Change in Language

First published in 1990, Change in Language provides a fresh view of the history of nineteenth-century language study by focusing on the writings of three linguists—Whitney, Bréal and Wegener in three countries—the United States, France, and Germany. The standard histories of linguistics portray the period between the 1840s and the 1890s as comprising a steady increase in philological knowledge, the discovery of sound laws, and the astute study of minute philological curiosities. The three writers discussed here illustrate another trend in the evolution of the science of language. They are witnesses to an increasing interest in questions of ‘general’ linguistics, semantics, and the study of human communication—new points of view from which they study the origin of language, language change, and linguistic creativity.

The life and work of these three outstanding scholars, their relationships with their friends and enemies, and their efforts to free linguistics from the unreflecting use of biological metaphors, give a new insight into the evolution of language study in an interdisciplinary and international context.