The establishment of language as a focus of study took place over many centuries, and reflection on its nature emerged in relation to very different social and cultural practices. Written by a team of leading scholars, this volume provides an authoritative, chronological account of the history of the study of language from ancient times to the end of the 20th century (i.e., 'recent history', when modern linguistics greatly expanded). Comprised of 29 chapters, it is split into 3 parts, each with an introduction covering the larger context of interest in language, especially the different philosophical, religious, and/or political concerns and socio-cultural practices of the times. At the end of the volume, there is a combined list of all references cited and a comprehensive index of topics, languages, major figures, etc. Comprehensive in its scope, it is an essential reference for researchers, teachers and students alike in linguistics and related disciplines.

List of Figures page 
List of Tables 
List of Contributors 

Preface 
Linda R. Waugh

Acknowledgments

Linda R. Waugh and Monique Monville-Burston

List of Abbreviations, Acronyms, Special Symbols, and Other Conventions

Introduction
Linda R. Waugh and Monique Monville-Burston

Part I. ANCIENT, CLASSICAL, AND MEDIEVAL PERIODS

Introduction to Part I: The Emergence of Linguistic Thinking within Premodern Cultural Practices 
Mark Amsler

1. Ancient Near Eastern Linguistic Traditions: Mesopotamia, Egypt 
Christopher Woods and Andréas Stauder

1 Part 1 Mesopotamia
Christopher Woods

1 Part 2 Egypt
Andréas Stauder

2. East Asian Early Linguistic Traditions: China; Korea and Japan 
Alain Peyraube and Hilary M. Chappell; Alexander Vovin

2 Part 1 Early Linguistic Traditions in China, with an Appendix on Western Grammars of Sinitic Languages
Alain Peyraube and Hilary M. Chappell

2 Part 2 Early Linguistic Traditions in Korea and Japan
Alexander Vovin

3. History of Linguistic Analysis in the Sanskrit Tradition in Premodern

India, with a Brief Discussion of Vernacular Grammars
Madhav M. Deshpande

4. Greek Linguistic Thought and its Roman Reception
Roger D. Woodard

5. Early to Late Medieval Europe 
Louis G. Kelly

6 . Near Eastern Linguistic Traditions 

Introduction to Chapters 6A, 6B, and 6C 
Monique Monville-Burston and Linda R. Waugh

6A . The Syriac Linguistic Tradition
Peter T. Daniels

6B . The Hebrew Linguistic Tradition
José Martínez Delgado

6C . The Arabic Linguistic Tradition
Kees Versteegh

Part II. RENAISSANCE TO LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Introduction to Part II: The Cultural and Political Context of Language

Studies from the Renaissance to the End of the Nineteenth Century
Lia Formigari (Translated by Gabriel Poole)

7. Universal Language Schemes
Jaap Maat and David Cram

Linda R. Waugh , Monique Monville-Burston , John E. Joseph

8. Locke and Reactions to Locke, 1700-1780

Nicholas Hudson

9 . Rousseau to Kant
Gerda Haßler

10. The Celebration of Linguistic Diversity: Humboldt9s Anthropological Linguistics
Jürgen Trabant

11. Early Nineteenth-Century Linguistics 
Hans Henrich Hock

12 . The Neogrammarians and their Role in the Establishment of the Science of Linguistics 
Kurt Jankowsky

Part III. LATE NINETEENTH-THROUGH TWENTIETH-CENTURY LINGUISTICS

Introduction to Part III: Late Nineteenth- through Twentieth-Century Linguistics: Synopsis of Major Trends
Monique Monville-Burston and Linda R. Waugh

IIIA. LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY THROUGH THE 1950s: SYNCHRONY, AUTONOMY, AND STRUCTURALISM

13. Move to Synchrony: Late Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century
Piet Desmet and Stijn Verleyen

14. Structuralism in Europe
Daniele Gambarara, Emanuele Fadda, and Lorenzo Cigana; Patrick Sériot

14 Part 1 Ferdinand de Saussure and Major Structuralist Schools and Approaches
Daniele Gambarara, Emanuele Fadda, and Lorenzo Cigana

14 Part 2 Functional Structuralism in Central Europe: The Prague Linguistic Circle 487
Patrick Sériot

15. British Linguistics
Michael K. C. MacMahon; Tony McEnery and Andrew Hardie

15 Part 1 British Linguistics: Late Nineteenth Century to 1970

Michael K. C. MacMahon

15 Part 2 Neo-Firthian Corpus Linguistics to 2000
Tony McEnery and Andrew Hardie

16. American Linguistics to 1960: Science, Data, Method
Julia S. Falk

IIIB. 1960-2000: FORMALISM, COGNITIVISM, LANGUAGE USE AND FUNCTION, INTERDISCIPLINARITY

17. Chomsky and the Turn to Syntax, Including Alternative Approaches to Syntax
Frederick J. Newmeyer

18. Functionalist Dimensions of Grammatical and Discourse Analysis
Deborah Schiffrin, Colleen Cotter, and Andrea Tyler

19. Semantics and Pragmatics
Keith Allan

20. Language and Philosophy, from Frege to the Present
Jean-Michel Fortis, Bruno Ambroise, Jacqueline Léon, and Mathieu Marion

21. Lexicology and Lexicography
Alain Polguère

22. Generative Phonology: its Origins, its Principles, and its Successors
John A. Goldsmith and Bernard Laks

23. Phonetics and Experimental Phonology, c.1950-2000
John Coleman

24. Historical and Universal-Typological Linguistics
Anna Siewierska

25. Language and Society
Florian Coulmas

26. Language and Anthropology
Alessandro Duranti and Rachel George

27. Language and Psychology, 1950-Present: A Brief Overview
Morton Ann Gernsbacher and Michael P. Kaschak

28. Semiotics
Winfried Nöth

29. Applied Linguistics
Kees de Bot and Margaret Thomas

References

Index