special mention of Gunvor Sahlin’s César Chesneau du Marsais et son rôle dans l’évolution de la grammaire générale (Paris: Presses Univ. de France, 1928), a book excluded from the present survey.

The study consists of four chaps., each subdivided into small paragraphs; only the first two are historical in nature. Chap. I, “Teoria della lingua e ‘ars grammatica’” (11–40), begins with Plato’s Cratylus and ends with speculations about normative grammar; chap. II, “Origine e sviluppo della grammatica storica” (41–96), surveys linguistic ideas from Vico to Vossler, including a statement entitled “Linguistica e sociologia (De Saussure)” (85–89). Index of names (191–96).

Presents post-1660 developments in French grammatical debate, devoting particular chaps. to Beauzée (17–32), and Dumarsais (32–37), in addition to those devoted to special topics, namely, the theories of the origin of language (37–41), etymology (41–50), the questions of ‘(bon) usage’ and ‘raison’ in the French language of the 17th and 18th centuries (50–56), and those of orthography and spelling reform (56–59). Bibliography (p.7); curriculum vitae (p.61).

Cf. Pedersen 1924. This study has been the most influential history of linguistics among North-American scholars at least. Owing to the indices (343–60) added by Spargo and the retension of the portraits of linguists of the original, the book still serves as a good source of information about 19th-century linguistic scholarship. Following the model of Delbrück 1880, earlier stages in the discipline are surveyed very briefly (1–11). The ‘data-orientation’ and other biases of the author become obvious if one notes the exclusion of scholars who worked in the field of non-Indo-European linguistics or of studies devoted to general linguistic problems, including H. Paul’s Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte (Halle/S.: M. Niemeyer, 1880; 5th ed., 1920)!

Diss., Univ. of Erlangen. Discussion of the theories of parts of speech of one century in German literary debate. Bibliography (169–98).

In five chaps., the author presents a comparative study of the grammatical works in Italy, Spain, and France in the 15th and 16th centuries, beginning with a chap mainly treating the doctrines of orthography and pronunciation (11–85), and ending with one on national sentiment and grammar (198–213). Bibliography (218–32).

Bibliography (449–60); index (461–80). For details, see Iordan 1937;.rev. ed. of Rum. original appeared in 1962 (see below).

A survey of phonetic analyses of French from Silvius, Meigret, and others in the 16th century to Passy, Rousselot, Roudet, and Grammont at the beginning of the 20th century. Bibliographical footnotes; no index.

Account not seen by the compiler; this portion of the volume has been enlarged considerably in the 2nd ed. (1966:17–110), to which the reader is referred.

The study consists of four major chapters, each containing various subsections: 1) “Romance Studies before 1900 [From Dante until the turn of this century]” (1–85); 2) “The Idealistic or Aesthetic School of K. Vossler” (86–143); 3) “Linguistic Geography” (144–278), and 4) “The French School [including the ‘Geneva school’ and Saussure]” (279–82). Conclusion (383–90); indices (391–403). The book contains many useful bibliographical footnotes and references within the text. For the new ed., see Posner 1970. (The original has not been revised, contrary to the editor’s claim!)

Study mentioned in Kacnel’son 1941:71; compiler has been unable to trace a location. Possibly, the account was prompted by Šor’s edition of the Russ. transl. of Thomsen 1902 (cf. Thomsen 1927, commentary), and it is conceivable that it was published together with the latter.

A somewhat more detailed account than the one in Leonard Bloomfield, Language (New York: H. Holt, 1933), 3–20, but hardly less biased. For a similar survey, see Hughes 1962.

A brief survey of western linguistics from antiquity until the 1930’s in Russia; after a chap, entitled “The crisis of comparative-historical linguistics” (66–68), a short statement on “Marxistic-Leninistic linguistics” (68–69) concludes the account. Bibliography (70–71).

A chronological survey of phonetic investigations from the earliest references in the literature of the Ancient Egyptians, the Bible, and the Greeks until the end of World War I. Bibliography (85–86). The previous year, P.-C. had published a Quellenatlas zur Geschichte der Phonetik (Hamburg, 1940).

This brief account consists of four major chaps., beginning with an overview of linguistic ideas from Herodot (!) to the end of the 18th century (9–48); chap. II treats the ‘discovery’ of Sanskrit (Sassetti, William Jones) and the inception of the comparative method with F. Schlegel (49–73); chap.III surveys the development of the comparative method from Bopp to Bloomfield (75–92); the book concludes with a chap. on ‘modern schools’ (93–124), and a bibliographical note (p. 125). The book contains nothing which could not be found in Benfey 1869, Delbrück. 1880 (5th ed., 1919), Jespersen 1922, and Iordan 1937. Index (p.127).

Survey of the development of classical philology and (later on) linguistics: 1) “La tradición: Creadón de la filología clásica actual (9–36); 2) “La filología clásica del siglo XIX” (37–66); “Aparición de la lingüistica: Sus ramas” (67–86); 4) “Las grandes corrientes teóricas en la filología y la lingüistica” (87–112), and 5) “Filología e historia: Tendencias más recientes” (113^:54). Index of authors (155–59); index of abbreviations (*161).

This insightful article traces the origin of the structural concept of language back to ideas and methods developed by botany, comparative anatomy, and other natural sciences of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

An overview of western studies of syntax from antiquity to 1920; for details, see Drăganu 1970 (i.e., It. transl.). The following periods are distinguished: 1) Greece and Rome (9–15); 2) Sanctius to Herder (16–22); 3) F. Schlegel to Meyer-Lübke (23–56); 4) Wundt to Meringer (57–96), and 5) Vossler to Sapir (97–262). The most useful portion of the volume is the bibliography (263–332). There is no index. Cf. also the detailed review by Gordon Myron Messing in Language 23.287–94 (1947).

This article is an interesting document of the attitudes toward certain 19th-century linguistic ideas, including those of Humboldt (cf. p.468), held by post-Bloomfieldian descriptivists during the 1940’s and 1950’s. Cf. George L[eonard] Trager’s rejoinder in Studies in Philology 43.461–64 (1946).

After an introd. (5–12), chaps. are devoted to antiquity (13–27), the period from the middle ages until 1800 (28–37), the 19th (38–62), and 20th (63–88) centuries. Bibliography (89–90); index (91–94).

A critical account of earlier periods in German grammatical debate, in particular the 19th century tradition established by Karl Ferdinand Becker (1775–1849).

This influential article revived the interest in earlier British phoneticians of the 17th and 18th centuries, e.g., Francis Lodwick, Edward Search, William Johnston, James Buchanan, and others, including writings of anonymous scholars.

The study consists of two main parts, “English Grammars before 1800” (45–147), beginning with Bullokar’s Bref Grammar of English (1586), and ending with Mercy’s Short Introduction to English Grammar (1799) – cf. the chronological listing on pp.21–39 –, and “Some Problems of English Grammar” (151–311) which deals with questions pertaining to the parts of speech and grammatical categories. Index of names (313–20); subject index (321–22).

An account of the development of Indo-European linguistics from the 1870’s until 1916; this article has been supplemented by Strunk 1965 and Putschke 1969.

This book discusses, in seven chaps., particular issues in general linguistics rather than presenting a survey of 20th-century linguistic trends, an approach similar to Catalan Menendez-Pidal 1955 and Devoto 1951 (mentioned in the comment to the former book). Index of names (99–100).

A survey of linguistic studies in Britain and North America from the early beginnings to the mid-20th century.

Repr. in Găzdaru 1967:13–143; for details, see there.

After a general introduction (7–45), with annotations (47–48), and a bibliography (49–57) – a principle of structuring has been followed throughout the whole study — individual chaps. treat the following topics and scholars: “Le bas del metodo comparative: Bopp” (61–68; 69; 71–72, respectively); “Le origini della linguistica generale: Whitney” (73–110; 111–15, 117–21); “La paleontologia linguistica: Ascoli” (123–42; 143; 145–147); “I limiti del metodo comparativo: Meyer-Lübke e Meillet” (149–75; 177–79; 181–84); “La geografia linguistica: Gilliéron” (185–98; 199–200; 201–03); “La critica del metodo comparativo: Schuchardt” (205–23; 225–29; 231–33). 2 chaps, are devoted to lesser known Italian scholars (237–63). Index of subjects (267–70); index of authors (271–73).

A very insightful analysis of the development of historical-comparative Indo-European linguistics (1816–1936), in particular its intellectual background, including that of its main protagonists.

Preliminary version of Carroll 1953; see below for details.

Surveys Russ. linguistic work from 1917 until the late 1940’s, summing up Soviet contributions ,(1l0ff.). On Marr (13–23); part II mainly on Meščaninov.

Contains much valuable information pertaining to the history of dialect study; see especially the “aperçu historique sur le developpement de la dialectology” (xxiii-lv), and the chronological tables of publications and projects in this area (1179–1197). Table of contents (1315–34!). Index nominum (1203–30); index rerum (1239–1314).

The study covers the period of the early 14th century till 1540; emphasis is placed on the study of grammar: Greek (7–45), Latin (46–87), and Hebrew (88–129); general conclusion (130–33), with chronological tables (134–41), and a brief bibliography (142–43). No index.

The study attempts to relate classical and medieval linguistic ideas to post-Saussurean theories. It consists of four chaps.: 1) “Grammatical Theory among the Greeks” (1–47); 2) “Grammatical Theory among the Romans” (48–68); 3) “Mediaeval Grammatical Theory” (69–90), and 4) “Conclusion” (91–99). Select bibliography (100–01); index (103–04).

A study of grammatical theories from the schools of Chartres and Orleans (1150–1250) until the inception of the New Philology. E. summary on pp.457–69.. Bibliography (445–56); index of names (472–77); index of subjects (478–85).

The study consists of four chaps.: 1) “Early Backgrounds” (1–17), dealing with the works of John Hart, Robert Robinson, John Wilkins, and others; 2) “Nineteenth Century Backgrounds” (18–46), including the work of Pitman, Ellis, Lepsius, and others; 3) “Development of IPA [i.e., International Phonetic Alphabet]” (47–65), and concluding with 4) “Analysis of the IPA” (66–78). Bibliographical footnotes.

Revised and enlarged version of Carroll 1950. This important study of North American linguistic scholarship up to the early 1950’s devotes space to 19th century studies in linguistics, including European trends (15–23). For the most part, however, it is concerned with the development of American linguistics from the 1920’s onwards. It contains a rich bibliography (246–68), and an index (271–89). Two reviews may be mentioned, each of which expressed a particular viewpoint: Henry Lee Smith, Jr. (1913–72) in Language 31.59–72 (1955), and Uriel Weinreich (1924–67) in Word 9.277–79 (1953).

Surveys the history of the question of relationship among European languages from the appearance of Giraldus Cambrensis’ Description of Wales (1194) until F. Schlegel’s Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (1808). Bibliography (697–99).

This programmatic article was hotly discussed at the time. Apart from the points raised by Aleksandr Moiseevič Finkel’ and Isaak Iosifovič Cukerman in Voprosy Jazijkoznanija 3:6.102–05 and 105–06, respectively, the most important contribution to the debate was the article by Agnija Vasil’evna Desnickaja, “Ob universitets-kom kurse ‘Istorija jazykoznanija’”, ibid. 3:5.90–104 (1954) which also appeared in G. transl., “Zur Problematik der Vorlesung ‘Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft’”, Sowjetwissenschaft: Gesellschaftwissenschaftliche Abteilung 1955/4.515–31 (prepared by Klaus Müller).

A critical account, with excerpts (in G. transl. where applicable) from the relevant writings, of the development of linguistic thought from antiquity to modern times. For details, see Arens 1969. Bibliography (533–55). From the two dozen reviews of this book, the following may be mentioned here: Manfred Mayrhofer in Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift 37.401–04 (1956); Walter Porzig (1895–1961) in Gymnasium 65.530–33 (1958), and Jadwiga Puzynina in Poradnik Jȩzykowy 1959/9.412–20.

Similar to Giacomo Devoto’s (b.1897) I fondamenti della storia linguistica (Florence: G.C. Sansoni, 1951), 94 pp., this book is concerned with presenting particular aspects of general linguistics rather than a historical survey. No bibliography. Index of names (163–65).

In Jap. Survey of the history of western linguistics; compare chap.II, “Morphological Classification of Languages and the ‘Evolutionary’ theory of language” (21–47), which traces the subject matter from F. Schlegel (1808) to J. H. Greenberg in the 1950’s, or chap.III, “The Development of the Comparative Method” (47–73), which gives an account of the topic from Leibniz to Whitney and the neogrammarians.

A survey of Romance linguistics from Dante’s De vulgari eloquentia to the work of Vossler, Bally, and Spitzer.

Anthology of linguistic statements from Bopp to Meillet and Vendryes. For details, see Zvegincev 1964–65.

Paged consecutively. The vols. are entitled: I (1957), “Einführung – Fundamente – Aufbau” (1–357); II:I+2 (1958–59), “Ausbau” (361–615, 617–952); III:1+2 (1960–61), “Umbau” (955–1394, 1395–1882), and IV (1963), “Schlüsse: – Ubersichten” (1883–2320). Subject and name index (2145–2314); bibliography (2119–35). The work traces the ideas of the orgin of language and its diversity from the earliest historically attested times to the 20th century. For an appraisal, consult P. A. Verburg’s review article in Lingua 12.309–19 (1963).

Vol.1, “Survey of the Sources”, xxiii + 444 pp.; vol.II, “Phonology”, v + [445-] 1078 pp. Cf. the reviews by Eilert Ekwall in RES 9.303–12 (1958), and Martin Lehnert in Anglia 76.443–48 (1958).

After a general introduction (6–16), individual chaps. are devoted to the following epochs and areas in the history of linguistics: India (17–27); China (28–36); classical antiquity (Greece and Rome, 37–49); Arab linguistic scholarship (50–57); the middle ages (58–66); 16–18th centuries (67–77); The rise of comparative-historical linguistics’ (78–88); linguistics in the mid-19th century’ (89–98), and several chaps. devoted to ideological rather than linguistic questions (99–107, 139–47) – compare the treatment of post-Saussurean linguistics under the heading ‘Bourgeois sociologism and its development’ (128–38) –, and a chap. on the neogrammarians (108–17). Bibliographical references (14–16); indices (149–53).

Another part appeared in Romanisches Jahrbuch 12.23–50 (196l[l962]). A survey of structural linguistic trends in Europe and America, from Boas, Saussure, and Bloomfield to the late 1950’s and, in the supplement, early 1960’s.

The study presents the medieval grammatical tradition and its impact on Renaissance linguistic scholarship (pp.3ff.), and, after an analysis of the treatment of various individual aspects of grammar, discusses individual 17th-century grammars, from Alexander Hume (1617) to John Wallis (1653) (176–288). Bibliography (v-xii);no index.

As the title indicates, the study constitutes a history of the French language in its written code (from its early beginnings – 842 (the bilingual treaty signed at Strasburg) – until modern times) rather than a history of French linguistic scholarship, similar to the voluminous work of Brunot 1905ff. However, it contains chaps. devoted to aspects of French grammar (e.g. I, pp.25 3–64). Bibliographical references are given at the end of each chap. Total number of pages: vol.I: xviii + 409; vol.II: 306. No index.

For details, see Malmberg 1964 (=E. transl. of Malmberg 1959; 2nd ed.) For an American view of the first edition, consult Einar Haugen in Language 36.524–27 (1960).

The study is mainly concerned with John Palsgrave’s (1530) grammar of French and the ensuing linguistic debate in France. ‘Notice bibliographique’ (11–17) surveys previous work in the field. General bibliography (217–21); no index.

For details, see rev. version (Aarsleff 1967); bibliography (555–87).

A study on the background of Rask and the intellectual trends of his time that led to the formulation of comparative linguistics. G. summary (233–38); bibliography of primary and secondary sources (239–51). No index. AG. transl., Rasmus Rask und die grammatische Tradition: Eine Studie über den Wendepunkt in der Sprachwissenschaftsgeschichte, is to appear (Munich: W. Fink.)

The perhaps most important study to date evaluating the linguistic work of missionaries in French speaking areas of the North American continent during the 17th and 18th centuries, with particular reference to the work done by Jesuits in Canada on Algonquin languages. The historical chaps. I to V (11–66) are followed by an analysis of the phonology and morphology of Ojibwa-Algonquian (67–99) based on printed works and manuscripts written by these missionaries. Various appendices (103–28); bibliography (129–36), and index (137–41).

Work not seen by the compiler; for details, see Graur & Wald 1965.

Not seen by the compiler.

Consists of two major parts: ‘Early linguistic activities’ (11–56), consisting of a brief survey of pre-19th century linguistic work, and ‘Scientific linguistics’ (57–252), from the early comparatists to the first half of this century. Bibliographies (253–87); index of authors (295–309), with lifedates. See also Loja 1968.

First account by the author of Saussurean structuralism in Europe and America; supplemented ibid. 34.221–95 (1965). Together they formed the basis of Lepschy 1966 (see there for details).

See also Mohrmann, et al. 1963. The vol. includes individual articles summing up the linguistic theories and works of particular schools, e.g., A. Sommerfelt on the ‘French School’ (283–93), and Robert Godel on the “Ecole saussurienne de Genève” (294–99). Each contribution includes bibliographical footnotes or a bibliography. No index.

The book constitutes a history of linguistics, from the early beginnings (Sanskrit grammarians) to the 1950’s. Bibliography (241–49); index (250–58).