Book review
Last Papers in Linguistic Historiography. By E. F. K. Koerner (Studies in the History of the Language Sciences, 128).
Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2020. 214 pp. ISBN 9789027207364 € 105,00 (HB) DOI logo

Reviewed by Cristina Altman
University of São Paulo
Table of contents

It is a tradition that from time to time the great John Benjamins editor E. F. Konrad Koerner puts together a selection of his previously published papers, in many cases significantly extended, and assembles them in a single volume. This was the case with Koerner 1978a, 1989, 1995, 1999, 2004, and it is the case now: 2020 Last Papers is the most recent member of this cast. It follows the general organization of its predecessors, methodological and epistemological considerations about the discipline precede individual scholars’ studies. The first part, “Positions and problems in the History of Linguistics” (1–93), reviews issues underpinning Historiography of Linguistics (HoL) both as a scientific project and as an autonomous discipline. It also projects HoL into the future: new lines of research could expand interest in the discipline, notably those related to language and ideology. The second part, “Studies concerning the work of individual scholars” (95–210), revisits Koerner’s old passions, here including both his favourite heroes as well as his favourite enemies: August Schleicher (1821–1868), Baudouin de Courtenay (1845–1929), Hermann Paul (1846–1921), Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), Edward Sapir (1884–1939) and, to the surprise of those who know his preferences, Mikhail Mikhajlovič Bakhtin (1895–1975), alias Baxtin. As always, extensive and valuable bibliographies go along with each text, the solid basis on which Koerner built his well-deserved reputation of an accurate researcher, a respectable (and demanding) editor and the incredible serial author of hundreds of papers and books throughout fifty years of professional activity, if we consider as the starting point his 1971 thesis on the origins and developments of Saussurian Linguistics (v. Koerner 1973 [1971]).

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Arnauld, Antoine & Claude Lancelot
1975 [1660/1676] Grammaire générale et raisonnée. (3rd ed. 1676) Paris: Le Petit. (Transl. by J. Rieux & B. E. Rollin, General and rational grammar. The Port-Royal grammar. Mouton: The Hague 1975.)Google Scholar
Auroux, Sylvain, E. F. Konrad Koerner, Hans-Josef Niederehe & Kees Versteegh
eds. 2000–2006 History of the Language Sciences: An international handbook on the evolution of the study of language from the beginnings to the present. Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 3 vols. [Volume I 2000; vol. II 2001; vol. III 2006.] DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Foucault, Michel
1966 Les mots et les choses. Une archéologie des sciences humaines. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
Koerner, E. F. Konrad
1973 [1971] Ferdinand de Saussure: Origin and development of his linguistic thought in Western studies of language. A contribution to the history and theory of linguistics. Braunschweig: Friedrich Vieweg & Sohn (Oxford & New York: Pergamon Press 1973; 2nd pr. 1974.) DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1976 “Towards a Historiography of Linguistics: 19th and 20th century paradigms”. History of linguistic thought and contemporary Linguistics, ed. by Herman Parret, 685–718. Berlin & New York: W. de Gruyter. (Repr. in Koerner 1978a: 21–54.)Google Scholar
1978a Toward a Historiography of Linguistics: Selected essays. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1978b Western Histories of Linguistics, 1822–1976. An annotated, chronological bibliography. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1989 Practicing Linguistic Historiography: Selected essays. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1995 Professing Linguistic Historiography. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1999 Linguistic Historiography. Projects & prospects. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004 Essays in the History of Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
ed. 2007 Edward Sapir: Critical assessments of leading linguists. 3 vols. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Thomas S.
1962 The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lakatos, Imre
1978 The Methodology of Scientific Research Programs, ed. by John Warrall & Gregory Currie. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laudan, Larry
1977 Progress and its Problems. Towards a theory of scientific growth. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Meillet, Antoine
1966 [1930] “Michel Bréal et la Grammaire Comparée au Collège de France”. Portraits of Linguists: A biographical source book for the history of Western linguistics, 1746–1963, ed. by Thomas A. Sebeok, vol. 1, 440–453. Bloomington & London: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Morpurgo-Davies, Anna
1998 [1992] History of Linguistics IV. Nineteenth-century linguistics. London & New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Newmeyer, Frederick
1996 Generative Linguistics. A historical perspective. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Oliveira, Meryane
2020 A Historiografia Linguística no Brasil (1993–2020): um estudo acerca da recepção de ideias e da produção de materiais ao longo de quase três décadas de implantação da área. Doctorate Project MS. Federal University of Piauí.Google Scholar
Paul, Hermann
1880 Principien der Sprachgeschichte. Halle/Saale: Max Niemeyer. (2nd enl. ed. 1886; 3rd ed. with new spelling of Prinzipien 1898; 4th ed. 1909; 5th and last corrected ed. 1920.)Google Scholar
Popper, Karl R.
1959 The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Robins, Robert H.
1978 Foreword. In Koerner 1978a: ix–xiii. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schmitter, Peter
2003 Historiographie und Narration. Metahistoriographische Aspekte der Wissenschaftsgeschichtsschreibung der Linguistik. Seoul/Tübingen: Sowadalmedia/Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Schreyer, Rüdiger
2000 “What’s Wrong with the Historiography of Linguistics?” Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft 10.205–208.Google Scholar
Vendryes, Joseph
1955 “La Société de Linguistique de Paris (1865–1955)”. Orbis 4:1.7–21.Google Scholar