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- Volume 45, Issue 3, 2018
Historiographia Linguistica - Volume 45, Issue 3, 2018
Volume 45, Issue 3, 2018
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A remarkable compilation shift
Author(s): Rui Li and Annette Skovsted Hansenpp.: 263–288 (26)More LessSummaryDuring his work on his Chinese and English Dictionary (1842–1843) Walter Henry Medhurst (1796–1857) dramatically changed his compilation strategy by shifting from depending almost exclusively on Robert Morrison’s (1782–1834) Chinese-English dictionary, Zidian 字典 (1815–1823) to depending on multiple sources including Kangxi zidian 康熙字典 (1716), Morrison’s Wuche yunfu 五車韻府 (1819–1820), and Medhurst’s own A Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language (1832). By applying Lexicographic Archaeology to four linguistic case studies, this article discusses the reasons for this unusual lexicographical phenomenon. The authors argue that changes in information in Morrison’s Zidian after the 41st radical influenced Medhurst’s choices.
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An American at the origins of European Sprachwissenschaft and Italian historiographical thought
Author(s): Francesca M. Dovettopp.: 289–324 (36)More LessSummaryThis contribution is dedicated to William Dwight Whitney (1827–1897), a scholar who generally has a modest space dedicated to him in the historiography of linguistics, despite his name and works having had considerable circulation among his contemporaries. His originality and method are outlined with particular attention being given to his reception in Europe and in the setting of Italian studies of theoretical and empirical linguistics.
Whitney was among the first to contest Schleicher’s concept of language as a natural fact, claiming, instead, that it has social nature, as an ‘institution’ created by man; he was a forerunner in recognizing the relevance of signs and their value, and of language acquisition. In his demonstrations and in his methods he proposes a science of historical linguistics but at the same time it is open to 20th century linguistics and the concept of language as a complex system ordered and crossed by relationships. Both his unique approach to the study of Sanskrit, which emphasised the study of its use and its variants, and his interest for modern languages, makes him a particularly interesting scholar, as he and his reception testify the rise, in Europe and especially in Italy, of a new approach to linguistic issues, no longer exclusively historical-comparative, but also theoretical and general.
Nonetheless, Whitney ought to occupy a prominent place in the history of linguistics, because he was also the author of one of the first introductory texts of the discipline, which was published in 1875; in that same year a French translation came out, which was soon followed by an Italian, and a German translation (both 1876).The number of almost contemporaneous translations gives an idea of the gap which a general and introductory work like Whitney’s filled and illustrates that there was a clear need for it.
In several works, including recent ones, De Mauro identified the specific characteristics of Italian linguistic studies: we can find a good many of these traits in Whitney as well. Although the fruitful contribution of Whitney’s ideas in an environment which is ‘naturally’ inclined towards the themes and methods the American linguist dealt with, i.e., the ‘Italian linguistic school’, has not been fully recognised until now, it is undeniable that his ideas provided an important stimulus for new interpretations and new models.
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Among Latinists
Author(s): Tim Deneckerpp.: 325–362 (38)More LessSummaryIn the history of 20th-century Latin linguistics, the Catholic Dutch professors Joseph Schrijnen (1869–1938) and Christine Mohrmann (1903–1988) are known as the key figures of the ‘Nijmegen School’. They developed the disputable and indeed strongly debated hypothesis that the kind of Latin used by early Christians was a Sondersprache or langue spéciale (later Gruppensprache or langue de groupe) characterized by different types of ‘christianisms’. The aim of this article is to contribute to a critical historiography of the Nijmegen School by looking into the reception of its ideas among contemporary Latin linguists. In particular, it tries to reconstruct the evolving appraisals by Alfred Ernout (1879–1973) and Einar Löfstedt (1880–1955), on the basis of (a) the former’s reviews of studies published by the Nijmegen School (in contrast to reviews by other contemporary linguists), (b) studies published on neighbouring or overlapping subjects by Einar Löfstedt, and (c) a letter to Mohrmann from each of them, both of which are preserved in the archives of the Katholiek Documentatie Centrum in Nijmegen. In the case of Ernout, it is argued that he was probably always sceptical about the Sondersprache hypothesis, but that in his reviews of the 1930s this scepticism was mitigated to a ‘reticent’ attitude, possibly for reasons to do with the politics of science. In the case of Löfstedt, it is shown that he initially approved of the hypothesis and even integrated it into his own works, but that he gradually diverged from the Nijmegen School, partly on account of (Schrijnen and) Mohrmann’s polemical misrepresentation of his comments on gentes and pagani being semantic Umprägungen rather than Neuprägungen.
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Édouard Pichon, phonologue
Author(s): Gabriel Bergouniouxpp.: 363–378 (16)More LessRésuméÉdouard Pichon (1890–1940), qui est l’un des introducteurs de la psychanalyse en France, est surtout connu pour la grammaire Des mots à la pensée (1930–1950) qu’il a écrite avec Jacques Damourette (1873–1943). On sait moins qu’il a cherché à concilier la représentation mentale des sons avec les propositions phonologiques de Troubetzkoy. Dans une note manuscrite publiée pour la première fois dans cet article, il a tenté d’établir une distinction dans le vocalisme du français par la combinaison des traits d’aperture et de longueur. Il conjecture en particulier entre le /o/ et le /ɔ/ en syllabe finale ouverte une opposition qui n’est attestée dans aucun registre du français central. Il considère cette opposition comme un usage propre aux classes supérieures, transformant l’image orthographique des mots en un artefact de la perception.
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Ideas on language in Early Latin Christianity: From Tertullian to Isidore of Seville. By Tim Denecker
Author(s): Javier Uríapp.: 379–384 (6)More LessThis article reviews Ideas on Language in Early Latin Christianity: From Tertullian to Isidore of Seville
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Critics, Compilers, and Commentators: An introduction to Roman philology, 200 BCE–800 CE. By James E. G. Zetzel
Author(s): Tim Deneckerpp.: 385–390 (6)More LessThis article reviews Critics, Compilers, and Commentators: An introduction to Roman philology, 200 BCE–800 CE
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Sībawayhi’s Principles: Arabic Grammar and Law in Early Islamic Thought. By Michael G. Carter
Author(s): Amal Marogypp.: 391–396 (6)More LessThis article reviews Sībawayhi’s Principles: Arabic Grammar and Law in Early Islamic Thought
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200 Jahre Indogermanistik. By Thomas Lindner
Author(s): Leonid Kulikovpp.: 397–402 (6)More LessThis article reviews 200 Jahre IndogermanistikMonographisch-historiographischer TeilBibliographischer Teil
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Editée par/Edited by Anne Aarssen, Ekaterina Bobyleva, René Genis, Sijmen Tol and Eline van der Veken, with the assistance of Femmy Admiraal, Nadia van den Berg and Nozomi Cho. Linguistic Bibliography for the Year 2015 and supplement for previous years
Author(s): Pierre Swiggerspp.: 403–414 (12)More LessThis article reviews Linguistic Bibliography for the Year 2015 and supplement for previous years
Volumes & issues
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Volume 50 (2023)
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Volume 49 (2022)
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Volume 48 (2021)
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Volume 47 (2020)
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Volume 46 (2019)
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Volume 45 (2018)
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Volume 44 (2017)
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Volume 43 (2016)
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Volume 42 (2015)
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Volume 41 (2014)
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Volume 40 (2013)
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Volume 39 (2012)
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Volume 38 (2011)
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Volume 37 (2010)
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Volume 36 (2009)
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Volume 35 (2008)
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Volume 34 (2007)
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Volume 33 (2006)
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Volume 32 (2005)
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Volume 31 (2004)
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Volume 30 (2003)
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Volume 29 (2002)
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Volume 28 (2001)
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Volume 27 (2000)
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Volume 26 (1999)
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Volume 25 (1998)
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Volume 24 (1997)
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Volume 23 (1996)
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Volume 22 (1995)
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Volume 21 (1994)
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Volume 20 (1993)
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Volume 19 (1992)
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Volume 18 (1991)
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Volume 17 (1990)
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Volume 16 (1989)
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Volume 15 (1988)
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Volume 14 (1987)
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Volume 13 (1986)
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Volume 12 (1985)
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Volume 11 (1984)
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Volume 10 (1983)
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Volume 9 (1982)
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Volume 8 (1981)
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Volume 7 (1980)
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Volume 6 (1979)
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Volume 5 (1978)
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Volume 4 (1977)
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Volume 3 (1976)
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Volume 2 (1975)
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Volume 1 (1974)
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