..........SENATE 

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGES, 

PROPOSED NEW COURSE LING 419-3 

UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES 

.....6,198. 

Action undertaken by the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies 

at its meeting of May 3, 1983 gives rise to the following motion:- 

MOTION: 

"That Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of 

Governors, as set forth in S.83 - 47, the proposed 

New course LING 419-3 - The History of Linguistics" 

.

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Subject to approval of the course by Senate and the Board, the 

Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies approved waiver to permit first 

offering of this course for Fall, 1983. 

Languages, Literatur 

1. Clnd. 

Lnforn.tjon 

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Department: & Linguistics 

Abbreviation Code: 

LING 

Course 

Number: 

419

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Credit Hours: 3Vector•.3-O-O 

J*itle of Course: 

The History. of Linguistics 

Cnlndar Description of Course: 

History and the tradition .of linguistic investigation. The history of 

linguistics and history of ideas. 

Nature of Course 

Lecture 

Prerequisites (or special instructions): 

LING 220. Recommended: Latin 100, Philosophy 344. 

Wh3t 

approved: 

course 

None 

(courses), if any, is being' dropped from the calendar if this couj 

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is

2. SchedulIng 

How frequently will the course be offered? 

annually 

Semester in which the course will first be offered? 83-3 

Which 

possible? 

of your present faculty would be available to make 

the

proposed offerin., 

Bursill-Hal]., Bartlett, Roberts 

.

Objectives of the Course 

Since the subject matter of the course includa survey 

all of linguistic thought from classical antiquity to the 

recent past, this course will provide students with a broad 

historical perspective on the field of linguistics and its 

relationship with other disciplines, particularly philosophy 

and psychology. 

and Space Requirements (for information only) 

What additional resources will 

be required 

in the following areas: 

Faculty ? 

None 

Staff 

?

None 

1..Lbrary ? 

None 

Audio Visual None 

Sp.ice ? 

None 

Equipment None 

Date: 

D ?

tment Chairman ? 

Dean ? 

Chairman, 

SCtJS 

su:s 

ach

73-36b:- 

c

ourne outline). 

(When completing this 

for instructions cct 

.

i

..,

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The History of Linguistic 

LING 419 

1.

Introduction: 

History and the tradition of linguistic investigation. 

The history of linguistics and the history of ideas. 

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2.

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Classical Antiquity: 

a)

Greece: Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, DionysiuS, Thrax, 

ApouloniuS, Dyscolus. 

b)

Rome: 

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Quintilian, Donatus, Varro, Priscian. 

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3. ? 

Middle Ages: 

a)

Early Middle Ages: Grammar and the Liberal Arts; 

Grammar and the medieval paradigm. 

b)

High Middle Ages: William of Conches, Peter Helias, 

Roger Bacon, Robert Kilwardby. 

ModistiC and Nominalist grammarians. 

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4.

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Renaissance: 

a)

Humanist grammarians: Linacre, Sanctius, Guarinus. 

b)

Rise of vernacular grammars: Scaliger, Dante, Nebrija. 

c)

Language pedagogy: Melanchthon, Ramus, Palsgrave. 

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5. ? 

Philosophical Grammar: 

a)

Royal Society: 

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Bacon, Wilkins 

b)

Port-Royal 

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Cordemoy 

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6.

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General. Grammar: 

a)

Encyclopdie: BeauzEe, DuMarsais, Condillac. 

b)

LeibniZ Harris, Monboddo, Borne Tooke, Vico, Herder. 

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7.

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Philology: 

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Comparative Philology: Grimm, Rask, Bopp. 

b) Enorgeia and Ergon: von Humboldt, Schleicher. 

c) Neogramfflarlans Brugmaflfl, Verner, Leskien, Paul. 

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8. ? 

Eve of Modern Times: 

a)

Dialect geography: Gillieron, Schuchardt. 

b)

Opponents of neogrammariaflS: Vossler, Croce. 

c)

Pre-structuralists: Jespersen, Bihler 

d)

Phoneme theory: Baudouin de Courtenay, Kruszewski. 

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9.

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Conclusion 

Recommended text: R.H. Robins, A Short History of Linguistics 

Additional Reading: HistoriograPhica LinguistiCa 

Studies in the History of Linguistics 

Historiography of Linguistics (2 vols) 

CTL XIII 

Traditions and Paradigms (ed. Dell Hymes). 

History of Linguistic Thought & Contemporary 

Linguistics (ed. H. Parret). 

RATIONALE: Proposal for New Course - Linguistics 419 

The History of Linguistics is now accepted as a bona fide 

part of General Linguistics; this course will therefore fill a 

serious gap in our present undergraduate programme. The course 

will be an account of earlier attempts to explain how language 

works and a description of the inter-weaving of language study 

with other disciplines at various stages in its long history. 

Language has been the subject of enquiry ever since man became 

conscious of his intellectual environment and this course should 

help us to realise that our predecessors were often much more 

competent than we had thought, and we can therefore learn from 

their successes as much as from their failures. Because 

linguistics is very much a weather-vane of intellectual change, 

a course such as this can be considered a valuable contribution 

to the history of ideas; because linguistics is the study of 

that most human of phenomena, i.e. language, this course can 

equally well be considered a most important contribution to the 

humanities. 