The History of Linguistics in Europe From Plato to 1600 [Hardcover]

This book, first published in 2003, examines the history of western linguistics from ancient Greece up to the Renaissance.Authoritative and wide-ranging, this book examines the history of western linguistics over a 2000-year timespan, from ancient Greece up to the Renaissance. Vivien Law explores how ideas about language over the centuries have changed to reflect changing modes of thinking and a survey chapter brings the coverage of the book up to the present day. Classified bibliographies and chapters on research resources and the qualities the historian of linguistics needs to develop, provide the reader with the tools to go further.Authoritative and wide-ranging, this book examines the history of western linguistics over a 2000-year timespan, from ancient Greece up to the Renaissance. Vivien Law explores how ideas about language over the centuries have changed to reflect changing modes of thinking and a survey chapter brings the coverage of the book up to the present day. Classified bibliographies and chapters on research resources and the qualities the historian of linguistics needs to develop, provide the reader with the tools to go further.Authoritative and wide-ranging, this book examines the history of western linguistics over a 2000-year timespan, from ancient Greece to the Renaissance. Vivien Law explores how ideas about language over the centuries have changed to reflect evolving modes of thinking. Classified bibliographies and chapters on research resources are included. A survey chapter updates the coverage to the present day.Preface; 1. Getting ready to study the history of linguistics; 2. Greek philosophy and the origins of western linguistics; 3. Towards a discipline of grammar: the transition from philosophy; 4. From literacy to grammar: describing language structure in the ancient world; 5. Christianity and language; 6. The early Middle Ages; 7. The Carolingian Renaissance; 8. Scholasticism: linking language and reality; 9. Medieval vernacular gramlƒ°