Historiography of Linguistics

Abstract

Looking at the history of linguistics—now also referred to as the ‘history of the language sciences’ in an effort to broaden the field—as a subject of serious scholarly study from the viewpoint of the early 21st century, it is obvious that the development of the past 30 and more years has been encouraging. What is now regularly referred to as ‘linguistic historiography’ constitutes the methodologically informed research and presentation of past events in the evolution of the discipline called ‘linguistics’ or the ‘science of language.’ While the activity of establishing the res gestae of the study of language is called ‘linguistic historiography,’ its result would be termed ‘history of linguistics.’ In other words, ‘history of linguistics’ is the product, not the actual activity of establishing it. The continuing discussion about questions of method, philosophy, and epistemology is referred to as ‘metahistoriography.’ This threefold distinction between the history of linguistics, historiography of linguistics, and metahistoriography appears to have been generally accepted by now.