An Introduction to the Study of Language: New edition: 3 (Classics in Psycholinguistics)

This is a fac simile edition of Bloomfield's An Introduction to the Study of Language (New York 1914), with an introductory article by Joseph S. Kess.

Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949) was responsible for two classic textbooks in the field of linguistics. The earlier, reproduced here, shows some striking differences to his later views, reflecting much of the then-current thinking on language matters. As such, it represents not only an interesting commentary on the theoretical development of an extremely influential linguist, but more importantly, it is a telling document in the evolving history of the discipline and a rich source for the (psycho)linguist interested in how and why we got from where we were to where we are.

Leonard Bloomfield, an American professor of Germanic languages, created the field of linguistics as a branch of science. In studying such non-Western languages as Tagalog, spoken in the Philippines, he realized the futility of trying to fit all languages into the format of Latin grammar in the common practice in his time. Bloomfield went on to discover the principles of language itself. His book Language (1933) integrated the field of linguistics for the first time.