Intended for the student of linguistics or the structural grammarian, who must develop an awareness of their intellectual heritage, the present work surveys the study of language in ancient times, the medieval and early modern periods, the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century to 1950. (This second edition includes additional material on…

Discusses the notion of explanatory adequacy with reference to a theory of generative phonology. An approach is suggested which defines the notion of possible processes based on natural language rules, rather than one which defines the notion of possible rules based on universal processes. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/AM)

This article maintains that linguistic generalizations are likely to be invalid when they are based on data whose synchronic status is not well-defined. An example is made of the universal principles of grammatical rule ordering proposed in a 1974 study by Koutsoudas, Sanders, and Noll. (CLK)

This first English edition of Trubetzkoy's classic work, translated by Christiane A.M. Baltaxe, treats some 200 phonological systems attested in the world's languages. Central to the book is the author's "Theory of Distinctiveness" which states that there are certain minimal distinctive phonic properties that appear to be universal…

Addresses some of the problems concerning the hierarchical relationship between language typology and genetic linguistics and between typology and universal grammar. (RM)

Use of "the language of observation" as a level of scientific discourse is exemplified. The formal properties of this language are characterized, and the derivability and feasibility of the axiomatic method as applied to it are considered. Also discussed are the theoretical and practical significance of this level with respect to various…

This paper is an investigation of nasal vowels from both a synchronic and a diachronic point of view. Data from over 50 languages have been examined (some languages in much more detail than others) in an attempt to distinguish the aspects of vowel nasalization that are "universal" from those phenomena that are language-specific. This study is…

A particular aspect of syllable structure, length of syllable margins, was investigated with the aid of a Markov chain model. The model represented explicitly the dynamic relationship between types of syllable structure and the historical processes that affect them. It is proposed that the regularities concerning syllable types (universality of CV…

Expanded version of a paper presented at the 7th Linguistics Colloquium, Nijmegen, Netherlands, September 27-30, 1972; presented at the University of California, San Diego. (DD)