Based on extensive archival research, interviews, and participant observation over the course of two decades, Theory Groups in the Study of Language in North America provides a detailed social history of traditions and “revolutionary” challenges to traditions within North American linguistics, especially within 20th-century anthropological linguistics. After showing substantial differences between Bloomfield's and neo-Bloomfieldian theorizing, Murray shows that early transformational-generative work on syntax grew out of neo-Bloomfieldian structuralism, and was promoted by neo-Bloomfieldian gatekeepers, in particular longtime Language editor Bernard Bloch. The central case studies of the book contrast the (increasingly) “revolutionary rhetoric” of transformational-generative grammarians with rhetorics of continuity emitted by two linguistic anthropology groupings that began simultaneously with TGG in the late-1950s, the ethnography of communication and ethnoscience.
The history of linguistics in North America provides a continuum from isolated scholars to successful groups dominating entire disciplines. Although focused on groupings — both “invisible colleges” and readily visible institutions — Murray discusses those writing about language in society who were not participants in “theory groups” or “schools” both before and after the three central case studies. He provides a theory of social bases for claiming to be making “scientific revolution” in contrast to building on sound “traditions”, and suggests non-cognitive reasons for success in the often rhetorically violent contention of perspectives about language in North America during the last century and a half.
The book includes appendices explaining the methodology used, an extensive bibliography, and an index.
Altman, Cristina, Jon Mills, N. Guryanova, Werner Hüllen, Hiroyuki Eto, Joseph L. Subbiondo & John E. Joseph
1999. Review. Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas Bulletin 32:1 ► pp. 40 ff.
Cornips, Leonie & Frans Gregersen
2016. The impact of Labov's contribution to general linguistic theory. Journal of Sociolinguistics 20:4 ► pp. 498 ff.
Cser, András
2003. Book review. Acta Linguistica Hungarica 50:3-4 ► pp. 475 ff.
Darnell, Regna
2002. Languages: Linguistic Change and the Study of Indian Languages from Colonial Times to the Present. In A Companion to American Indian History, ► pp. 173 ff.
Darnell, Regna
2005. Franz Boas. In Handbook of Pragmatics, ► pp. 1 ff.
De Oliveira Batista, Ronaldo
2020. Retóricas revolucionárias na linguística: recepção de teorias e novidade científica. Forma y Función 33:2 ► pp. 41 ff.
2010. From ‘scientific revolution’ to ‘unscientific revolution’: an analysis of approaches to the history of generative linguistics. Language Sciences 32:5 ► pp. 507 ff.
Kertész, András
2019. Fallacies in the Historiography of Generative Linguistics. Foundations of Science 24:4 ► pp. 775 ff.
Koerner, E.F. Konrad
1995. [no title] - Randy Allen Harris. The Linguistics Wars. New York: Oxford University Press. 1993. Pp. xii + 356. US$42.00 (hardcover).. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique 40:2 ► pp. 247 ff.
2020. Moving (slowly) toward understanding knowledge as a global commons. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 15:1 ► pp. 18 ff.
Leeds‐Hurwitz, Wendy
2002. American sociolinguistics: Theorists and theory groups. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 38:2 ► pp. 195 ff.
Leeds‐Hurwitz, Wendy
2010. Writing the Intellectual History of Intercultural Communication. In The Handbook of Critical Intercultural Communication, ► pp. 21 ff.
Leeds‐Hurwitz, Wendy
2023. Writing the Intellectual History of Intercultural Communication. In The Handbook of Critical Intercultural Communication, ► pp. 31 ff.
Le Prieult, Henri
2006. Délimitations et défenses du territoire : les conditions d’émergence de la linguistique nord-américaine au début du XXe siècle. Anglophonia Caliban/Sigma :19 ► pp. 149 ff.
Prieult, Henri Le
2006. Tradition vs. Modernité : doit-on nier la grammaire pour la faire ?. In La Négation, ► pp. 445 ff.
Linn, Andrew
1997. HenrySweetSocietyColloquium1997. Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas Bulletin 29:1 ► pp. 10 ff.
Lum, Casey Man Kong
2014. Media Ecology. In The Handbook of Media and Mass Communication Theory, ► pp. 137 ff.
2009. Velmezova, E.: Les lois du sens: la sémantique marriste (Slavica Helvetica, 77), Bern, etc. Peter Lang, 2007, 392 pp.. Russian Linguistics 33:3 ► pp. 319 ff.
2013. An Experimental Study of Interactive and Cooperative English Writing Strategy under Network Environment. Theory and Practice in Language Studies 3:2
Zhou, Feifei
2020. Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson: Order in Conversation. In Models of the Human in Twentieth-Century Linguistic Theories, ► pp. 99 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.