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Anti-positivism in early Soviet linguistics

A Marxist or idealist stance?

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Soviet linguistics of the 1920s–1930s has often been presented, in the Soviet Union as well as in the so-called “Western world”, as a quest for a Marxist science of language. As a matter of fact, it would be more accurate to speak of an original blend of German romanticism, Neo-Platonistic tradition and new “social” theories of language in order to characterize the various linguistic trends of Soviet linguistics in the inter-war period. What was at stake was the question of Positivism. R. Jakobson, as well as V. Vološinov refused “mechanical causality”, the former quoting J. de Maistre, the latter – K. Vossler. It appears that the German-Italian idealist trend of thought is a better explanation for the Soviet linguistics of the inter-war period than Marxism.

  • Affiliations: 1: University of Lausanne

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     [Google Scholar]
  2. Croce, Benedetto
    1902 Estetica come scienza dell’espressione e linguistica generale. Milano: Sandron.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. 1909 Esthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic. London: MacMillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Danilevskij, Nikolaj
    1885–1889 Darvinism: kriticheskoe izsledovanie, 2nd vol. Saint Petersburg: Komarov.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Engliš, K
    1930 Teleologie jako forma vědeckého poznání, Praha: Topič.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Fischer, J.L
    1931 Základy poznání, Praha: Topič.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Jakobson, Roman
    1928 “O hláskoslovném zákonu a teleologickém hláskosloví”. Časopis pro moderní filologii, 14.183–184. (English translation “The concept of the sound law and the teleological criterion”, in Jakobson 1971a, 1–2).
     [Google Scholar]
  8. 1929 “Über die heutigen Voraussetzungen der russischen Slavistik”. Slavische Rundschau1.629–646. (Repr. in Roman Jakobson: Semiotik, Ausgewählte Texte 1919–1982, ed. by Herausgegeben von Elmar Holenstein, 50–70. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1988.).
     [Google Scholar]
  9. 1929a “Remarques sur l’évolution phonologique du russe”. Travaux du Cercle linguistique de Prague, II.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. 1931a K xarakteristike evrazijskogo jazykovogo sojuza. Paris: Izdatelstvo evrazijcev.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. 1931b “Der russische Frankreich-Mythus”, Slavische Rundschau6.636–642.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. 1933 “La scuola linguistica di Praga”. La CulturaXII: 3.633–641.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. 1971a Selected Writings, vol. I (Phonological Studies). Paris – The Hague: Mouton.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. 1971b Selected Writings, vol. II (Word and language).Paris – The Hague: Mouton.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. 1988 Semiotik. Ausgewählte Texte 1919–1982, ed. by Elmar Holenstein . Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Jakobson, Roman & Pomorska Krystyna
    1982 Besedy. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. 1983 Dialogues. Cambridge – London: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. de Maistre, Joseph
    1842 Les soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg. Lyon: Louis Lesne Éditeur (1st ed. 1821).
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Savickij, Petr
    1927 Geograficheskie osobennosti Rossii. Prague: Evrazijskoe knigoizdatel’stvo.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Sériot, Patrick
    2012 Structure et totalité. Les origines intellectuelles du structuralisme en Europe centrale et orientale. Limoges: Lambert-Lucas. (2nd ed.).
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Vološinov, Valentin
    1930 Marksizm i filosofija jazyka, Leningrad: Priboj (1st ed.: 1929).
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Voloshinov, Valentin
    1973 Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. New York & London: Seminar Press. (8th ed.: Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Vossler, Karl
    1904 Positivismus und Idealismus in der Sprachwissenschaft. Eine sprachphilosophische Untersuchung. Heidelberg: C. Winter.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. 1913 Frankreichs Kultur im Spiegel seiner Sprachentwicklung. Heidelberg: C. Winter.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Vucinich, Alexander
    1988a Darwin in Russian Thought. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. 1988b “Russia: biological sciences”, The Comparative Reception of Darwinism,ed. by T.F. Glick , 227–255. Austin: The Univ. of Texas Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Wilbur, Terence
    1977 The ‘Lautgesetz’ Controversy. A Documentation (1885–1886). Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/acil.9
     https://doi.org/10.1075/acil.9 [Google Scholar]

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