Critical Assessments of Leading Linguists – serie

The publication in 1957 of Noam Chomsky's Syntactic Structures ushered in the era of what can properly be termed, Modern Linguistics: the science of language. This critical assessment brings together over 100 papers on every area of Chomsky's work revealing how pervasive his influence has been on all aspects of modern thought, from linguistics to philosophy, psychology, computer science, social theory, political analysis and literary theory. Carlos Otero is one of the world's leading interpreters of Chomsky's ideas and provides in this book a uniquely comprehensive assessment of his contribution to modern thought.

Edward Sapir (1884–1939) was one of the foremost linguists and anthropologists of his time. He is most widely known for his contributions to the study of North American Indian languages. A founder of ethnology, which considers the relationship of culture to language, he was also principal developer of the American (descriptive) school of structural linguistics. Bringing together the best work on Sapir, this long-awaited three-volume collection from Routledge includes a new introduction by the editor, a chronological table of the gathered materials, a bibliography, and a full index. It is destined to be welcomed by all scholars and students of Sapir as an invaluable reference resource.

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) is widely recognized as the founder of twentieth-century language science. In his lifetime he published an important work on Indo-European philology but it was his Course in General Linguistics, published posthumously in 1916, that paved the way for a genuinely scientific theory of language based on a system of mutually defining entities. In addition to laying the foundations for many of the significant developments in modern linguistics, the implications of Saussure’s work have been far reaching across a broad range of disciplines beyond language studies; indeed, his projected science of signs effected a fundamental reconceptualization of our knowledge about all socially organized meaning systems and it has had a profound impact on, for example, the evolution of modern sociology, anthropology, film studies, and literary theory.As serious work on Saussure’s thinking and influence continues to flourish, this long-awaited new title in Routledge’s Critical Assessments of Leading Linguists series meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a vast scholarly literature. Edited by John E. Joseph, author of the first full-length and comprehensive biography of Saussure, this four-volume Major Work brings together the best and most influential English-language Saussurean secondary literature. (It also makes available in translation several key pieces originally published in languages other than English.)The collection includes: work on Saussure’s precursors; comprehensive coverage of his linguistic theory, his key concepts, and their critical reception, especially in Europe and the USA; critiques of Saussure (including reassessments and refinements prompted by the unearthing in 1996 of a manuscript published as his Writings in General Linguistics); full coverage of Saussure’s ‘rediscovery’ in the 1960s and his significance in the rise of structuralism, as well as his influence on the broader poststructuralist approaches to inquiry in the human sciences that followed.Ferdinand de Saussure is fully indexed and has a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. It is an essential work of reference and is destined to be valued by scholars and students as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

Although Roman Jakobson (1886–1982) styled himself a ‘Russian philologist’, that epithet covers only a fraction of his disciplinary breadth and international impact. In a long and prolific career, he wrote about theoretical and applied linguistics, phonology, prosody, poetics, semiotics, translation theory, psycholinguistics, language universals, literary history and criticism, and historical and descriptive linguistics, especially Slavic. His robust voice and distinctive ideas attracted attention not only from language scholars, but also from literary critics, anthropologists, historians of culture, and even from neurologists.As serious work on Jakobson’s thinking and influence continues to flourish, this long-awaited new title in Routledge’s Critical Assessments of Leading Linguists series brings together the best analysis of—and commentary on—the work of one of the twentieth century’s most versatile and influential language scholars. Criticism of Jakobson is as diverse as the work itself and this four-volume set collects the most provocative and insightful reflections on Jakobson’s writings. It encompasses many points of view, reflecting Jakobson’s wide scope as a scholar and the startling fact that he was displaced repeatedly—and under threatening circumstances—from Moscow to Prague to the United States.Roman Jakobson is fully indexed and includes a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor. It is an essential work of reference and is destined to be valued by scholars and students as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.