Linguistics in the Later Middle Ages

Abstract

This chapter reviews the linguistic work done during later middle ages. The period 1150–1400 is regarded as one of the golden periods in the history of linguistics, a period when the study of language increased considerably, as a result not only of the general increase in learning and literacy, but of the incorporation of the Aristotelian Organon into the university syllabus, especially in the northern schools. Grammar was taught in the medieval university in the form of commentaries on the work of the Late Latin grammarians, Donatus and Priscian; such is the conventional statement. Attempts were made to replace Priscian as the required text but these do not appear to have succeeded to any great extent, or at least not until the late 14th century. Two Englishmen, Robert Kilwardby (d.l279) and Roger Bacon (ca. 1214–1294), both of whom taught in Paris, were scholars of great originality, but their position in terms of developments in the 13th century cannot yet be defined with any accuracy. This is not intended to diminish their importance.