Abstract
This article considers four conceptions of language as an object of study that have been particularly important in the development of modern linguistics. In each case, the general approach is to investigate language by assuming that it is of the same kind as another type of object that is (considered to be) much better understood than language. The four conceptions of language, outlined in this article in chronological order, are: language as a social fact (de Saussure), language as behavior (Bloomfield), language as a mental organ (Chomsky), and language as an abstract object (Katz).
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