History of linguistics
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{{see|History of grammar}}
'''Linguistics''' as a study endeavors to describe and explain the human faculty of [[language]].
Historically, linguistic study was motivated by the correct description of a [[liturgical language]], notably that of [[Sanskrit grammar]] by {{IAST|[[Pāṇini]]}} (fl. 4th century BC). Also beginning around the 4th century BC, [[Ancient Greece]] and [[China]] developed their own grammatical traditions. [[Arabic grammar]] and [[Hebrew grammar]] are a product of the Middle Ages.
Modern linguistics begins to develop in the [[18th century]] and comes to flower in the "golden age of [[philology]]" of the [[19th century]].
{| style="float: right;"
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==Antiquity==
Across cultures, the early history of linguistics is associated with a need to disambiguate discourse, especially for ritual texts or in arguments. This often led to explorations of sound-meaning mappings, and the debate over conventional versus naturalistic origins for these symbols. Finally this leads to the processes by which larger structures were formed from units.
===India===
{{main|Vyakarana|Tolkāppiyam}}
Linguistics in [[Vedic civilization|ancient India]] derived its impetus from the need to correctly recite and interpret the [[Vedas|Vedic]] texts. Already in the oldest Indian text, the [[Rigveda]], {{IAST|''[[vāk]]''}} "speech" is deified. The early Sanskrit grammarian [[Sakatayana]] (before c. 500 BCE) proposes that verbs represent ontologically prior categories, and that all nouns are etymologically derived from actions. The etymologist [[Yāska]] (c. 5th c. BCE?) posits that meaning inheres in the sentence, and that word meanings are derived based on sentential usage. He also provides four categories of words - [[noun]]s, [[verb]]s, pre-verbs, and particles/invariants. He also provides a test for nouns both concrete and abstract: words which can be indicated by the pronoun ''that''.
{{IAST|[[Pāṇini]]}} (c. 4th century BC) opposes the Yāska view that sentences are primary, and proposes a grammar for composing [[semantics]] from [[morpheme|morphemic]] roots. Transcending the ritual text to consider living language, Pāṇini specifies a comprehensive set of about 4,000 aphoristic rules ([[sutra]]s) that
# map the semantics of verb argument structures into [[thematic role]]s,
# provide morphosyntactic rules for creating verb forms and nominal forms whose seven cases are called ''karaka'' (similar to [[grammatical case|case]]) that generate the [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]],
# take these morphological structures and consider [[phonology|phonological]] processes (e.g. root or stem modification) by which the final phonological form is obtained.
In addition, the Pāṇinian school also provides a list of 2000 verb [[Root (linguistics)|roots]] which form the objects on which these rules are applied, a list of sounds (the so-called Shiva-sutras, and a list of 260 words not derivable by the rules.
The extremely succinct specification of these rules and their complex interactions led to considerable commentary and extrapolation over the coming centuries. The phonological structure includes defining a notion of sound universals similar to the modern [[phoneme]], the systematization of [[consonant]]s based on oral cavity constriction, [[vowel]]s based on height and duration. However, it is the ambition of mapping these from [[morpheme]] to semantics that is truly remarkable in modern terms.
Grammarians following Panini include [[Katyayana]] (c. 3rd century BCE, aphorisms on Pāṇini (Vartika) and [[Indian mathematics|mathematics]]), [[Patanjali]] (2nd century BCE, commentary on selected topics in Pāṇini's grammar (Mahabhasya) and on Katyayana's aphorisms, as well as according to some, also the author of the [[Yoga Sutras of Patanjali|Yoga Sutras]]), and [[Pingala]] ([[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]]). Several debates ranged over centuries, for example, on whether word-meaning mappings were conventional ([[Vaisheshika]]-[[Nyaya]]) or eternal (Katyayana-Patanjali-[[Mimamsa]]).
The [[Nyaya Sutras]] specified three types of meaning:
the individual (''this cow''), the [[Universal (metaphysics)|type universal]] (''cowhood''), the image (''draw the cow'').
That the sound of a word also forms a class (sound-universal) was observed by [[Bhartrihari]] (c. [[500]] AD), who also posits that language-universals are the units of thought, close to the [[nominalism|nominalist]] or even the [[linguistic determinism]] position. Bhartrihari also considers the sentence to be ontologically primary (word meanings are learned given their sentential use).
Of the six canonical texts or [[Vedanga]]s that formed the core syllabus in [[Brahmin]]ic educational from the first century AD till the eighteenth century, four dealt with language:
*[[Shiksha]] (''{{IAST|śikṣā}}''): [[phonetics]] and [[phonology]] ([[sandhi]]), (Gārgeya and commentators)
*[[Chandas]] (''{{IAST|chandas}}''): [[prosody]] or [[Meter (poetry)|meter]], (Pingala and commentators)
*[[Vyakarana]] (''{{IAST|vyākaraṇa}}''): [[grammar]], ({{Unicode|Pāṇini}} and commentators)
*[[Nirukta]] (''{{IAST|nirukta}}''): [[etymology]], (Yāska and commentators)
[[Bhartrihari]] around 500 AD introduced a philosophy of meaning with his [[sphoṭa]] doctrine.
This body of work became widely known in 19th century Europe, and is thought to have influenced Sanskrit scholars such as [[Ferdinand de Saussure]] and [[Roman Jakobson]]{{Fact|date=October 2007}}. In particular, many of the foundational ideas proposed by de Saussure, who was a lecturer in Sanskrit, are thought to have been influenced by {{Unicode|Pāṇini}} and [[Bhartrihari]]{{Fact|date=October 2007}}.
The [[South India]]n linguist [[Tolkaappiyar|Tolkāppiyar]] (c. 1st century BC or AD) in his ''[[Tolkāppiyam]]'', presented a grammar of [[Tamil language|Tamil]], derivatives of which are still used today.
===Mediterranean===
Around the same time as the Indian developments, [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] [[philosopher]]s were also debating the nature and origins of language. A subject of concern was whether language was man-made or supernatural in origin. [[Plato]] in his [[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]] presents the [[Naturalism (philosophy)|naturalistic]] view, that word meanings emerge out of a natural process, independent of the language user. His arguments are partly based on examples of compounding, where the meaning of the whole is usually related to the constituents, although by the end he admits a small role for convention. [[Aristotle]] supports the conventional origins of meaning.
Subsequently, the text [[Art of Grammar|''Tékhnē grammatiké'']] (c. 100 BCE, Gk. ''gramma'' meant letter, and this title means "Art of letters"), possibly written by [[Dionysius Thrax]], lists eight parts of speech, and lays out the broad details of Greek morphology including the [[declension|case]] structures. This text was intended as a pedagogic guide (as was Panini), and also covers punctuation and some aspects of prosody. Other grammars by [[Charisius]] (mainly a compilation of Thrax, as well as lost texts by [[Remmius Palaemon]] and others) and [[Diomedes]]
(focusing more on prosody) were popular in [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] as pedagogic material for teaching Greek to native [[Latin]] speakers.
In the 4th c., [[Aelius Donatus]] compiled the Latin grammar ''Ars Grammatica'' that was to be the defining school text through the Middle Ages.
A smaller version, ''Ars Minor'', covered only the eight parts of speech; eventually when books came to be printed in the 15th c., this was one
of the
[[Johannes Gutenberg#Gutenberg's printed books|first books]] to be printed.
Schoolboys subjected to all this education
gave us the current meaning of "grammar"
(attested in [[English language|English]] since 1176).
===China===
Similar to the Indian tradition, Chinese philology, ''Xiaoxue'' (小學 "elementary studies"), began as an aid to understanding classics in the [[Han dynasty]] (c. 3d c. BCE). ''Xiaoxue'' came to be divided into three branches: ''Xungu'' (訓詁 "exegesis"), ''Wenzi'' (文字 "script [analysis]") and ''Yinyun'' (音韻 "[study of] sounds") and reached its golden age in the 17th. c. AD ([[Qing Dynasty]]). The glossary ''[[Erya]]'' (c. 3d c. BCE), comparable to the Indian ''[[Nighantu]]'', is regarded as the first linguistic work in China. ''[[Shuowen Jiezi]]'' (c. 2nd c. BCE), the first [[Chinese dictionary]], classifies [[Chinese characters]] by [[radical (Chinese character)|radical]]s, a practice that would be followed by most subsequent [[lexicographer]]s. Two more pioneering works produced during the Han Dynasty are ''[[Fangyan]]'', the first Chinese work concerning [[dialect]]s, and ''[[Shiming]]'', devoted to etymology.
As in ancient Greece, early Chinese thinkers were concerned with
the relationship between names and reality. [[Confucius]] (6th c. BCE) famously emphasized the moral commitment implicit in a name, (''zhengming'') saying that the moral collapse of the pre-[[Qin Dynasty|Qin]] was a result of the failure to rectify behaviour to meet the moral commitment inherent in names: "Good government consists in the ruler being a ruler, the minister being a minister, the father being a father, and the son being a son... If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things." (''[[Analects]]'' 12.11,13.3).
<!-- the second part is perhaps not very relevant? That translation is Legge, and the first part is from the Confucius article in the Stanford Ency of Philo. -->
However, what is the reality implied by a name? The later [[Mohists]] or the group known as [[School of Names]] (ming jia, 479-221 BCE),
consider that ''ming'' (名 "name") may refer to three kinds of ''shi'' (實 "actuality"): type universals (horse), individual (John), and unrestricted (thing). They adopt a [[philosophical realism|realist]] position on the name-reality connection - universals arise because "the world itself fixes the patterns of similarity and difference by which things should be divided into kinds".<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mohist-canons/
|title = Mohist Canons
|publisher=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
|author = Chris Fraser}}</ref> The philosophical tradition is well known for conundra resembling the [[sophists]], e.g. when [[Gongsun Longzi]] (4th c. BCE) questions if in [[copula]] statements (''X is Y''), are ''X'' and ''Y'' identical or is ''X'' a subclass of ''Y''. This is the famous paradox "[[When a White Horse is Not a Horse|a white horse is not a horse"]].
[[Xun Zi]] (3d c. BCE) revisits ''zhengming'', but instead of
rectifying behaviour to suit the names, his emphasis is on
rectifying language to correctly reflect reality. This is consistent with a more "conventional" view of word origins (''yueding sucheng'' 約定俗成).
The study of phonology in China began late, and was influenced by the Indian tradition, after [[Buddhism]] had become popular in China. The [[rime dictionary]] is a type of dictionary arranged by [[tone (linguistics)|tone]] and [[syllable rime|rime]], in which the pronunciations of characters are indicated by ''[[fanqie]]'' spellings. [[Rime table]]s were later produced to aid the understanding of ''fanqie''.
Philological studies flourished during the Qing Dynasty, with [[Duan Yucai]] and [[Wang Niansun]] as the towering figures. The last great philologist of the era was [[Zhang Binglin]], who also helped lay the foundation of modern Chinese linguistics. The Western [[comparative method]] was brought into China by [[Bernard Karlgren]], the first scholar to reconstruct [[Middle Chinese]] and [[Old Chinese]] with Latin alphabet (not [[IPA]]). Important modern Chinese linguists include [[Y. R. Chao]], [[Luo Changpei]], [[Li Fanggui]] and [[Wang Li]].
The ancient commentators to the classics paid much attention to syntax and the use of [[Chinese particles|particles]]. But the first Chinese [[grammar]], in the modern sense of the word, was produced by [[Ma Jianzhong]] (late 19th century). His grammar was based on the [[Latin]] ([[Linguistic prescription|prescriptive]]) model.
==Middle Ages==
===Middle East===
===Europe===
The [[Modistae]] or "speculative grammarians" in the 13th century introduced the notion of [[universal grammar]].
In ''[[De vulgari eloquentia]]'' ("On the Eloquence of Vernacular"), [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] expanded the scope of linguistic enquiry from Latin/ Greek to include the languages of the day. Other linguistic works of the same period concerning the vernaculars include the [[First Grammatical Treatise]] ([[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]) or the [[Auraicept na n-Éces]] ([[Irish language|Irish]]).
The [[Renaissance]] and [[Baroque]] period saw an intensified interest in linguistics, notably for the purpose of [[Bible translations]] by the [[Jesuits]], and also related to philosophical speculation on [[philosophical language]]s and the [[origin of language]].
==Modern linguistics==
{{see|Philology}}
Modern linguistics does not begin until the late 18th century, and the romantic or animist theses of [[Johann Gottfried Herder]] and [[Johann Christoph Adelung]] remained influential well into the 19th century.
===Historical linguistics===
{{see|Historical linguistics|Indo-European studies}}
In the eighteenth century [[James Burnett, Lord Monboddo]] analyzed numerous primitive languages and deduced logical elements of the evolution of human language. His thinking was interleaved with his precursive concepts of biological evolution. Some of his early concepts have been validated and are considered correct today. In his ''The Sanscrit Language'' ([[1786]]), [[William Jones (philologist)|Sir William Jones]] proposed that Sanskrit and [[Persian language|Persian]] had resemblances to classical [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Latin]], [[Gothic language|Gothic]], and [[Celtic languages]]. From this idea sprung the field of [[comparative linguistics]] and [[historical linguistics]]. Through the [[19th century]], European [[linguistics]] centered on the comparative history of the [[Indo-European language]]s, with a concern for finding their common roots and tracing their development.
In the [[1820s]], [[Wilhelm von Humboldt]] observed that human language was a rule-governed system, anticipating a theme that was to become central in the formal work on syntax and semantics of language in the [[20th century]], of this observation he said that it allowed language to make "infinite use of finite means" (''Über den Dualis'' 1827).
It was only in the late 19th century that the [[Neogrammarian]] approach of [[Karl Brugmann]] and others introduced a rigid notion of [[sound law]].
===Descriptive linguistics===
{{main|Descriptive linguistics|structuralism}}
In Europe there was a parallel development of structural linguistics, influenced most strongly by [[Ferdinand de Saussure]], a Swiss professor of Indo-European and general linguistics whose lectures on general linguistics, published posthumously by his students, set the direction of European linguistic analysis from the [[1920s]] on; his approach has been widely adopted in other fields under the broad term "[[Structuralism]]."
During the second World War, [[Leonard Bloomfield]] and several of his students and colleagues developed teaching materials for a variety of languages whose knowledge was needed for the war effort.
This work led to an increasing prominence of the field of linguistics, which became a recognized discipline in most American universities only after the war.
===Generative linguistics===
{{main|Generative linguistics}}
===Other subfields===
{{see|linguistic turn|Linguistics Wars}}
From roughly [[1980s|1980 onwards]], [[Pragmatics|pragmatic]], [[Systemic functional grammar|functional]], and [[Cognitive linguistics|cognitive]] approaches have steadily gained ground, both in the [[United States]] and in Europe.
==See also==
*[[History of grammar]]
*[[History of communication]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
* {{cite book| author=Roy Harris and Talbot J. Taylor| title=Landmarks in Linguistic Thought: The Western Tradition from Socrates to Saussure |publisher=London: Routledge|year= 1989|id=ISBN 0415002907}}
*{{cite book| author=John E. Joseph, Nigel Love, and Talbot J. Taylor |title=Landmarks in Linguistic Thought II: The Western Tradition in the Twentieth Century |publisher=London: Routledge|year= 2001|id=ISBN 0415063965}}
* {{cite book| author=W. P. Lehmann, (ed.)| title=A Reader in Nineteenth Century Historical Indo-European Linguistics| publisher=Indiana University Press| year=1967 | id=ISBN 0253348404 |url=http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/books/readT.html}}
*{{cite book| author = [[Bimal Krishna Matilal]] |
title = The Word and the World: India's Contribution to the Study of Language | publisher = Delhi; New York: Oxford University Press| year = 1990| id=ISBN 0195625153}}
* {{cite book| author=Frederick J. Newmeyer| title=The History of Linguistics| publisher=Linguistic Society of America| year=2005|id=|url=http://www.lsadc.org/info/ling-fields-history.cfm}}
* {{cite book| author=[[Mario Pei]] | title=Invitation to Linguistics | publisher=Doubleday & Company | year=1965 |id=ISBN 0385065841}}
* {{cite book| author = Robert Henry Robins|
title = A Short History of Linguistics | publisher = London: Longman | year = 1997 | id=ISBN 0582249945 }}
*{{cite book|author=Kees Versteegh|title=Landmarks in Linguistic Thought III: The Arabic Linguistic Tradition|publisher= London; New York: Routledge|year=1997 |id=ISBN 0415140625}}
[[Category:History of linguistics| ]]
[[bn:ভাষাবিজ্ঞানের ইতিহাস]]
[[de:Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft]]
[[es:Historia de la lingüística]]
[[fr:Histoire des sciences du langage]]
[[nl:Geschiedenis van de taalwetenschap]]
[[pl:Historia językoznawstwa]]