Ce volume est l'aboutissement des actes d'un colloque international tenu à Lille en 1982. Son titre est explicite: il ne s'agit pas d'une histoire pointilliste, événementielle des avatars de la linguistique ou de la vie des linguistes mais bien d'une réflexion collective sur ce qu'a été, ce qu'est, ce que pourrait être, une théorie linguistique dans ses rapports avec son époque, ses auteurs, ses récepteurs et les autres théories auxquelles elle fait écho ou auxquelles elle répond. C'est ce qui a déterminé la composition du volume: il comporte sept parties qui regroupent les communications selon leurs thèmes d'intérêt:1- Méthodologie2- Période héllénistique et romaine3- Moyen Age (ce qui de loin est la période la plus intérssante et qui n'a été que récemment découverte)4- La Renaissance et l'âge classique5- Les Lumières (qui fait le point sur les nombreux travaux récents qui ont été consacrés à cette période et qui ajoute de précieuses contributions)6- XIXe et XXe siècles (périodes encore mal connues ou trop proches pour qu'on ose en parler)7- Histoire et méthodologie (section qui tente de faire le point sur les rapports entre logique, langage, sociologie, philosophie.)Aucun ouvrage actuel de linguistique ne peut prétendre être une somme, non plus qu'un synthèse. Celui-ci, dont les participants appartiennent à toutes les écoles linguistiques, ou se défendent de relever d'une quelconque obédience, n'a pas non plus ces prétentions: il se veut simplement outil d'information, objet de discussion.

The papers brought together in the present volume represent the essence of the author’s reflections on issues concerning linguistic historiography and of particular investigations in 19th and 20th century linguistic thought. The papers are clustered in three sections: I. Towards a Historiography of Linguistics, II. Appraisals of Individual Scholars, and III. Trends and Traditions in Linguistics.

Beginning with the anthropological linguistic tradition associated primarily with the names of Franz Boas, Edward Sapir and their students and concluding with the work of Noam Chomsky and William Labov at the end of the century. This book offers a comprehensive account of essential periods and areas of research in the history of American Linguistics and also addresses contemporary debates and issues within linguistics. Topics covered include: * The sources of the 'Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis' * Leonard Bloomfield and the Cours de linguistique générale * The 'Chomskyan Revolution' and its Historiography * The Origins of Morphophonemics in American Linguistics *William Labov and the Origins of Sociolinguistics in America. Toward a History of American Linguistics will be invaluable reading for academics and advanced students within the fields of linguistics and the history of linguistics.

Most of the papers collected in this volume concentrate on the history of linguistic ideas in France and Italy in the modern period (from the Renaissance to the present day). Some of them are specifically focused on the links between the two traditions of reflection on language. The contributions have a common methodological outlook: the authors do not believe that the history of linguistic ideas is a separate activity from research on language or that it is marginal with respect to the latter. On the contrary, they are convinced that in contemporary research into language we can still discern the influence — positive or negative as this may be — of factors deriving from the (sometimes distant) past. A historical analysis of these factors — whether it rejects them as superseded, or redefines them in order to elicit the fruitful suggestions they may still contain — has a contribution to make to the progress of theory.

The present volume follows the author's tradition of bringing together at certain intervals selections of articles which more often than not had previously been published in not easily accessible places, or which had not been published before. These papers do not typically represent mere reprints but in most instances thoroughly revised versions.This volume contains twelve articles organized under three headings, "Programmatic Papers in the History of Linguistics," "Studies in Linguistic Historiography," and "Sketches historiographical and (auto)biographical," plus as an appendix a complete list of Zellig Harris' writings as an illustration of Koerner's penchant for and belief in the importance of good bibliographies as a basis for historical research. While the first two sections, which take up the bulk of the volume, either show the author as an historian engage or demonstrate his work as a historiographer of 19th and 20th century linguistics, the third section is much shorter and less heavy going. Indexes of Biographical Names and of Subjects, Terms & Languages round out the volume, which also contains a number of portraits of linguists and other illustrations.

Contains: The Darwinian Theory and the Science of language (1863) by August Schleicher, translated from the German by Alexander V. W. Bikkers. On the Significance of Language for the Natural History of Man (1865) by August Schleicher, translated from the German by J. Peter Maher. On the Origin of Language (1867) by Wilhelm H. I. Bleek, edited with a preface by Ernst Haeckel, translated from the German by Thomas Davidson.