Linguística e história: elementos para uma epistemologia e metodologia compartilhadas

Abstract

In this paper, our aim is to depelop part of what Mattos e Silva (1988) has named lato sensu historical linguistics through the systematization of the between linguistic science and historical science in the study of a language’s outward face. To this end, we first discuss epistemological and methodological aspects of the two disciplines in order to then show how they act together, giving examples of publications in which this partnership of sciences is achieved intuitively and classifying them within the areas we call social-linguistic history , adopting the denomination used by Mattos e Silva (2004), and cultural-linguistic history . Besides presenting an example of the kind of methodological partnership that has been practised for decades in historian-linguists’ writings, we suggest innovations such as the use of prosopograhy , a typical historical science’s method, to increase productivity in studies occupying this intermediary zone between sciences.