Language and the Study of Language: Twelve Lectures on the Principles of Linguistic Science

Whitney Whitney

ISBN 10: 0461414481 / ISBN 13: 9780461414486

Published by HardPress Ltd, 2019

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Language and the Study of Language: Twelve Lectures on the Principles of Linguistic Science
• Publisher: HardPress Ltd
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0461414481
• ISBN 13: 9780461414486
• Binding: Paperback / softback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 526 grams

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Synopsis

Language And The Study Of Language: Twelve Lectures On The Principles Of Linguistic Science by William Dwight Whitney. This work introduces linguistic science as a historical, empirical discipline; Whitney argues language is an institution shaped by human will and social practice, not a fixed organism. The twelve lectures trace language from its beginnings, discuss how language is learned in infancy, how it is transmitted across generations, and how languages change through processes of phonetic, morphological, and semantic modification. He emphasizes the analytic method, focusing on word-formation, etymology, and the division of signs into roots and affixes, and demonstrates how compounds become single words. The book compares linguistic history to geology and physics, drawing analogies while maintaining that language is a human, moral science. Whitney surveys the Indo-European language family, the unity of its branches, and the probable original mother tongue, though he acknowledges uncertainty about its exact origin and location. He discusses dialects, standards, orthography, the role of writing, and the interplay of culture, education, and literature in preserving or transforming language.