U.2 History of Linguistic Thought Flashcards
Myth of the Tower of Babel
humans make hyge tower 2 get closer to God. He takes offense to that and in order 2 stop the construction, makes diff languages so they cannot understand each other.
Stages of the origin of language
- Mythical Stage
- Ideographic
- Syllable
- Alphabetical
Origin of language
Mythical stage
Origin of language
Ideographic Stage
Humans used Ideograms, drawings, to evoke the concept of what they were refering to.
Egyptian Hieroglyphics
Origin of language
Syllable stage
The Ideograms become simpler and represent the sound of a syllable. Words are written how they sound.
Origin of language
Alphabetical stage
Combination of ideograms and syllabic symbols to form alphabets.
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Evolution of linguistic Ideas
Panini: Century
4th B.C
Evolution of linguistic Ideas
Panini: Century
Indian grammatitan who developed the first grammatics of the ancient religious language, Sanskrit. Startin to fade and worried it would dissappear and Gods wouldn’t understand the message.
Advances unknown to the Western World
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Language Debates in Greece
Phýsis vs Thésis
- Phýsis: The idea that lang. is learnt by nature, and the deisgnation of words for things is not arbitraty. Therefore, language is characterised by irregularity?
- Thésis: language is taught and learnt and meaning of words are completely random and come from use, convention, therefore language is more regular.
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Language Debates in Greece
Plato and Aristotle: who believed which
- Plato: phýsis
- Aristotle: Thésis
Who is the first grammarian of the Western World? What did he write?
Dionysius of Trace wrote Tékhne Grammatiké on the 1st Century B.C
Rethorics: parts of a good speech
- Inventio
- Dispositio
- Elocutio
- Memorio
- Actio
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Rome
Why did they have a key role?
They transmitted the knoledge adopted form the Greeks
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Rome
What did Varro write?
Di lingua latina. Treated:
* Ethymology
* Morphology
* Syntax
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Rome
What was Donato’s main contribution
His classification of words in Ars Grammatica is almost the same we use now
* Nomem (vip)
* Verbum (vip)
* Pronomem
* Adverbium
* Participum
* Coinuctio
* Prepositio
* Interiectio
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Middle Ages
What institution financed high studies?
The Church
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Middle Ages
What types of studies did the Church finance?
Research of classical latin literature lost after the fall of The Roman Empire.
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Middle Ages
How was science divided by The Church?
- Trivium: Grammar, logic, rethoric
- Quadrivium: Arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music.
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Middle Ages
Who were the Modistae?
A School of Grammarians that believed in linguistic universals
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Middle Ages
Why did the Modistae think there were linguistic universals?
Since there is one universal reality (modi essendi) = there is also one way of understanding it (modi significandi) and therefore a universal grammar (modi intelligendi)
1st Vernacular grammar
A phonetic teatrise of iceland language according to the latin alphabet done by some random
Evolution of linguistic Ideas: Middle Ages
Why is Dante Alighieri “De vulgari eloquentia” important
- Recognises vernacular languages can be used for vip stuff
- He is the first to point out the similarities in roman languages and point out there is a language common to all of them
- It is the first to recognize intralinguistic and extralinguistic variations
