Reasons for the emergence of the science of language. Brief history of linguistics. Questions of language learning in the early Middle Ages

§ 252. The problem of the origin of language, or glottogenesis (from the Greek. glotta-"languages genesis- "origin"), has been of interest to scientists since ancient times, it arose long before the emergence of linguistics as a science. The history of its study has several millennia. At the same time, not only linguists, but also representatives of a number of other related human sciences (i.e. human sciences), thinkers, writers, etc., have shown and continue to show attention to the issues of the emergence of human language.

Even in ancient times, the ancient Greek philosophers Democritus (about 460–370 BC), Plato (427–347 BC), Aristotle (384–322 BC), the ancient Roman philosopher Lucretius dealt with the issues of the origin of the language (about 99–55 BC), etc. There is reliable information that the thinkers of Ancient China and ancient india. The study of the problems of glottogenesis was fruitfully carried out in the Middle Ages, mainly in the Renaissance, and especially in modern times. At this historical stage in different countries In Europe, such well-known scientists as, for example, the English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704), the French philosopher Etienne Bonnot de Condillac (1715–1780), the French philosopher, educator, and writer Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) deal with the problems of the origin of the language. , German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1647–1716), German philosopher, writer, critic Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), German linguist August Schleicher (1821–1868), English naturalist, biologist Charles Darwin (1809–1882), many Russian scientists, starting with M. V. Lomonosov, and others.

In the XVIII century. the study of questions of the origin of language, or glottogenesis, stands apart as an independent scientific problem. According to O. A. Donskikh, "the problem of glottogenesis, the history of which has been studied for more than one thousand years, as a problem of independent interest, was formulated only in the middle of the 18th century. Ego was made by Condillac in a treatise on the theory of knowledge." Some specific sciences, primarily linguistics and biology, are gradually beginning to study various aspects of the general problem of glottogenesis. At present, in addition to linguistics and biology (physiology), representatives of such sciences as anthropology, archeology, ethnography, psychology, philosophy, etc. take an active part in solving this problem.

Have their object of study and other sciences dealing with issues of glottogenesis. So, biologists (physiologists) solve these problems on the basis of the study of the human body, primarily the structure of its speech organs, hearing organs, brain, as well as various organs of animals, primarily apes. At the same time, anthropologists study the origin and evolution, the variability of the human body, widely using data on the structure of primitive people and their alleged ancestors from ancient fossils found in different places. Modern philosophers are engaged in generalizing the achievements of various specific sciences, taking into account the available data on the origin of man and the formation of human society, the social role of language in primitive society and in subsequent periods of its development, the relationship of language to thinking, etc.

The problem of the origin of the language as a whole is extremely complex and multifaceted. In the modern sense, this scientific problem is not simply reduced to the emergence of individual elements of the language (words, expressions, etc.), but is a study of the formation of language as the most important means of human communication "from pre-linguistic forms of communication." The origin of a language is "the process of becoming a human natural sound language, distinct from other sign systems". At the same time, the main moment in the general process of the formation of a language is the emergence of its main, most important units - words, the transformation of unconsciously pronounced sounds into words, i.e. significant units of language. "Sounds uttered by a person become words only when they correspond to a certain semantic content." In other words, the emergence of a proper human sound language, i.e. the language of words is directly related to the transformation of sounds involuntarily produced by a person into arbitrary, intentionally pronounced speech sounds, or words expressing a certain content (names of objects, their signs, actions, states, etc.). Even D. N. Ushakov drew attention to the fact that "involuntarily produced speech sounds do not fit the definition of language", explaining this idea as follows: "if, for example, I scream, accidentally prick my finger, then these will be the same reflective and involuntary movements of the organs of speech, like the movement of a hand, which I unconsciously draw aside.

In solving the general problem of the origin of a language, a number of particular questions can be distinguished: about the time of the origin of the language, about the place of its initial occurrence, about the possible ways of forming a sound, verbal language and the nature of its initial state, etc.

§ 253. Speaking about the time of the origin of the sound language, the emergence of human speech, one must bear in mind that this question is inextricably linked with the origin of man, his thinking. Quite convincing is the opinion that "man has become a man precisely since the time when he had - albeit very primitive - thinking and speech."

On the question of the time of the emergence of man as a thinking being and, accordingly, the human language, different researchers express the most contradictory opinions. According to some scientists, "the formation of the human language took place mainly in the period of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic (Cro-Magnons) and lasted from 2 million to 40-30 thousand years ago." According to other sources of a completely scientific nature, more accurate conclusions are made: it is argued that humanity, and therefore human language, has existed for approximately 1 million years. Based on the data of anthropology and other sciences adjacent to it, the idea is expressed of the possibility of "approximately attributing the emergence of a natural sound language in its articulate, close to modern form to a period of about 100 thousand years ago, lying between the Neanderthals ... and the first people modern type...". The results of linguistic studies allow us to suggest that the original human society (Nostragic, or, in other words, boreal, Nordic, Denefin, proto-people) and its language (proto-language) arose approximately in the period of the final Paleolithic, i.e. 40–14 thousand years ago.

§ 254. If the question of the origin of language is considered in close connection with the question of the origin of man, then the place of the initial use of human speech should be recognized as the territory most favorable for the origin and life of man. According to some scientists, "the first stages of the language are highly dependent on the living conditions of the people." According to some assumptions, such a place could be the territory between the eastern Mediterranean and Hindustan, between the Caspian Sea and Arabia.

In the general problem of the origin of language, the question of “did the language originally arose in one place, in one human collective, or did different languages begin to arise simultaneously from the very beginning? This problem is formulated differently as follows: monogenesis or polygenesis of language?”. At the present level of development of science, it is impossible to give a clear answer to this question.

In specialized literature, in the works of various authors, the biblical view of this problem is commented, according to which God created a single language inspired by the first man Adam, which was used by all mankind before the flood. Subsequently, during the construction of the Tower of Babel, this single human language was destroyed by God, each nation received its own special language. According to some scientists, the concept of the original single human language is confirmed by scientific data, in particular, "data of the modern materialistic history of primitive culture"; on the basis of the available data, it is concluded that a person, and therefore his language, "could not have simultaneously arisen in different geographical conditions", that he "originally arose in one, perhaps in a fairly large area of the globe, in similar geographical conditions". A similar opinion is shared by some linguists, for example, supporters of the Nostratic hypothesis of the origin of the language, which was discussed above. The essence of this hypothesis is as follows: all the languages of the Old World several tens of thousands of years ago were one Nostratic language, and all the inhabitants of the Old World then were one Nostratic people.

Supporters of the concept of the original single language (language monogenesis) also raise the question of a specific proto-language, i.e. about which language was the original, served as the basis for the emergence of other languages. Jewish clergymen, interpreters of the Bible, argued that such a language was Hebrew, more precisely, Hebrew, that "God taught Adam the Hebrew language, its words and grammar." This point of view was especially widespread and gained particular popularity in the 16th-17th centuries. The Egyptian king Psammetikh I (VII century BC) as a result of linguistic research came to the conclusion that Phrygian was the most ancient, original language. The French scientist, linguist Charles de Brosse admits the idea that Latin can claim the role of the first language. In the works of other scientists, languages such as Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, German, Flemish, etc. appear as possible proto-languages.

Many scientists suggest that in different places of the globe different languages formed independently and a number of languages \u200b\u200bcould be formed at the same time. The idea is expressed that the most ancient people and a single original language did not exist. "The ancestors of people lived in almost all of Eurasia and Africa, and it is natural that in many places and at the same time their communities, tribes and peoples "humanized" appeared." At the same time, some scientists (for example, the famous German philosopher, psychologist, physiologist and linguist of the 19th century Wilhelm Wundt) argue that the number of original languages was infinite. This opinion is sometimes confirmed by the fact that in the course of the historical development of human society, the number of languages is gradually reduced, and not vice versa. So, for example, the German linguist August Schleicher wrote the following about this: “It is impossible to establish one parent language for all languages, most likely there were many parent languages. new ones do not arise, then it must be assumed that originally there were more languages than now. In accordance with this, the number of proto-languages was, apparently, incomparably greater than can be assumed on the basis of still living languages.

§ 255. The main, most important issue related to the problem of glottogenesis, i.e. The origin of the language is the question of the ways of the emergence of a sound language, human speech, the sources of the formation of the original language. " The question of the origin of human language there is a question about How(highlighted by me. - V.N.) a person has developed the ability to express his internal states, mainly thoughts. "On this issue, scientists and thinkers from different countries at different times have expressed and are currently expressing a variety of opinions. Special literature offers a number of concepts, or theories, of the origin of the language, its various sources are called.

Speaking about the proposed theories of the origin of the language, it should be borne in mind that all of them are based on indirect data and come down to the assumptions of scientists. "From ... the "primitive" language, there are no real remnants that can be directly studied, and therefore "the origin of the language cannot be scientifically proven, but one can only build more or less probable hypotheses." In other words, we can talk "not so much about theories, but about hypotheses purely speculatively derived from the general philosophical views of this or that author", since "the origin of language in general as an integral part of a person cannot be either directly observed or reproduced in experiment. The emergence of a language hidden in the depths of human prehistory." In this regard, instead of the common term "theory of the origin of language", it would be more correct to use such terms as "the hypothesis of the origin of language" (see the above quotes from the works of A. A. Reformatsky and Yu. S. Stepanov), "the hypothesis of the emergence of human speech", etc. However, due to the established tradition, in the following presentation, we also use the first term.

Human language is an unusually multifaceted phenomenon. In order to understand the true essence of a language, it is necessary to consider it in different aspects, to consider how it is arranged, in what proportion the elements of its system are, what influences it is subjected to from the external environment, for what reasons the language changes in the process of its historical development, what concrete forms of existence and functions are acquired by the language in human society.

At the same time, it is necessary to first clarify, before talking about individual particulars, what property of the language determines its main essence. Such a property of a language is its function to be a means of communication. Any language of the world acts as a means of communication between people who speak this language. The role of the communicative function in the process of creating a language is enormous. It can be said without exaggeration that the system of material means of language, starting from the phoneme and its specific real manifestations and ending with complex syntactic constructions, arose and took shape in the process of using language as a means of communication. Many specific features of the language, such as: the presence of special deictic and expressive means, means of local orientation, various means of communication between sentences, etc., can only be explained on the basis of the needs of the function of communication.

The appearance of sound speech contributed to the emergence and development of new types of thinking, especially abstract thinking, which gave mankind the key to unraveling the innermost secrets of the world around. The use of language as a means of communication gives rise to special specific processes that take place in its internal sphere and are conditioned by this function. The use of sound speech caused the appearance in a person of the so-called second signal system, and the word acquired the function of a signal of the second stage, capable of replacing irritations emanating directly from the object that it designates.

Without studying the system of communicative means, the history of their formation and their complex relationships with all human mental activity, it is impossible to solve such cardinal problems of general linguistics and philosophy as the problem of the connection between language and thinking, the problem of the relationship between language and society, the this reflection in the language and many other problems.

The study of the processes occurring in the cycle of speech is, of course, of great importance for understanding the mechanism of communication, but it is hardly sufficient for understanding its essence. In order to understand the essence of communication, at least in the most general terms, it is necessary to consider this problem in combination with other problems closely related to it.

In this regard, it would be interesting to consider the various prerequisites that led to the emergence of the function of communication, the specific features of sound speech, in particular the problem of the word and its relationship with the concept, the role of various associations in the formation of the vocabulary of the language, the reasons for the differences in the structures of the languages of the world with the unity of the laws of logical thinking, the specifics of the reflection of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world in human thinking and the manifestation of this reflection in language, etc.

If this plan of presentation is observed, it should become clear under what specific conditions the communicative function arises, what material language means it uses, how these means relate to thinking, what expresses the purely human features of people's communication with each other, which are reflected in the structure of specific languages, etc. d.

In the specialized linguistic literature, it has already been rightly pointed out that "the question of linguistic variability, which represents the constant quality of the language, is the question of the essence of the language." The study of language as a historically developing object and the main features of language changes is therefore an important part of the study of the forms of existence of language and is closely linked with the description of its essential characteristics. In this connection, it is natural that a true understanding of the nature of language is unthinkable without comprehending the various types of movement that are observed in it. Although in general the concept of kinematic processes in a language cannot be reduced to the concept of linguistic variability, linguistic dynamism appears most clearly when considering a language in a temporal, historical perspective. Comparing any two consecutive stages in the development of the same language, we will definitely find some or other discrepancies between them. The variability of language always appears as its indisputable and very obvious property. Its nature, however, is far from being so obvious.

Following Saussure, many researchers noted that linguistic variability finds its explanation not in how the language is arranged, but in what its purpose is. And, indeed, languages cannot but change, primarily for the simple reason that the basis of the acts of communication, the means of practical implementation of which is the language, is the reflection of the person around him, which itself is in constant motion and development. However, the impulses for change come not only from the historically changing environment in which a particular language functions.

The process of becoming a living language, its improvement never stops in principle, ending, in fact, only when this language itself ceases to exist. But the process of creating a language is not limited to its response restructuring in connection with the material and technical progress of society - it also implies the need to improve language technology and includes the elimination of contradictions, or even defects, existing in the organization of particular languages. Therefore, one cannot but admit that at least part of the changes is of a therapeutic nature, arising due to the internal need to restructure the language mechanism.

A special case of such a restructuring may be a change caused by the imperfection of a given linguistic system or the imperfection of its individual links. Finally, a number of changes can be directly related to the impact of one language on another. In general, it is possible, therefore, to state that the restructuring of a language can proceed under the influence of two different driving forces, one of which is associated with the purpose of the language and the implementation of the communicative needs of society, and the other with the principles of the organization of the language, with its embodiment in a certain substance and its existence in the form of a special system of signs. As a result, language shows a dual dependence of its evolution - on the environment in which it exists, on the one hand, and its internal mechanism and structure, on the other. With the recognition of this circumstance, the classification of the main causes of changes, proposed below, is also associated.

In the evolution of any language, these factors are closely intertwined and interact. The study of the causes, directions and forms of linguistic transformations is therefore a problem of great complexity. In parallel with linguistic changes caused by the influence of the external environment, changes are distinguished that are not caused by external causes, which allows us to speak about the relative independence of the development of the language system; on the other hand, the development of the language system is carried out to a certain extent independently of certain particular shifts and apart from them.

Despite the variety of causes that cause language changes, they all share one remarkable feature. Along with the tendency to change the language and improve its system, there is a constant strong tendency to preserve the language in a state of communicative suitability, which often manifests itself in counteracting the beginning transformations. All processes of restructuring in the language are usually opposed by peculiar processes of inhibition, aimed at consolidating and conserving the existing linguistic means and preventing the onset of drastic changes.

Hence the special rates of development of the language, which are not the same for different parts of its structure - phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, etc .; hence the greater or lesser susceptibility to change at different levels (cf. the greatest mobility of the phonetic system, which often made it necessary to emphasize its revolutionary role in the general restructuring of the language; hence the possibility of separate development of different aspects of the linguistic sign. Hence, finally, the specific nature of the dynamic stability of languages, which allows with significant changes in individual parts of the system, nevertheless, maintain its general identity to itself for a long time.

Already W. von Humboldt emphasized that the correct approach to language means understanding it not as a thing, but as the most creative activity. However, language at every moment of its existence is both an activity and a historical product of this activity. In objects of this kind, two different kinematic processes should be taken into account - the process of the genesis of the object and the process of its functioning. The concept of the historical development of a language is incomplete without recreating the patterns of both these processes, for any change begins in speech activity. The variability of the language is both a prerequisite and a result of speech activity, and a condition and consequence of the normal functioning of the language. Like some other complex phenomena of reality, language can be characterized as a dialectical unity of contradictions. Elementary particles are both a quantum and a wave at the same time. Language is an integral unity of stable and mobile, stable and changing, statics and dynamics.

The history of linguistic doctrines as the most important component of general linguistics

Linguistics - scientific discipline, investigating in general the phenomena of natural human language and all the languages of the world as its individual representatives. At present, linguistics studies languages in their causal connection, which distinguishes it from the simple "practical study of languages" precisely in that it approaches each linguistic fact with the question of the causes of this phenomenon (it is another matter whether state of the art science to answer some or other of these questions).

The word "linguistics" from lat. lingua "language". Other names: linguistics, linguistics, with an emphasis on the difference from the practical study of languages - scientific linguistics (or - scientific linguistics).

According to L. Kukenema, the term "linguistics" appeared in France in 1833 with the re-edition of the "Dictionary of the French Language" by C. Nodier. Linguistic works that consider current phenomena that exist in a given language in any one era (most often in the modern period) belong to descriptive linguistics. As for historical linguistics, it explores the connections between the facts of different periods of the life of the language, i.e. between facts relating to languages of different generations. In linguistics (that is, in pragmatic linguistics - the term of E.D. Polivanova, from the Greek πρᾶγμα "case"), most explanations of the causal connection of linguistic facts go beyond the given (for example, contemporary to us) state of the language in question, since the cause of the phenomenon usually turns out to belong to the language of past generations, which is why historical linguistics occupies a very important place in modern science.

Nevertheless, among the explanations given by linguistics (i.e., indications of a causal relationship) of linguistic facts, there are also those where only the material of descriptive linguistics is involved (i.e., the facts of the modern linguistic state).

In his direct meaning the history of linguistic doctrines is the history of the science of language. Therefore, it may seem that it is of the same importance as the history of mathematics, the history of law, the history of biology, that is, its purpose, as if, is solely to describe the development of scientific ideas on the basis of bibliographic data, biographies of scientists and their texts. But this is a qualitatively incorrect vision of the problem of history, because what is really new in science always follows logically from the old, consistently developed principles give new methods, techniques, and conclusions. The history of linguistics is closely connected with the theory of language, both of these sciences deal with different views on the same object. Both of them directly or indirectly occur, because in methodology it is customary to call the socio-historical process of language cognition. If the theory of language mainly studies the results of the cognitive process and seeks to streamline them, based on the objective connections of the elements of the language system, then the history of linguistics is absorbed in the study of the same process in its formation and pays more attention to the subjective side of the matter - the merits of individual scientists, the struggle of opinions and trends, continuity of traditions, etc.

In essence, the theory of language is the same history of linguistics, but purified from the manifestations of subjectivism and systematized on objective grounds. On the other hand, the history of linguistics is a personified and dramatized theory of language, where each scientific concept and theoretical position is provided with an explanation indicating the persons, dates, circumstances associated with their appearance in science.

The reader is invited to pay attention mainly to two main points for the science of language: the problem of the subject, including the nature, origin and essence of language, and the problem of the scientific method of linguistic research, since these two points contribute to a clear and logical idea of the hierarchy of many questions and problems of linguistics. .

Conditions for the emergence of the science of language

Most scientists date the emergence and formation of the science of language to the beginning of the 19th century, defining the entire previous period as "pre-scientific" linguistics. Such a chronology is correct if we have in mind comparative historical linguistics, but it is incorrect if we talk about linguistics as a whole. The formulation of many, and, moreover, the main, problems of linguistics (for example, the nature and origin of language, parts of speech and sentence members, the relationship of a linguistic sign with meaning, the relationship of logical and grammatical categories, and so on) goes back to ancient times. A number of theoretical provisions developed before the 17th-18th centuries became part of the linguistics of the 19th century. In addition, comparative historical linguistics is not the result of a single line of development; The origins of this trend can be found in three scientific traditions: ancient Indian, classical and Arabic, each of which has contributed to the development of the science of language.

The conditions for the emergence of the science of language represent a synthesis, a set of generated causes in the depths of public consciousness:

1. Historical change in the content of forms of social consciousness, a change in the cultural priorities of civilization, caused by the accumulation of knowledge.
2. The emergence of science as such is due to the diverse needs of society. The mutual enrichment and mutual influence of the sciences, the struggle of philosophies and ideologies contributed to the development of this sphere of human activity. What, in the most general sense, was helped by a change in the type of civilizations: from a directly religious-mythological type of thinking to an indirect logical type of thinking (transition from the predominant type of reasoning by analogy (archaic thinking) to other types of reasoning).
3. The emergence of writing and change, the transformation of information paradigms.

It was the conscious study of the language that became possible and necessary in connection with the invention of writing, with the emergence of special languages determined by the social structure, different from the spoken ones (literary and cult written languages and a specially developed literary language, for example, Sanskrit in India).

With the development of navigation, trade, colonial conquests, Europeans were faced with a large number previously unknown languages spoken by the peoples of Asia, Africa, America. The first to get acquainted with these languages were Christian missionaries who settled among the enslaved peoples in order to convert them to the faith of the conquerors. Recordings of the language material kept by the missionaries flocked to the capitals of the largest European states - Rome, London, Madrid, Moscow and others. The first publications appeared, which at first were collections of records. In the XVIII century. the idea of the existence of related and unrelated languages began to be widely discussed. Separate groupings of related languages were identified. For example, M.V. Lomonosov pointed out the relationship between the Slavic and Baltic languages, the similarities between some European languages.

The impetus for establishing family ties between languages was the acquaintance of European scientists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. with Old Indian literary language-- Sanskrit. Completely unknown until that time in Europe, this language turned out to be very close to the well-known Latin and Greek. The discovery of coincidences of words and forms between languages that had no contact for thousands of years led to the idea of their origin from the same proto-language, which once broke up and gave rise to a family of related languages.

Proceedings of German scientists of the first quarter of the 19th century. Franz Bopp, Jacob Grimm, Dane Rasmus Rusk, Russian linguist Alexander Khristoforovich Vostokov laid the foundations of comparative historical linguistics. Comparing the words and forms of one language at different stages of its development, comparing the words and forms of related languages with each other, linguists have established regular, regularly repeated correspondences that require scientific explanation. A language has a history, it develops according to certain laws, one language can give rise to a family of related languages - these are completely new to early XIX V. ideas dramatically changed the content and direction of development of linguistic science. Its subject was the study of the history and family ties of the languages of the world.

From the totality of scientifically substantiated methods of comparing words and forms, a comparative historical method arose - the first proper linguistic method for studying languages.

The very idea of comparing languages has been expressed before. Back in the 11th century. was written which remained unknown in Europe until the 20th century. the outstanding work of Mahmud Al Kashgari "The Divan of Turkish Languages". It was a serious comparative description of the Turkic languages.

But only in the XIX century. the idea of comparing languages formed the basis of a whole scientific direction, which was effectively developed by several generations of linguists from different countries and became a rich source of theoretical ideas. This powerful source gave rise to theoretical (general) linguistics as an independent department of the science of language.

Lecture on introduction to linguistics

Short story linguistics

Linguistic tradition - certain national boundaries within which the science of language develops.

Paradigm- a model for posing a problem and solving it, determined by the research method that prevailed over a certain historical period in the scientific community. The paradigm shift represents a scientific revolution.

The first highly developed linguistic tradition was indian(the beginning takes shape in the first half of the 1st millennium BC). The first great linguist of India is Yaska, the creator of the world's first classification of parts of speech. Another achievement of the Indian tradition is the grammar of Panini, which is a description of the phonetics, morphology and syntax of Sanskrit.

Chinese linguistic tradition. Hieroglyphs were studied and hieroglyphic dictionaries were compiled. The first classic of Chinese linguistics was Xu Shen, who proposed a classification of hieroglyphs. The Chinese tradition is also marked by an interest in the description of phonetics.

In the 5th century BC. V Ancient Greece formed ancient European tradition. Developed within the framework of philosophy. The ancient stage of linguistics is characterized by the dominance of the logical direction. The analysis of language is only an auxiliary means of logic. Language was seen as a means of forming and expressing thought.

Plato's dialogue "Cratylus" is the first work on linguistics in European science.

The ideas of Plato and Aristotle about naming, about the connection between a name and the thing it denotes are important. Aristotle has a classification of parts of speech: name, verb, link.

In the 3rd century BC. the Alexandrian grammar school arises, in which the first Greek grammars were created.

In the 1st century BC. the ideas of the Alexandrians come to Rome and there they are adapted to Latin. Latin grammars are being created.

Medieval linguistic traditions

Arabic. The first Arabic grammars appeared in the 8th century. Sibawayhi became a classic of the Arabic linguistic tradition. His grammar describes the phonetics, morphology, and syntax of Classical Arabic.

All national traditions were formed on the basis of certain practical needs: language teaching, interpretation of prestigious texts.

All early national traditions proceeded from the observation of one language. The idea of comparing languages was alien to them. Just as the historical approach to language was alien. All changes were interpreted as damage to the language.

The basis of world linguistics was precisely European tradition.

In the 13th-14th centuries. European scientists wrote philosophical grammars to explain the phenomena of language.

From the 15th-16th centuries a single European tradition based on Latin begins to split into national variants, which leads to the emergence of the idea of a plurality of languages. Comparative studies of languages appear, the question is raised about the general properties of the language in general.

In the 17th century Grammar of Port-Royal appears. Its authors proceeded from the existence of a common logical basis for languages. They wrote their universal grammar applicable to different languages: Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek and Hebrew, occasionally Germanic languages are also discussed.

In the 18th century, the idea of the historical development of languages was formed, which in the 19th century led to the formation of a strictly scientific linguistic method - comparative historical. It is from this moment that the European linguistic tradition finally turns into a science of language.

Creation of a typology of languages, which is based on the identification of specific and universal features in the structure of the language. W. von Humboldt is considered the founder of linguistic typology. In the works of W. von Humboldt and the Schlegel brothers, the first typological classifications of languages appear.

Psychological direction (19th century). The founder of the psychological direction is Steinthal. Language is considered as an activity of the individual and a reflection of the psychology of the people.

Neogrammatism became the leading trend in world linguistics at the end of the 19th century. In the view of neogrammarists, linguistics is the historical science of comparing related languages. They specialized in the comparative-historical study of the Indo-European languages. They abandoned generalizations that are not based on facts. Therefore, they refused to study the origin of the language, the general laws of the language system. The only scientific classification of languages \u200b\u200bwas recognized as genetic.

At the beginning of the 20th century the idea arises of studying the laws of the language, not related to its historical development, of the systematic study of the language. Thus, a new direction is emerging - structuralism, whose founder is considered to be F. de Saussure, who replaced the comparative historical paradigm.

Further, in the bowels of structuralism, a new direction is emerging - functional linguistics(Prague Linguistic Circle and Moscow Phonological School). Language is understood as a functional system of means of expression serving a specific purpose. Any linguistic phenomenon is considered from the point of view of the function that it performs.

Within the framework of structuralism, its course is distinguished - descriptive linguistics- the direction that dominated American linguistics in the 30s-50s of the 20th century. The founder is Leonard Bloomfield. Attention is focused on the study of speech, because. language is considered as a form of human behavior. The main object of research is a speech segment in which elements are distinguished and their location relative to each other is described.

In the mid-60s, a new method of research was approved in linguistics - generativism. It emerged as the opposite of descriptivism. Chomsky is the creator of generative grammar. Grammar is the theory of language. He seeks to consider the language in a dynamic aspect. Language in Chomsky's concept is an activity. The purpose of creating a generative grammar is to identify the strict rules by which this creative activity proceeds. Language acts as a special generative device that gives correct sentences.

Anthropocentric paradigm in linguistics.

In recent decades, there has been a second shift in the scientific paradigm in linguistics: the transition from pure linguistics to anthropocentric linguistics. Interest switches from object to subject. Man in language and language in man are analyzed. Namely, anthropocentric linguistics involves a comprehensive study of biological, social, cultural and national factors of the functioning of the language in human society.