History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences

In this interview, we talk to Philip Kraut about the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, their scholarly contributions and political engagement. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube References for Episode 46 See Wikisource for scans of the Grimms'…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Beijia Chen about the citation networks binding the Neogrammarians as a school. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube References for Episode 45 Amsterdamska, Olga. 1985. “Institutions and Schools of Thought: The Neogrammarians.”…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Ian Stewart about modern ideas surrounding the Celts and how these relate to historical-comparative linguistics. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube References for Episode 44 Crump, Margaret, James Cowles Prichard of the…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Judy Kaplan about universals in American linguistics of the mid-20th century. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube References for Episode 43 Emmon Bach & Robert T. Harms, Universals in Linguistic Theory (New York: Holt,…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Randy Harris about the controversies surrounding the generative semantics movement in American linguistics of the 1960s and 70s. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube References for Episode 42 Chomsky, N. (2015/1965). Aspects of…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Chris Knight about Chomsky, pure science and the US military-industrial complex. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube References for Episode 41 Radical Anthropology Group. YouTube channel | Vimeo channel Allot, Nicholas, Chris…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Nick Riemer about how linguistic theory and political ideology can interact. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 40 Ahmed, Sara. 2012. On being included: Racism and diversity in institutional life. Durham,…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Ingrid Piller about her forthcoming co-authored book Life in a New Language. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 38 Kachru, Braj B. 1985. ‘Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism:…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Dan Everett about the life and work of the American pragmatist philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and Everett’s application of Peirce’s ideas to create a Peircean linguistics. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Michael Lynch about the history of conversation analysis and its connections to ethnomethodology. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 37 Button, Graham, Michael Lynch and Wes Sharrock (2022) Ethnomethodology,…Read more ›

In this brief audio clip, we provide an update on what’s been happening with the podcast – and what’s coming up. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts McElvenny, James. 2024. A History of Modern Linguistics: From the…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Ghil‘ad Zuckermann about language reclamation and revival in Australia and around the world. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 36 The Barngarla trinity: people, language, land. The Barngarla…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Nick Thieberger about the value of historical documentation for linguistic research, and how this documentation can be preserved and made accessible today and in the future in digital form. Download | Spotify | Apple…Read more ›

In this episode, we talk to Mary Laughren about research into the languages of Central Australia in the mid-twentieth century, with a focus on the contributions of American linguist Ken Hale. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts…Read more ›

In this episode, we examine the formalist aspects of the linguistic work of Edward Sapir and Leonard Bloomfield, and see how their methods were turned into the doctrines of distributionalism by the following generation. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts…Read more ›

In this episode, we discuss the leading American linguist Leonard Bloomfield and his connections to the psychological school of behaviourism and the philosophical doctrines of logical positivism. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 32…Read more ›

In this episode, we explore the historical background to linguistic relativity or the so-called ‘Sapir-Whorf hypothesis’. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 31 Primary sources Boas, Franz, ed. (1911), Handbook of American Indian Languages,…Read more ›

This clip is a brief audio update on what’s been happening with the podcast, and what’s going to happen in the next few months. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts

In this episode we talk to Andrew Garrett about the life, work and legacy of American anthropologist Alfred Kroeber. Kroeber achieved a number of firsts in American anthropology: he was Boas’ first Columbia PhD and the first professor of anthropology…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Marcin Kilarski about the history of the documentation and description of the languages of North America. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 29 Primary sources Bloomfield, Leonard. 1946.…Read more ›

In this episode, we begin our exploration of American linguistics by looking at the innovative contributions of Franz Boas (1858–1942) and his circle of students. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 28 Primary sources…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Peter Trudgill about how the structure of speaker communities may influence the structure of languages. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 27 Aronoff, Mark. 1994. Morphology by itself: stems…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Philipp Krämer about the history of the study of creole languages and present-day efforts to standardise creoles around the world. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 26 Primary…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Felicity Meakins about Pidgins, Creoles, and mixed languages. We discuss what they are, and how they are viewed in both linguistic scholarship and in speaker communities. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Lorenzo Cigana about Louis Hjelmslev and the Copenhagen Linguistic Circle. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 24 Primary Sources ‘Travail collectif du Cercle linguistique de Copenhague’, in Proceedings…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Noam Chomsky about the intellectual environment in which generative grammar emerged. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 23 Primary Sources Bloomfield, Leonard (1933). Language. New York: Henry Holt…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Christopher Hutton about linguistic scholarship under National Socialism and how this relates to linguistics today. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 22 Primary Sources Boas, Franz (1911), Handbook…Read more ›

In this episode, we look at psychologist Karl Bühler’s (1879–1963) Organon model of communication and observe its influence on the linguists Nikolai Trubetzkoy (1890–1938) and Roman Jakobson (1896–1982), who were associated with the Prague Circle. Download | Spotify | Apple…Read more ›

In this interview, we continue the theme of the previous episode and talk to Jacqueline Léon about John Rupert Firth (1890–1960), Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942) and the London School. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode…Read more ›

In this episode, we look at the central role the analysis of meaning played in British linguistics in the first half of the twentieth century. We focus on the work of John Rupert Firth (1890–1960) and Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942) and…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to H. Walter Schmitz about pioneer of semiotics Victoria Lady Welby. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts References for Episode 18 Primary Sources Hayakawa, Samuel Ichiyé (1939), Language in Thought and Action,…Read more ›

In this episode, we take a step back to explore the earliest beginnings of functional linguistics as represented by the work of Philipp Wegener. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 17 Primary Sources Bréal, Michel (1866), ‘De…Read more ›

In this episode, we talk to Chloé Laplantine about the life and work of French structuralist Émile Benveniste. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 16 Primary Sources Annuaire du Collège de France. 1937-1938. Paris: Ernest Leroux. Benveniste,…Read more ›

In this episode, we enter the age of classical structuralism by exploring the phonological research of Roman Jakobson and his colleague Nikolai Trubetzkoy undertaken within the Prague Linguistic Circle. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 15 Primary…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Michael Ashby about the emergence and development of phonetics in the 19th and early 20th century. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 14 Primary Sources Brücke, Ernst Wilhelm von (1856), Grundzüge…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to John Joseph about Ferdinand de Saussure. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 13 Primary Sources Arnauld, Antoine and Claude Lancelot (1660), Grammaire générale et raisonnée contenant les fondemens de l’art de…Read more ›

In this episode, we look at Ferdinand de Saussure’s contributions to linguistics, which are widely considered to be foundational to the later movement of structuralism. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 12 Primary Sources Bloomfield, Leonard (1924),…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Floris Solleveld about the character of linguistic research in the 19th century. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 11 Primary Sources Adelung, Johann Christoph and Johann Severin Vater (1806–1817), Mithridates, oder…Read more ›

In this episode, we examine some of the major critiques directed against the Neogrammarians and see what they tell us about the state of linguistics around the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century. We focus in particular on…Read more ›

In this episode, we introduce the Neogrammarians, the dominant school of linguistics in the closing decades of the nineteenth century. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 9 Primary Sources Brugman, Karl (1876a), ‘Nasalis sonans in der indogermanischen…Read more ›

In this episode, we look first at the critiques of Schleicher’s “physcial” and Steinthal’s “psychological” theory of language put forward by the American linguist William Dwight Whitney. We then turn to Whitney’s own conception of language as a “human institution”…Read more ›

In this interview, we talk to Dr Clara Stockigt about missionary grammars in Australia and their links to the academic linguistic scholarship of the time. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 7 Primary Sources Bleek, Wilhelm H.…Read more ›

In this episode, we look first at August Schleicher’s proposal for a linguistic “morphology” and its intellectual background in nineteenth-century biology. We then compare Schleicher’s approach to the scheme of language classification developed by H. Steinthal within Völkerpsychologie, or “psychology…Read more ›

In this episode, we look at the expansion of comparative-historical linguistics around the middle of the nineteenth century. We focus in particular on the figure of August Schleicher, the great consolidator of the field, and his “materialist” philosophy of science.…Read more ›

In this episode, we talk to Jürgen Trabant about Wilhelm von Humboldt. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 4 Primary sources Humboldt, Wilhelm von (1836), ‘Über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues’, Über die Kawi-Sprache auf der Insel…Read more ›

In this episode, we look at language classification in the first half of the nineteenth century and at some key ideas in the work of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 3 Primary Sources…Read more ›

In this episode, we look at the emergence of comparative-historical grammar, focusing on the work of Franz Bopp and Jacob Grimm. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for Episode 2 Primary Sources Bopp, Franz (1816), Über das Conjugationssystem der…Read more ›

The first series of the History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences Podcast looks at the history of modern linguistics. We begin in this episode by examining the pre-history of comparative-historical grammar. Download | Spotify | Apple Podcasts References for…Read more ›