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EN
This paper examines six guides to the etymology of English, written for nonspecialist readers between 1887 and 2009. Four are by etymological lexicographers (two by W. W. Skeat and one each by Anatoly Liberman and Philip Durkin) and two by philologists with strong etymological interests (A. S. C. Ross and W. B. Lockwood). The paper seeks to present their contents, to compare them with each other, and to contextualize them both in the internal history and in the social history of scholarship
EN
Historians of linguistics have long since learned that a certain distrust of what authors say in their programmatic statements is a healthy attitude. This applies in particular to statements made by those who have obvious agenda. Let us assume that not unlike Chomsky in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Indo-Europeanists of the circle around August Leskien (1840–1916), notably Karl Brugmann (1849–1919), saw themselves as ushering in a revolution of their field of study. Much has been said about the ‘Chomskyan Revolution’ and how it was brought about. Hereby the manner played a not insignificant role in which the linguistic community was treated. In his plenary address at the Eleventh Congress of Linguists held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in August 1962 and his subsequent elaborations in his book Cartesian Linguistics of 1966, Noam Chomsky made every attempt to dissociate himself from his immediate predecessors, notably those whose ideas he had inherited, and tried to make the world believe that his sources of linguistic inspiration hark back to much earlier periods, from the authors of the Grammaire générale et raisonnée of 1660 to Hermann Paul’s Principien of 1880 (cf. KOERNER 2002: 151–209 and references therein). In Chomsky’s narrative an important place was assigned to Wilhelm von Humboldt’s linguistic work, in particular his famous phrase “Die Sprache muss unendlichen Gebrauch von endlichen Mitteln machen” [Language must make unlimited use of limited means], since this was supposed to show Humboldt as a generativist avant la lettre. The Leipzig Junggrammatiker of the mid-1870s saw themselves in a comparable situation of revolutionizing their discipline. As a result, scant or no reference was made to the preceding generation of historical linguists, except for citation of passages that they would find fault with. On the other hand, authors who were not their teachers and whose work was less than central to their own pursuits could be referred to as leading to their program. In the present paper, I have chosen the concept of ‘analogy’ which, next to the neogrammarian insistence on the rigorous application of ‘Lautgesetze’ (“sound laws”), was one of the two main pillars of their argument in matters of linguistic change. It is shown that while Wilhelm Scherer (1841–1886) book Zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache (Berlin, 1868) was selected for special praise in Osthoff and Brugmann’s ‘manifesto’ of 1878, in particular for his use of ‘false analogy’ in the explanation forms that did not follow the run of regular phonetic change, the Neogrammarians were entirely silent on the contribution of August Schleicher (1821–1868), in whose Die Deutsche Sprache (Stuttgart, 1860) and subsequent editions of 1869 and 1874 they could have found much more explicit statements concerning the workings of the analogy principle in language history. The attempt is made to set the record straight.
EN
This paper probes the current orthodoxy in linguistics by imagining and speculating on a fantasy world: a century of development without Transformational Generative Grammar which leads to an autonomous linguistics with its roots in the human sciences, as an offshoot of [cognitive] anthropology or sociology, rather than in cognitive psychology. Such a linguistics would, by now, have created a broad, sophisticated, holistic theory of language as a multilevel, social phenomenon in which semantics, syntax, and pragmatics would be modeled as distinguishable but interlocked and interacting systems. What will be discussed will, it is hoped, make a small contribution to outlining what an alternative linguistics might still look like, not as a replacement of the present models and theories but as an extension and enhancement of them in our common search for an adequate description and explanation of the phenomenon of human language.
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Marr i marryzm

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EN
Nicholas Marr and his theory, mostly called the Japhetic theory or just Marrism, are not popular and well-known to modern students of linguistics. The aim of the present study is, then, to offer a concise presentation including both data about the Marrism and this author’s own interpretation of some common (albeit to a considerable extent incorrect) statements.
EN
In 1976 Igor Melchuk, one of the most outstanding Soviet linguists, was dismissed from the Institute of Linguistics of the USSR Academy of Science in Moscow. He had failed to pass a recertification and lost his position as senior research associate for his political nonconformism. The present paper aims at presenting the events as well as ideological situation that determined the decision made by Professor Igor Melchuk to emigrate from the Soviet Union.
EN
The paper presents a synthesis of the history and achievements of Polish linguistics cultivated at the Jagiellonian University since the second half of the 19th century till this day. The beginnings are the first lectures which discussed the Polish language, followed by the creation of chairs, then the institute, and finally a separate Faculty of Polish Studies. The author interweaves the institutional and personal threads, and indicates the most important figures of old professors whose works were central to the development of Polish linguistics and its various fields.
EN
The question whether Tadeusz Kowalski, the founder of the Oriental philological studies in Poland, should first of all be considered a Turcologist or an Arabist has been disputed many times thus far but no satisfactory answer could be given. A new-found short occasional poem by Kowalski sheds light on the matter because the author calls himself a Turk and he adduces two etymologically Arabic words in their Turkish guise.
EN
Romance linguistics was one of E. Coseriu‘s primary fields of research; all along his life Coseriu illustrated and tested his theoretical concepts using Romance languages as a touchstone. Likewise, one of Coseriu‘s early predecessors, the Spanish Renaissance philologist B. de Aldrete, came up with a number of innovative ideas concerning the historicity of language, regular changes in phonetics and transformations in morphology, divergencies among closely related languages, etymology, sociolinguistic factors (such as language contacts and cultural integration) in linguogenesis, the importance of early written texts for documenting language change, as well as other concepts, and used the example of Romance languages – the Ibero-Romance ones in particular – to support his theoretical insights. B. de Aldrete‘s treatise (1606) is also an early example of the scientific practice of citing previous research and giving references to numerous sources.
EN
The article discusses several methodological problems contained in Saussure’s works. General linguistics, a new discipline postulated by the author, was to be founded on linguistic details and at the same time focus on the fundamental and universal mechanisms of speech. Saussure did not consider general linguistics a part of natural sciences or of historical studies; he indicated logic as the discipline that can provide the appropriate tools for an adequate description of language. According to him, the subject of research in linguistics is not given in advance; instead, it depends entirely on the chosen point of view. Internal divisions of the discipline, especially the distinction between the linguistics of “langue” and the linguistics of “parole”, follows, firstly, from the dual nature of language, and secondly, from Saussure’s teaching about the legitimate points of view.
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Coseriu in chiave metalinguistica

88%
EN
The present study aims to deal with several questions related to the frame of metalanguage, a construct that plays a crucial role in contemporary linguistic research, especially since Roman Jakobson gave to the term an amplified value compared to the original status assigned to it by the logicians. First of all, the author presents Eugenio Coseriu‘s original contribution to the characterization of the concept, distancing himself from Jakobson‘s position; emphasizing – according to its peculiar modus operandi – the reference to the tradition of past studies; proposing an articulated typology of metalinguistic utterances. Then an in-depth study of the metalinguistically relevant notions in Coseriu‘s work is given: in particular the Romanian linguist shows a preference for patterns founded on terminological three-way distribution. The conclusion focuses on the extent to which Coseriu‘s reflection on metalanguage and its devices have become part of his legacy to the scientific community.
Mäetagused
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2017
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vol. 69
133-152
EN
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Estonian inflection was described in the traditional framework of Latin grammar. Grammars still differed from one another. For example, Johann Gutslaff observed that the case forms which were traditionally included in the Latinized case paradigm and other Estonian word forms were actually formed the same way. Johann Hornung’s grammar started a new era by offering a more vernacular-based description of Estonian inflection than in previous grammars. An active search for alternative ways to describe Estonian inflection took place in the first half of the 19th century. Both verbal and nominal paradigms received novel interpretations, and mutation was for the first time treated systematically. The nature of case and the contents of the case paradigm were the most popular topics. The first complete overview of the Estonian inflectional system which followed the new ideas was compiled by Eduard Ahrens. In the second half of the 19th century, the thorough descriptive grammar by Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann and the first grammars in the Estonian language were published. The first disciplines of emerging Estonian linguistics, historical linguistics and dialectology evolved during the 1920s–1930s under the leadership of Andrus Saareste, Julius Mägiste and others. The 1940s–1950s were shadowed by war and the beginning of the Soviet occupation. Linguistic research was neither particularly productive nor novel, and the fields and methods remained largely the same as before. Arnold Kask began his thorough studies on the history of literary Estonian, which in time developed into a fruitful research discipline under his influence. The 1960s–1990s was a period characterized by intensive attention to inflection theory. First, Estonian word forms were described using the internationally well-known IA and IP models. Then, Ülle Viks, Toomas Help, Henn Saari and Martin Ehala all developed their own morphological models. Research was influenced by novel methods and insights, e.g. the theory of natural morphology and the center-periphery view of linguistic phenomena. Huno Rätsep suggested a new interpretation of Estonian moods, giving evidentiality a distinctive role. Toomas Help and Joel Nevis examined some case morphemes as clitics instead of the traditional interpretation as case affixes. A thorough descriptive grammar was compiled (1993-1995). Its inflection chapter, authored by Kristiina Ross, differed radically from the previous grammars and relied on the morphological classification of Ülle Viks and the model of regular and irregular morphology by Toomas Help. Some new disciplines emerged: first-language acquisition, the study of colloquial language and computational linguistics. The research of Mati Hint, in particular, revealed major systematic differences between formal and colloquial inflection. Traditional disciplines flourished as well. Among other works, many important general treatments were published: a history of the noun paradigm by Huno Rätsep, a history of literary Estonian by Arnold Kask, a systematic overview of contemporary inflection by Jaak Peebo and comprehensive overviews of several Estonian dialects. The most important theoretical works of the new millennium include the descriptions of Estonian verb and noun inflection using the WP model by James Blevins. Studies on colloquial Estonian have revealed some ongoing changes in morphological paradigms. Second-language acquisition and the study of language disorders have developed into full-fledged research areas. Of the existent disciplines, first-language acquisition, dialectology, the history of literary Estonian and research on colloquial Estonian have been productive. Diachronic inflection, on the other hand, has received less attention than before. Recently, research on morphosyntax has prevailed over the study of inflection.
EN
It is assumed that the radical changes that have taken place in theoretical linguistics over the last 3 decades or so has led to a rejection of the conception of language seen exclusively as an independent and autonomous system of signs. Having set this conception against the background of the major 19th century approaches to language, we claim that the autonomy postulate seems to have been giving way to the idea that language is a symbol of human experience. The article presents, then, a brief, yet systematic, historical survey of the from-motivation-via-arbitrariness-to-motivation projection of linguistics since the 19th century, and identifies some of the practical implications of this projection.
EN
The paper discusses Jan Łoś’s Słowniczek wyrazów dotyczących pokrewieństwa i powinowactwa z zabytków językowych do końca XVI w. (‘A dictionary of kinship and affinity terms from monuments till the 16th century’) whose manuscript is stored in the collections of the Silesian Library in Katowice. The article contains a physical description of the unit and a metalexicographic analysis of its microand macrostructure, contrasted with Łoś’s conception of Słownik staropolski (‘Old Polish dictionary’). Furthermore, the paper indicates content and source relationships between the analysed work and another text by Łoś (Nazwy stopni pokrewieństwa i powinowactwa w dawnej Polsce ‘Names of degrees of kinship and affinity in old Poland’) and draws attention to the lack of reception of the manuscript in later linguistic works. The article also presents the history of the manuscript, so far as it could be reconstructed. It ends with conclusions about the significance of the manuscript for linguistics, in times when it was written, and currently.
EN
The article is a synthetic review of Polish linguistic literature 1977–1997 from the point of view of publications devoted to the thematic-rhematic structure of utterances. The conventional boundaries of the described period are marked by the publication dates of two important monographs (Bogusławski 1977, Wajszczuk 1997). The following paragraphs gather information about, among other things, pioneering publications from the 1970s, the most important directions of STR research carried out by Polish linguists in the period indicated (1977–1997), as well as more didactically oriented works.
PL
Artykuł jest syntetycznym przeglądem polskiego piśmiennictwa językoznawczego z lat 1977–1997 pod kątem publikacji poświęconych strukturze tematyczno-rematycznej wypowiedzi. Umowne granice opisywanego okresu wyznaczają daty publikacji dwóch ważnych monografii (Bogusławski 1977, Wajszczuk 1997). W kolejnych paragrafach zebrane są m.in. informacje o pionierskich publikacjach z lat 70. XX w., najważniejszych kierunkach badań nad STR prowadzonych przez polskich językoznawców we wskazanym okresie (1977–1997), a także o pracach zorientowanych bardziej dydaktycznie.
EN
The core of this article is a substantial part of an interview conducted by J. Nekvapil with F. Daneš on September 21, 1988. The aim of the interview was to gain information for a profile of Daneš on the occasion of his 70th birthday, which was later published in Philologica Pragensia (Nekvapil 1989). Unlike other published interviews given by Daneš in later years, this one is characterized by a relatively high degree of spontaneity, thus presenting a less stylized view of the development of Czech linguistics and the Prague School, as well as of the life of Daneš himself. Prior to the interview transcript, several essential factors which constitute the interview are given: the participants, goal, surroundings, key, communicative medium and sequential progression. Attention is also devoted to the way in which the interview is presented in this article, including the genrerelated pressures on its presentation. The epilogue adds information about the activities of F. Daneš after the intervew, i.e. after 1988, and some intertextual and interdiscursive connections. The publication of this text stands to commemorate this significant linguist, who died on March 18, 2015.
EN
Marking the occasion of the publication of the 100th volume of The Journal for Modern Philology, the article summarizes key stages in the Journal’s history and describes its role in the development of Czech modern philology. It focuses on outstanding personalities associated with the Journal, the main theoretical issues that have appeared in its pages during the 107 years of its existence, and the impact of the Journal on the past and present of Czech modern philology and linguistics.
EN
The subject of the analysis are terms recorded in the 17th–19th-century grammar nomenclatures. The most numerously represented ones were terms from the field of inflection (naming parts of speech and grammatical categories), there were few terms from the field of phonetics and word-formation, and terms from the field of sentence syntax had not appeared in glossaries until the 19th century. This share of terms from various branches was determined by the utilitarian nature of grammatical works: they were intended for learning Polish or foreign languages. It was assumed a priori, so to speak, that the learner already had the knowledge of the rules of Latin grammar, and the point of reference for Polish terms (or German ones, as in Dobracki’s grammar book) was the Latin terminology. The outcome of the development of grammtical knowledge is the redefinition of grammar itself and its branches, the independence of the grammatical description of modern languages from Latin grammar, as well as the codification and standardisation of grammatical terminology.
PL
Przedmiotem analizy są terminy zanotowane w nomenklatorach gramatycznych od XVII do XIX w. Najliczniejszą reprezentację mają w nich terminy z zakresu fleksji (nazywające części mowy i kategorie gramatyczne), niewiele było w nich terminów z zakresu fonetyki i słowotwórstwa, dopiero w XIX-wiecznych słowniczkach pojawiają się terminy z zakresu składni zdania. O takim, a nie innym udziale terminów z różnych działów decydował charakter użytkowy dzieł gramatycznych, były one przeznaczone do nauki języka polskiego lub języków obcych. Zakładano niejako a priori, że uczący się posiada już znajomość zasad gramatyki łacińskiej, punkt odniesienia dla terminów polskich (czy niemieckich jak w gramatyce Dobrackiego) stanowiła terminologia łacińska. Wynikiem rozwoju wiedzy gramatycznej jest redefinicja samej gramatyki i jej działów, uniezależnienie opisu gramatycznego języków nowożytnych od gramatyki łacińskiej, a także kodyfikacja i normalizacja terminologii gramatycznej.
EN
Ferdinand de Saussure died 100 years ago (22. 2. 1913) leaving a memorable legacy of primary importance for modern linguistics. This brief review outlines his life, family, studies and cultural background in his native Geneva that were formative for his career and then offers a short account of his major thoughts that have largely shaped the course of modern linguistics. The notes are related thematically to the nature of language and linguistics in the human community, moving to the language system (langue) and text (parole). Some of his important observations are included at the end together with an extensive list of quotes illustrating Ferdinand de Saussure’s well‑known, lesser‑known and unknown views, all of which are of special importance and still provide intellectual stimulation for linguists today.
EN
The author argues that the biographical details concerning de Saussure’s attitude towards Humboldt’s legacy are tough to ascertain. Sobotka’s doubts about de Saussure being familiar with Humboldt’s specific writings can hardly be conclusively resolved this way or another. The author insists that Danielewiczowa, as well as he himself and his collaborator Drzazgowska, spoke merely about some striking affinity of ideas on the nature of language as voiced by de Saussure, compared with those to be found in the comprehensive corpus of Humboldt’s writings. On the whole, Sobotka himself is far from denying this widely acknowledged truth, too (whatever the specific paths of de Saussure’s reading and thinking might have been). Following a comparative sample of the main claims articulated by Humboldt, on the one hand, and by de Saussure, on the other, where certain differences between the thinkers can be observed, the author culls a number of Humboldt’s theoretical sayings about language and recalls de Saussure’s similar enunciations, a considerable part of which are even textually close to those made by Humboldt.  
PL
Autor twierdzi, że biograficzne szczegóły dotyczące stosunku de Saussure’a do puścizny Humboldta są trudne do ustalenia. Wątpliwości Sobotki na temat de Saussure’a znajomości konkretnych pism Humboldta praktycznie nie podlegają weryfikacji, czy to pozytywnej, czy negatywnej. Autor twierdzi, że Danielewiczowa, podobnie jak on sam i Ewa Drzazgowska, mówili tylko o pewnym uderzającym podobieństwie idei dotyczących natury języka głoszonych przez de Saussure’a w zestawieniu z tym, co można znaleźć w obszernym korpusie prac Humboldta. Ogólnie rzecz biorąc, sam Sobotka jest daleki od negowania tej powszechnie uznanej prawdy (niezależnie od tego, jakie były konkretne drogi tego, co czytał i o czym myślał de Saussure). Autor podaje porównawczy wyciąg z głównych tez Humboldta i de Saussure’a, zwracając uwagę na pewne różnice między tymi myślicielami. Następnie przytacza szereg teoretycznych wypowiedzi Humboldta i przypomina podobne enuncjacje de Saussure’a, których poważna część jest nawet tekstualnie bliska temu, co znajdujemy u Humboldta.  
Świat i Słowo
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2022
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vol. 39
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issue 2
493-500
EN
"My z Nich" – an (in)scribed monument to the masters of Polish linguistics The text refers to the publishing series entitled "My z Nich" – it concerns a series of publications presenting the heritage of Polish linguists. The author of the review presents the value of the publication: he emphasizes that the authors of the articles in each volume resemble the achievements of the late masters, but also present a critical look at their scientific achievements and contribution to the development of the discipline.
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