Some recent studies on Port-Royal and Vaugelas

Abstract

Abstract The Grammaire universelle et raisonnee, or “Grammaire de Port-Royal”, of Claude Lancelot and Antoine Arnauld (first published in 1660; third, definitive edition, 1676) has undergone several fluctuations in critical esteem. On its first appearance, and for nearly two centuries thereafter, it enjoyed great popularity, going through five editions and fifteen reprints up to 1846. 1 Cf. the list given in Brekle (ed.) 1966:xix-xxi. It is widely recognized 2 Cf. such discussions as those of Brunot (1913:4.57–60); Harnois (1928:21); Sahlin (1928, passim); Donze (1967, passim); Kukenheim (1966:41–46); etc. that Port-Royal was a prime source of the “universal grammar” movement of the eighteenth century, influencing such theoreticians as Du Marsais, 3 Cf. the detailed discussion of Du Marsais in Sahlin 1928. Beauzee, Destutt de Tracy, Court de Gebelin, etc., down to Girault-Duvivier. 4 For Girault-Duvivier, cf. Levitt 1968. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, especially under the influence of his...