Although it is widely thought that structural linguistics began abruptly with the publication of Saussure's 'revolutionary' "Course in General Linguistics," the work of E. F. K. Koerner has demonstrated that Saussure, for all his originality, remained true to the basic tenets of his 19th-century predecessors. In this volume, the development of modern linguistics before, during and after Saussure is traced in 20 studies honouring the scholar who has done more than anyone else to professionalize linguistic historiography during the last quarter century. Among the wide range of topics covered are: grammar and philosophy in the age of comparativism, the relation of Saussure's anagram studies to his theory of the linguistic sign, nationalist overtones in German linguistics from 1914 to 1945, and the true story (with newly discovered documentation) of why Chomsky's "Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory" didn't get published during the 1950s or 60s. In addition to an introductory overview of Koerner's career and a complete listing of his publications, the volume includes previously unpublished materials from Saussure's notebooks.

Alongside considerable continuity, 20th-century diachronic linguistics has seen substantial shifts in outlook and procedure from the 19th-century paradigm. Our understanding of what is really new and what is recycled owes a great debt to E. F. K. Koerner's minutely researched interpretations of the work of the field's founders and key transitional figures. At the cusp of the 21st century, some of the best known scholars in the field explore how these methodological shifts have been and continue to be played out in historical Romance, Germanic and Indo-European linguistics, as well as in work outside these traditional areas. These 22 studies, honouring the founder of Diachronica and other publication ventures that have helped revitalize historical enquiry in recent decades, include examinations of Indo-European methodology and the reconstructions carried out by Bloomfield and Sapir; the search for relatives of Indo-European; comparative, structural and sociolinguistic analyses of the history of the Romance languages; regular vs. morpholexical approaches to OHG umlaut; and the synchrony and diachrony of gender affixes in Tsez.

Alongside considerable continuity, 20th-century diachronic linguistics has seen substantial shifts in outlook and procedure from the 19th-century paradigm. Our understanding of what is really new and what is recycled owes a great debt to E. F. K. Koerner's minutely researched interpretations of the work of the field's founders and key transitional figures. At the cusp of the 21st century, some of the best known scholars in the field explore how these methodological shifts have been and continue to be played out in historical Romance, Germanic and Indo-European linguistics, as well as in work outside these traditional areas. These 22 studies, honouring the founder of "Diachronica" and other publication ventures that have helped revitalize historical enquiry in recent decades, include examinations of Indo-European methodology and the reconstructions carried out by Bloomfield and Sapir; the search for relatives of Indo-European; comparative, structural and sociolinguistic analyses of the history of the Romance languages; regular vs. morpholexical approaches to OHG umlaut; and the synchrony and diachrony of gender affixes in Tsez.

Although it is widely thought that structural linguistics began abruptly with the publication of Saussure's 'revolutionary' "Course in General Linguistics," the work of E. F. K. Koerner has demonstrated that Saussure, for all his originality, remained true to the basic tenets of his 19th-century predecessors. In this volume, the development of modern linguistics before, during and after Saussure is traced in 20 studies honouring the scholar who has done more than anyone else to professionalize linguistic historiography during the last quarter century. Among the wide range of topics covered are: grammar and philosophy in the age of comparativism, the relation of Saussure's anagram studies to his theory of the linguistic sign, nationalist overtones in German linguistics from 1914 to 1945, and the true story (with newly discovered documentation) of why Chomsky's "Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory" didn't get published during the 1950s or 60s. In addition to an introductory overview of Koerner's career and a complete listing of his publications, the volume includes previously unpublished materials from Saussure's notebooks.

This book presents in a single volume a comprehensive history of the language sciences, from ancient times through to the twentieth century. While there has been a concentration on those traditions that have the greatest international relevance, a particular effort has been made to go beyond traditional Eurocentric accounts, and to cover a broad geographical spread. For the twentieth century a section has been devoted to the various trends, schools, and theoretical framework developed in Europe, North America and Australasia over the past seventy years. There has also been a concentration on those approaches in linguistic theory which can be expected to have some direct relevance to work being done at the beginning of the twenty-first century or those of which a knowledge is needed for the full understanding of the history of linguistic sciences through the last half of this century. The last section of this book reviews the applications of some of these findings. Based on the foundation provided by the award winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics this volume provides an excellent focal point of reference for anyone interested in the history of the language sciences.

Fascinated with the heritage of ancient Greece, early modern intellectuals cultivated a deep interest in its language, the primary gateway to this long-lost culture, rehabilitated during the Renaissance. Inspired by the humanist battle cry “To the sources!” scholars took a detailed look at the Greek source texts in the original language and its different dialects. In so doing, they saw themselves confronted with major linguistic questions: Is there any order in this immense diversity? Can the Ancient Greek dialects be classified into larger groups? Is there a hierarchy among the dialects? Which dialect is the oldest? Where should problematic varieties such as Homeric and Biblical Greek be placed? How are the differences between the Greek dialects to be described, charted, and explained? What is the connection between the diversity of the Greek tongue and the Greek homeland? And, last but not least, are Greek dialects similar to the dialects of the vernacular tongues? Why (not)? This book discusses and analyzes the often surprising and sometimes contradictory early modern answers to these questions.