Parutions

The Cambridge History of Linguistics, edited by Linda R. Waugh, Monique Monville-Burston, John E. Joseph. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2023, 900 p. ISBN 9780511842788, 145,89 €
DOI: doi.org/10.1017/9780511842788
Notice de l’Éditeur avec Table des matières (avec plus de détails, par ici).

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.

Linda R. Waugh is Professor Emerita at the University of Arizona and Cornell University. Her research interests include discourse analysis, history of linguistics, semiotics, and French linguistics. Notable publications include The Sound Shape of Language (1979, 1987, with Roman Jakobson), On Language (1990, edited with M. Monville-Burston), and Critical Discourse Analysis (2020, with Catalano).
Monique Monville
-Burston is Professor and Honorary Research Fellow at the Language Center, Cyprus University of Technology. Her research interests include L2 acquisition (French), Tense/Mood/Aspect, discourse analysis, and the history of linguistics. Notable publications include On Language (1990, edited with L. Waugh) and La Marque en lexicographie (2011, with Baider and Lamprou).
John E. Joseph is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. He has worked extensively in the history of linguistics, and his books in this area include Limiting the Arbitrary (2000), From Whitney to Chomsky (2002), Saussure (2012), and Language, Mind and Body (2018). He has served in many capacities, including as president of the Cercle Ferdinand de Saussure.

Part I – Ancient, Classical, and Medieval Periods (featuring « History of Linguistic Analysis in the Sanskrit Tradition in Premodern India, with a Brief Discussion of Vernacular Grammars », by Madhav M. Deshpande, p. 77-101);
Part II – Renaissance to Late Nineteenth Century;
Part III – Late Nineteenth-through Twentieth-Century Linguistics (featuring « Structuralism in Europe », by Daniele Gambarara, Emanuele Fadda, Lorenzo Cigana, Patrick Sériot, p. 467-495).

Valdir do Nascimento Flores, A linguística geral de Ferdinand de Saussure. São Paulo, Editora Contexto, 2023, 160 p. ISBN 978-65-5541-230-7, R$ 45,00
Notice de l’Éditeur avec Table des matières, Introduction et premier chapitre.

Esta obra apresenta um conjunto de argumentos que possibilitam delinear a linguística geral de Ferdinand de Saussure. Valdir do Nascimento Flores, professor da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brasil, toma como parâmetro tudo o que pode ser considerado básico para compreender o universo saussuriano relacionado ao que se consagrou sob o rótulo de “linguística geral”.
Em função disso, utiliza fontes de fácil acesso ao público iniciante de linguistas, privilegiando sempre que possível bibliografia em língua portuguesa.
O livro traz uma pequena nota biográfica de Saussure e sua linguística geral, uma breve história das fontes saussurianas, discorre sobre a gênese da obra de Saussure relacionada ao tema, trazendo ainda uma discussão sobre o termo “linguística geral” em si.
O autor não foge de pontos controversos que rondam o pensador, como a questão sobre ele ser ou não estruturalista, e faz uma análise cautelosa e aprofundada sobre os dois livros póstumos – Curso de linguística geral (CLG) e Escritos de linguística geral (ELG) – atribuídos a Saussure e cercados de polêmicas por conta dos processos de edição que sofreram; mas que são inescapáveis e praticamente onipresentes na pesquisa e na formação acadêmica de linguistas e estudantes de Letras (e não somente no Brasil). Esta obra contribui, assim, para um aprofundamento da discussão acerca da linguística saussuriana existente entre nós.

Saussure e a escola de Genebra, organizado por Valdir do Nascimento Flores e Gabriel Othero. São Paulo, Editora Contexto, 2023, 208 p. ISBN 978-65-5541-275-8, R$ 55,00
Notice de l’Éditeur avec Table des matières et Introduction.

A Escola de Genebra designa, de modo geral, o movimento sociológico que reúne o programa de pesquisa construído em torno do nome de Ferdinand de Saussure nas quatro primeiras décadas do século XX. Esta obra discute o significado dessa escola linguística e sua relação com a figura de Saussure e se divide em três partes.
A primeira parte, intitulada “Leituras de Saussure: a figura de Albert Sechehaye”, reúne textos de autoria de Sechehaye que explicitam o acolhimento que teve o Curso de linguística geral no âmbito da Escola de Genebra. Além de um capítulo de Valdir do Nascimento Flores e Gabriel Othero sobre o artigo “Em favor do arbitrário do signo”, de autoria de Albert Sechehaye, Charles Bally e Henri Frei, que constitui a base para a compreensão do debate em torno da arbitrariedade do signo linguístico durante o século XX.
Na segunda parte, encontra-se um capítulo de Anamaria Curea, reconhecida especialista quando o assunto é a Escola de Genebra. Em seu texto, a autora dedica-se a estudar a “primeira geração” de linguistas da Escola de Genebra com a intenção de ver como, nela, a arbitrariedade se apresenta como um problema a ser explorado. Em seguida, encontra-se o texto “A Escola de Genebra vista pela Sociedade linguística de Paris”, de Pierre-Yves Testenoire, que avalia a Escola de Genebra “de um ponto de vista externo”, o da Sociedade linguística de Paris. São destacados os pontos de contato e os pontos de distanciamento entre as duas “organizações”. O texto é extremamente elucidativo da perspectiva histórica que assume.
Finalmente, na terceira parte do livro, “Correspondência sobre a edição do CLG”, são apresentados três conjuntos de cartas, relativas à redação do CLG e publicadas na prestigiada revista Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure, do Cercle Ferdinand de Saussure: o primeiro conjunto, “Cem anos de filologia saussuriana I: cartas trocadas por Albert Sechehaye e Charles Bally para a edição do Curso de linguística geral (1916)” ; o segundo, “Complemento à correspondência entre Charles Bally e Albert Sechehaye durante a elaboração do Curso de linguística geral (1913)”; o terceiro, “Cem Anos de Filologia Saussuriana III – Albert Riedlinger (1883-1978) e sua ‘colaboração’ com os editores”. Essa Parte conta com comentários feitos por Estanislao Sofía (nos dois primeiros conjuntos) e por este em colaboração com Anne-Marguerite Frýba (no terceiro conjunto), especialistas no tema.

Contributions de Anamaria Curea, Valdir do Nascimento Flores, Anne-Marguerite Frýba, Gabriel Othero, Estanislao Sofía, Pierre-Yves Testenoire.

The Limits of Structuralism. Forgotten Texts in the History of Modern Linguistics, edited by James McElvenny. Oxford, Oxford University Press 2023, 336 p. ISBN 9780192849045, 83 £
DOI : doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192849045.001.0001
Notice de l’Éditeur avec table des matières ; disponible en version numérique.
Google Books Preview.

Based around seven primary texts spanning 130 years, this volume explores the conceptual boundaries of structuralism, a scholarly movement and associated body of doctrines foundational to modern linguistics and many other humanities and social sciences. Each chapter in the volume presents a classic — and yet today underappreciated — text that addresses questions crucial to the evolution of structuralism. The texts are made accessible to present-day English-speaking readers through translation and extensive critical notes; each text is also accompanied by a detailed introduction that places it in its intellectual and historical context and outlines the insights that it contains. The volume reveals the complex genealogy of our ideas and enriches our understanding of their contemporary form and use.

James McElvenny is a researcher in the Special Collaborative Research Centre ‘Media of Co-operation’ at the University of Siegen, having previously held positions at the University of Potsdam and the University of Edinburgh. He is a linguist and historian of science whose research focuses on the history of modern linguistics, and his books include Form and Formalism in Linguistics (Language Science Press, 2019) and Gabelentz and the Science of Language (Amsterdam University Press, 2019).

Contributors: Lorenzo Cigana (University of Copenhagen), John E. Joseph (University of Edinburgh), Chloé Laplantine (CNRS / University of Paris), James McElvenny (University of Siegen), Patrick Sériot (University of Lausanne), Floris Solleveld (KU Leuven), Margaret Thomas (Boston College).

Domenico Russo, Saussure according to his own words. A concordance to the Italian translation of Notes personnelles de Ferdinand de Saussure sur la linguistique générale. Roma, Aracne 2023, 1076 p. ISBN 979-12-218-0601-4, 47 € / 28,2 €
Notice de l’Éditeur, avec Table de matières et Introduction.

I publish here the concordances of the Scritti inediti di linguistica generale, the Italian translation of Notes personnelles de Ferdinand de Saussure sur la linguistique générale carried out by Tullio De Mauro. The reasons for this work are clear.
First of all, Ferdinand de Saussure is the first linguist who succeeded in elaborating a scientific theory of language as a human manifestation of the faculty of language. Secondly, Saussurian theory is the foundation of every other modern linguistic theory. Thirdly, Saussure never published the text that articulates his theory. Fourthly, and finally, Saussurian theory has always and almost exclusively been spread and studied using non-autograph sources, above all the edition of Cours de linguistique générale edited by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye with the collaboration of Albert Riedlinger and critiqued by Tullio De Mauro.While it is true that Saussure never published the text that articulates his theory, it is also true that he annotated it in the bundle of pages preserved by the Bibliothèque publique et universitaire de Genève and catalogued as the Notes personnelles de Ferdinand de Saussure sur la linguistique générale. This means that the Notes personnelles kept in Geneva are the only autographed text that articulates Saussurian linguistic theory. The Notes personnelles were transcribed as a full diplomatic edition by Rudolf Engler and this transcription is on the basis of the Italian translation, introduced and with commentary, carried out by Tullio De Mauro under the title Scritti inediti di linguistica generale. Thus, after the Notes personnelles and Rudolf Engler’s transcription, the work of De Mauro is the text in which Saussurian linguistic theory is articulated in the way that adheres most closely to Saussure’s thought.

Extrait de l’Introduction, p. IX.

Études saussuriennes aujourd’hui, sous la direction de Maria Fausta Pereira de Castro, Núbia Rabelo Bakker Faria, Eliane Silveira. Préface d’Enrica Galazzi. Roma, Aracne Editrice (Lingue d’Europa e del Mediterraneo, 19), 2023, 228 p. ISBN 979-12-5994-598-3, 16,00 €
Notice de l’Éditeur
Table des matières, Préface et Présentation

Le titre de ce livre coïncide avec celui de l’atelier réalisé lors du XV^e ICHoLS, Études saussuriennes aujourd’hui, proposé par deux espaces institutionnels brésiliens qui accueillent les chercheurs de la fortune saussurienne, le Grupo de Pesquisa Ferdinand de Saussure [Groupe de Recherche Ferdinand de Saussure] (CNPq) et le Grupo de Trabalho Estudos Saussurianos [Groupe de Travail Études saussuriennes] (ANPOLL). Cet atelier a réuni des chercheurs d’institutions brésiliennes du nord au sud du pays, en visant le débat sur l’actualité de la pensée saussurienne, à partir d’un faisceau de relations de travail qui s’est développé au Brésil. Cette configuration a donné lieu à un environnement de production fertile, favorisant la création d’espaces de débats ainsi qu’à des publications.
La présente publication reprend et célèbre les liens que le champ de recherche ici représenté entretient avec des chercheurs de marque, parmi lesquels nous voudrions mettre en avant Christian Puech, mais aussi Claudine Normand et Michel Arrivé qui, en 1992, ont organisé le colloque Saussure aujourd’hui, à Cerisy-la-Salle. Nous reconnaissons l’écho des travaux de ces chercheurs dans les études brésiliennes portant sur l’héritage saussurien, qui connurent une réactualisation en 1996 avec la découverte du manuscrit De l’essence double du langage, ainsi qu’avec les grandes réunions qui eurent lieu au Brésil et dans de nombreux autres pays, à l’occasion des centenaires de la mort de Saussure en 2013 et, en 2016, de la publication du Cours de linguistique générale.
Il était significatif pour nous que le XV ICHoLS prenne place dans l’Italie de Tullio de Mauro, dont la contribution inestimable au domaine de recherche n’a plus besoin d’être présentée.

Extrait de la présentation, p. 17