Review Of The History Of Linguistics In Europe From Plato To 1600, By Vivien Law

Review of The History of Linguistics in Europe from Plato to 1600, by Vivien Law


The History of Linguistics and its History


Vivien Law

The History of Linguistics in Europe
from Plato to 1600

Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
2003; 307 pages

ISBN 0-521-56532-4, in paperback


Writing a history of linguistics is a feat of no small proportions. But writing onesingle-handedly is without a doubt an enormous and ambitious endeavor, which Vivien Law (1954-2002) undertook and accomplished with flying colors. It took her over 12 years to finish and was published posthumously in 2003.

Vivien Law, originally from Canada, completed her post-graduate education in England and was awarded the Readership in the History of Linguistic Thought at the University of Cambridgeas well as a Fellowship at Trinity College. She studied under R. H. Robins, and her work is considered a continuation of his. She dedicates this book to him, Bobby Robins.

The History of Linguistics in Europe from Plato to 1600 is a textbook. It is written for the university student of Linguistics, who needs not only to learn about the history of the discipline he or she has decided to delveinto, but who is also seeking a path to follow within the professional scope of this discipline. It gives facts and interpretations, as all good history books should, but it also includes methodological aspects and advice for anyone interested in doing further research into the matter or pursuing history of linguistics as their main focus of study.

But why begin this history with Plato and theGreeks and why end it in 1600? It is not a choice made randomly. Before the fifth and fourth centuries BC, all ancient cultures in Europe and the Near East had a theocentric view of the world: they believed that everything that happened was a direct result of the actions of the gods. It was not until the Greeks of these times departed from this way of thinking that they discovered the independenthuman intellect, and with it, the ability to question their most fundamental beliefs. They were able to think about language as something other than a godsend, and therefore a matter fit for thought and study. On the other end of the book, it was the study of Hebrew and the appearance in the early 1500s of the first Hebrew grammar written in Latin that marked a new era in the study of linguistics.Hebrew was the first language of non-Indo-European origin studied by western scholars. These two changes in paradigms mark key moments in the history of linguistics, and therefore set the boundaries for Law’s book.

The book is divided into 12 chapters: one introductory chapter, nine properly historical chapters, one chapter summarizing where to go next, and a final chapter where Law deals withtraits a good historian of linguistics should have. At the end of every chapter, she gives suggestions and recommendations for further reading that help the interested reader go deeper into the areas that attract him or her more.

The nine historical chapters are well documented and thorough in their narrative. They include boxes with examples, more in-depth explanations, or backgroundinformation that complement the text and make reading more fluent. In her preface, Law thanks her many students who have asked questions and made comments through the years. As one reads along these chapters, it is easy to imagine when a student might have asked a question or added input, because the language Law uses is very pedagogical, and it almost seems like a dialogue between author/teacher andreader/student.

The expansion chapter is an incredibly helpful tool. Instead of leaving the reader with the feeling that either history stopped in 1600 or unsure of how to proceed, the book does a quick run-through of the following periods and provides guidance in terms of further reading or research.

But in my opinion, the true added value of the book, what makes it stand out over many other...