Course: Modern Linguistics of 17th to 19th Century: Between Science and Philosophy

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Course title Modern Linguistics of 17th to 19th Century: Between Science and Philosophy
Course code KOL/VNOV
Organizational form of instruction Lecture + Seminar
Level of course Master
Year of study not specified
Semester Winter and summer
Number of ECTS credits 4
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory-optional
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
Course content
(1) Epistemic frameworks of the 17th and 18th century linguistics o changes in modern thinking, development of the scientific movement, linguistics as part of the knowledge base (Bacon), language and theology, language and learning, man animal machine, language misuse and language reform, language diversity and language change (2) Dreaming of the perfect language o philosophy-based grammars (Ars Signorum, Towards a Real Character), arbitrary nature of language (Bacon), semiotics of communication, the imperfect language, language diversity and the origin of language (3) Continental universal grammars o Descartes' proposal and criticism, Port-Royal grammar and its logic-psychological foundations, Commenius' irenic project, Jan Caramuel z Lobkovic's combinatorics, Leibniz calculus and mathesis universalis (4) 18th century discussion of the origin of language o language origin conceptions based on philosophy and anthropology (Condillac, Vico), the divine origin of language (Sussmilch), the language society relation (Rousseau, Mendelssohn), human language and animal communication (Burnett), artificial sign languages and language pathology, theories of language climate conditions relation (Rousseau, Montesquieu), Herder's treatise on the origin of language, Adam Smith' work (5) The encyclopaedia and the journey towards the Babel tower o encyclopaedia as a sum and design of all contemporary (linguistic) knowledge, linguistics of logical-psychological nature vs linguistics of data, accumulating language data (Hervas, Leibniz, Adelung), the beginnings of the classification and comparation research, the Scythian hypothesis and other theories of language origin, natural order in language, building a hierarchy of languages (6) From the East India Company to the revelation of Sanskrit: the origin of the 19th century historical linguistics o linguistic research background at the turn of the 18th century, historical development of the research into Indian and Far East languages, the stream of comparative studies and research into the origin of language, socioecomomical and political context, language research in the epistemic context of enlightenment and emerging romanticism (7) On animals, plants, geology and the lives of languages: the model of the early 19th century linguistics o climate of opinion and the epistemic matrix of the birth of historical-comparative linguistics, fundamental concepts, tasks and common ground of the 19th century research (empiricism, data-driven approach, organicism, historicism), the relation of linguistics to other scholarly disciplines and to philosophy, language and biology, classification and evolution, language typology, Sanskrit research, organic vs mechanical, prescriptivism and the law of evolution (8) Types of thinking and types of languages: general linguistics of Wilhelm von Humboldt o theoretical typology, language diversity and language universals, the language - mind - nation relation, classification in linguistics and in natural sciences, concepts of Sprachform, Weltansicht, ergon and energeia (9) Amidst the debate: theoretical disputes in the mid-19th century I o Schleicher's conception and the heyday of comparative/reconstructive approach, Grimm's law, the tree model of language, language as a living organism and what it implies, the relation of language to its users, (anti)uniformitarianism (10) Amidst the debate: theoretical disputes in the mid-19th century II o reactions to Schleicher's organicism the conceptions of H. Steinhal (language as a mental activity, psychology and language) and W. Whitney (language as an institution, the sign/social concept of language, communication as a principle of interpretation), language change, the late 19th century as a prelude to the 20th century linguistics (11) Where language is to be found and why it evolves o historicism and the language law, boundaries, analogy, the psychological stream and the theoretical stream of the Neogrammarian school and the c

Learning activities and teaching methods
Lecture, Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Work with Text (with Book, Textbook), Methods of Written Work
Learning outcomes
Through discussion and reading of (mostly) primary materials, the course aims at providing an introduction to major figures, concepts and historical development of language theorizing from the 17th to the late 19th century. We will be considering some of the most relevant ideas that drove linguistic endeavours of that period, shaping and ever re-shaping linguistics and redefining its boundaries. This will be projected on the background of the emerging modern science (which, later still, evolved into separate fields of biology, psychology, geology, sociology and more) and contemporary philosophy reflecting that process (see the epistemic turn). The main theme will be overlapping and cross-pollination of schools and thoughts, readily found anywhere in the covered period; we will also be trying to place the linguistic thinking into epistemic frameworks prevalent in that period. Reading of primary materials and follow-up discussion will be the backbone of the course.
Students will understand linguistic endeavours of the covered period and know why they were conceived; they will also understand the context of modern age linguistic efforts and have knowledge of modern methods of research into the historical development of science.
Prerequisites
Students have to be able to read short English-written scholarly texts

Assessment methods and criteria
Systematic Observation of Student, Seminar Work

(1) regular class attendance (80%) (2) regular homework (reading assignments, problem sets, presentation) a active in-class participation (3) writing assignment / encyclopedic entry
Recommended literature
  • Brown, E. K., Anderson, A., Bauer, L., Berns, M., Hirst, G., & Miller, J. E. (2006). Encyclopedia of language & linguistics. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  • Davies, A. M. (1998). History of linguistics. Volume 4: Nineteenth century linguistics..
  • Eco, U. (2001). Hledání dokonalého jazyka. Praha.
  • Harris, R., & Taylor, T. J. (1997). Landmarks in linguistic thought. London: Routledge.
  • Lepschy, G. (ed.). (1997). History of linguistics. Volume 3: Renaissance and Early Modern Linguistics.
  • Špelda, D. (2009). Proměny historiografie vědy. Praha.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): General Lingvistics and Theory of Communication (2014) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -