The prospects of a sapir renaissance in linguistics

Yakov Malkiel
University of California, Berkeley
Summary

This brief presentation reconstructed on the basis of a tape recording a quarter-century after the date of its original delivery is hardly more than an informal causerie, which the speaker never expected to see in print some day. However, it represents an interesting document in the history of American linguistics in that it mirrors the mood of the late 1950s, a decade marked by first attempts to revive interest in certain characteristic aspects of Sapir’s oeuvre. In addition, it exemplifies the particular appeal of Sapir’s thinking and style of scientific argumentation to younger intellectuals born, raised, and educated in Europe, whose careers later unfolded on New World campuses.

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