The papers in this volume present a colourful picture of the range of research currently being undertaken in the field of the history of linguistics, with contribution both from established scholars and from younger researchers. The volume is organised on a geographical basis, with sections devoted to a number of different traditions in linguistics world-wide. The opening section is concerned with a number of general and methodological topics — ranging from the notion of 'revolution' in linguistic historiography to the history of the study of ape language. The second section is devoted to 'missionary linguistics', an umbrella category for the early contacts of Europeans with non-European languages. Subsequent sections address individual traditions in linguistics: III. The Celtic Tradition; IV. The Chinese Tradition; V. The Georgian Tradition; VI. The Hebrew Tradition; VII. The Japanese Tradition; VIII. The Persian Tradition; IX. The Russian Tradition; X. The Tamil Tradition.

This volume represents a selection of 25 out of altogether 86 papers given at the Eighth International Conference for the History of the Language Sciences (ICHoLS VIII), which took place at the Ecole Normale Supérieure at Fontenay-aux-Roses, near Paris, in September 1999. This conference was marked by three new elements: the integration of the study of Amerindian languages into Western linguistics; a particular emphasis on the history of the teaching of (foreign) languages; and new information on the history of linguistics in Eastern Europe during the Soviet era.

This study focuses on the uses of the grammatical concept of etymologia in primarily Latin writings from the early Middle Ages. Etymologia is a fundamental procedure and discursive strategy in the philosophy and analysis of language in early medieval Latin grammar, as well as in Biblical exegesis, encyclopedic writing, theology, and philosophy. Read through the frame of poststructuralist analysis of discourse and the philosophy of science, the procedure of the ars grammatica are interpreted as overlapping genres (commentary, glossary, encyclopedia, exegesis) which use different verbal or extraverbal criteria to explain the origins and significations of words and which establish different epistemological frames within which an etymological account of language is situated. The study also includes many translations of heretofore untranslated passages from Latin grammatical and exegetical writings.

Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 B.C.) was one of the most prolific writers in antiquity. However, of his De Lingua Latina only six of 25 books have survived, and these are neither complete nor free of textual corruption. This study is an attempt to provide an adequate, consistent, and comprehensive account of the linguistic theory with which Varro operated insofar as it can be recovered from the remains of De Lingua Latina.

This fourth volume on Missionary Linguistics focuses on lexicography. As with the previous three volumes (2004, on general issues, 2005, on orthography and phonology, and 2007 on morphology and syntax), research into languages such as Maya, Nahuatl, Tarasco (Purepecha), Lushootseed, Equatorian Quechua, Tupinamba, Ilocan, Tamil and Southern Min Chinese dialects.

The aim of this book is to provide a concise historical survey of linguistic investigation relating to the notion of morphophonemics. The study is essentially historical and thus does not offer its own theory of morphophonemics. Since attention is focused on the "development" of morphophonemic theory, contemporary work in this area is not of central concern. But the study was undertaken in the hope that a better understanding of earlier work would help to clarify present-day issues.

The idea that some aspects of language are 'natural', while others are arbitrary, artificial or derived, runs all through modern linguistics, from Chomsky's GB theory and Minimalist program and his concept of E- and I-language, to Greenberg's search for linguistic universals, Pinker's views on regular and irregular morphology and the brain, and the markedness-based constraints of Optimality Theory. This book traces the heritage of this linguistic naturalism back to its locus classicus, Plato's dialogue Cratylus. The first half of the book is a detailed examination of the linguistic arguments in the Cratylus. The second half follows three of the dialogue's naturalistic themes through subsequent linguistic history - natural grammar and conventional words, from Aristotle to Pinker; natural dialect and artificial language, from Varro to Chomsky; and invisible hierarchies, from Jakobson to Optimality Theory - in search of a way forward beyond these seductive yet spurious and limiting dichotomies.

As each period in the history of the language sciences has chosen to focus on different key questions, the study of that history promises to open our eyes to the variety of interesting questions that can be asked, and answered – taking off the blinders of contemporary preoccupations. September 1–5, 2005, linguists from twenty-five countries gathered at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to share their passion for the history of their discipline. This volume is a distillation of many fine contributions from that conference, shedding light on the many different approaches to the study of language.

This volume contains a selection of papers presented at the 11th International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences (Potsdam 2008) which are especially representative of the concerns of the conference and its thematic range. The reflection about language and the individual languages has characterized cultures since ancient times and has brought forth different traditions of the language sciences. The contributions cover the period from antiquity to contemporary history. In addition to terminological and social history approaches, they also include research results based on corpora or which reconstruct theoretical approaches. More than other scholars, linguists are turning to the history of their science for answers to current questions. This underscores the value of the history of language sciences for understanding the present state of linguistics and its development. Interdisciplinarity necessary for the research of many issues and manifestations of language makes historical reflections on the disciplines indispensable.

Interest in the Persian language has grown during the last few decades, as a consequence of which numerous studies and analyses of different size have been made. The present bibliography is a selection of essays, articles and monographs on the New Persian Language (including the variants Dari and Tajik and in addition local and regional accents such as Tehrani, Isfahani, and ShiraziPersian) written - up to the year 2001 - in the following languages: Persian, Arabic, English, French, German, Italian. Apart from the subject matter aspects like relevance to Persian, topicality and reliability were decisive, too. The present material has not been listed according to strict library usage, but the author has tried to combine the accuracy and conciseness of the entries with userfriendliness. Certain kinds of type (small capitals, italics) are intended to make it easier for the reader to find their way through the mass of information and moreover the reader is given further details which possibly offer more information than the title itself. For optimal use of the enclosed bibliography five indexes (Chronological Index, Subject Index, Language Index, Word Index, Person and Title Index) have been provided which offer the reader special information.