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History of Linguistics 2021: Selected papers from the 15th International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences (ICHoLS 15), Milan, 28 August – 1 September
Edited by Savina Raynaud, Maria Paola Tenchini and Enrica Galazzi
[Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 133] 2024
► pp. 222–239

Chapter 15
Courses in general linguistics by Roman Jakobson at the École Libre des Hautes Études

| Sorbonne Université,
This paper focuses on Roman Jakobson’s general linguistics lectures in New York during World War II. These courses, that Claude Lévi-Strauss attended, have played a major role in the spreading of post-war “generalized structuralism”. However, they only came to be known by the later testimonies of the two scholars and partial editions from the 1970s and 1980s. Therefore, this study aims at showing that taking into account unpublished sources can bring something new to our knowledge of these teachings.
After the description of the institutional context of the École Libre des Hautes Études that housed this teaching, the list of Roman Jakobson’s general linguistics classes is retraced and put in perspective with the unpublished notes that have been kept in his archives. Taking into account the preparatory manuscripts of these classes sheds light on the logic that governs Jakobson’s teaching at the École Libre, conceived as a critical reinterpretation of the Course in General Linguistics.
Keywords: Roman Jakobson, Claude Lévi-Strauss, structuralism, École Libre des Hautes Études, archives, Ferdinand de Saussure
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The institutional context: L’École Libre des Hautes Études
  • 3.Jakobson’s teachings at the École Libre
  • 4.The contribution of Roman Jakobson’s archives
  • 5.A Course in general linguistics critical reading programme
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
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References (54)
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute Archives and Special Collections. Roman Jakobson Papers. MC 72.
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