---
title: "History of linguistics"
chunk: 6/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_linguistics"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:59:52.500696+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

In Europe there was a development of structural linguistics, initiated by Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss professor of Indo-European and general linguistics, whose lectures on general linguistics, published posthumously by his students, set the direction of European linguistic analysis from the 1920s on; his approach has been widely adopted in other fields under the broad term "Structuralism".
By the 20th century, the attention shifted from language change to the structure, which is governed by rules and principles. This structure turned more into grammar and by the 1920s structural linguistic, was developing into sophisticated methods of grammatical analysis.

=== Descriptive linguistics ===

During the second World War, North American linguists Leonard Bloomfield, William Mandeville Austin and several of his students and colleagues developed teaching materials for a variety of languages whose knowledge was needed for the war effort. This work led to an increasing prominence of the field of linguistics, which became a recognized discipline in most American universities only after the war.
In 1965, William Stokoe, Carl G. Croneberg, and Dorothy C. Casterline linguists from Gallaudet University published an analysis which proved that American Sign Language fits the criteria for a natural language.

=== Generative linguistics ===

Generative linguistics focuses on modeling the subconscious rules governing language. It started with Noam Chomsky’s Transformational Grammar and has evolved into various theories like Government and Binding and the Minimalist Program. Core principles include the distinction between competence and performance, the role of innate grammar (Universal Grammar), and the use of explicit, formal models to describe linguistic knowledge.

=== Other subfields ===

From roughly 1980 onwards, pragmatic, functional, and cognitive approaches have steadily gained ground, both in the United States and in Europe.

== See also ==
History of grammar
History of communication
History of women in linguistics

== Notes ==

== References ==
Keith Allan (2007). The Western Classical Tradition in Linguistics. London: Equinox.
Roy Harris; Talbot J. Taylor (1989). Landmarks in Linguistic Thought: The Western Tradition from Socrates to Saussure. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00290-7.
John E. Joseph; Nigel Love; Talbot J. Taylor (2001). Landmarks in Linguistic Thought II: The Western Tradition in the Twentieth Century. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-06396-5.
W. P. Lehmann, ed. (1967). A Reader in Nineteenth Century Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34840-4. Archived from the original on 2008-04-26.
François, Alexandre; Ponsonnet, Maïa (2013). "Descriptive linguistics" (PDF). In Jon R. McGee; Richard L. Warms (eds.). Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 184–187. ISBN 9781412999632.
Bimal Krishna Matilal (1990). The Word and the World: India's Contribution to the Study of Language. Delhi; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-562515-3.
James McElvenny (2024). A History of Modern Linguistics: From the beginnings to World War II. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Frederick J. Newmeyer (2005). The History of Linguistics. Linguistic Society of America. ISBN 0-415-11553-1. Archived from the original on 2007-02-10. Retrieved 2007-01-17.
Mario Pei (1965). Invitation to Linguistics. Doubleday & Company. ISBN 0-385-06584-1.
Robert Henry Robins (1997). A Short History of Linguistics. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-24994-5.
Kees Versteegh (1997). Landmarks in Linguistic Thought III: The Arabic Linguistic Tradition. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14062-5.
Randy Allen Harris (1995) The Linguistics Wars, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780199839063. Second edition published in 2022 as The Linguistics Wars: Chomsky, Lakoff, and the Battle Over Deep Structure, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780199740338
Brigitte Nerlich (1992). Semantic Theories in Europe, 1830-1930. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, ISBN 90-272-4546-0
Brigitte Nerlich and David D. Clarke (1996). Language, Action, and Context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, ISBN 90-272-4567-3