Overview

In this book, McElvenny offers a concise history of modern linguistics from its emergence in the early nineteenth century up to the end of World War II. Written as a collective biography of the field, it concentrates on the interaction between the leading figures of linguistics, their controversies, and the role of the social and political context in shaping their ideas and methods. While A History of Modern Linguistics focuses on disciplinary linguistics, the boundaries of the account are porous: developments in neighbouring fields - in particular, philosophy, psychology and anthropology - are brought into the discussion where they have contributed to linguistic research.

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9781474470018

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It is a truly wonderful book, by far the best history of Western linguistics in the pre-Chomskyan period. I recommend it to any students or correspondents who are interested in doing a project on one of the historical topics discussed.--Talbot J. Taylor, William & Mary To any student of linguistics, anyone who works in the field: James McElvenny's A History of Modern Linguistics will wonderfully enrich your understanding of the scientific trajectory you are part of. If you have done work on the heritage of language analysis, you will find here, as I have, a new and compelling historical arc that resituates developments across the period when linguistics was established as an academic field and took its modern form. The book gets its points across with perfect clarity, speaking directly to you whether specialist or newcomer. A tour de force, beautifully written and authoritative.--John E. Joseph, University of Edinburgh

To any student of linguistics, anyone who works in the field: James McElvenny's A History of Modern Linguistics will wonderfully enrich your understanding of the scientific trajectory you are part of. If you have done work on the heritage of language analysis, you will find here, as I have, a new and compelling historical arc that resituates developments across the period when linguistics was established as an academic field and took its modern form. The book gets its points across with perfect clarity, speaking directly to you whether specialist or newcomer. A tour de force, beautifully written and authoritative. --John E. Joseph, University of Edinburgh

Author Information

James McElvenny is a Researcher in the Collaborative Research Centre ""Media of Co-operation"" at the University of Siegen, and has previously held positions at the universities of Edinburgh, Cambridge and Potsdam. He is the author of Language and Meaning in the Age of Modernism (EUP, 2018), and editor of The Limits of Structuralism (2023) and Form and Formalism in Linguistics (2019).

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