Alter William Dwight Whitney and the Science of Language

Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4214-2911-3
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 123, 0 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science

Linguistics, or the science of language, emerged as an independent field of study in the nineteenth century, amid the religious and scientific ferment of the Victorian era. William Dwight Whitney, one of that period's most eminent language scholars, argued that his field should be classed among the social sciences, thus laying a theoretical foundation for modern sociolinguistics.

William Dwight Whitney and the Science of Language offers a full-length study of America's pioneer professional linguist, the founder and first president of the American Philological Association and a renowned Orientalist. In recounting Whitney's remarkable career, Stephen G. Alter examines the intricate linguistic debates of that period as well as the politics of establishing language study as a full-fledged science. Whitney's influence, Alter argues, extended to the German Neogrammarian movement and the semiotic theory of Ferdinand de Saussure.

This exploration of an early phase of scientific language study provides readers with a unique perspective on Victorian intellectual life as well as on the transatlantic roots of modern linguistic theory.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Alter, Stephen G.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprachwissenschaften Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Soziolinguistik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Introduction: A Pathclearer in Linguistic Science
Chapter 1. An American Orientalist
Chapter 2. Indological Foreshadowings
Chapter 3. Victorian Language Debates
Chapter 4. Building a System of General Linguistics
Chapter 5. Organizing a New Science
Chapter 6. Creating a Science of Language
Chapter 7. Forging an Alliance with Anthropology
Chapter 8. The Battle with Max Müller
Chapter 9. The Elder Statesman and the Junggrammatiker
Chapter 10. Enduring Legacies
W.D. Whitney Chronology
Notes
W.D. Whitney's Main Works in General Linguistics
Essay on Sources
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Alter, Stephen G.
Stephen G. Alter, professor of history at Gordon College, Massachusetts, is the author of Darwinism and the Linguistic Image, also available from Johns Hopkins.