American linguistics in transition: From post-Bloomfieldian structuralism to generative grammar.

Kertész, András

This document is a review of Frederick J. Newmeyer's book, "American linguistics in transition: From post-Bloomfieldian structuralism to generative grammar." The review examines the controversies surrounding Newmeyer's previous work and evaluates whether this new book meets the standards of scientific history writing. The reviewer outlines the criteria for evaluating the book, including methodology, use of data, avoidance of bias, and avoidance of fallacies. The review provides an overview of the book's structure and content, which includes chapters on the transformation of linguistics in the 1920s-1940s, the relationship between American and European structuralism, and the birth of generative grammar. The book challenges the idea of a "Chomskyan revolution" and instead focuses on the originality of early transformational generative grammar. It also disputes the belief that funding played a significant role in the success of generative linguistics and argues against the existence of an underground publication culture. The book documents that generative grammarians were not organizationally dominant in the United States during the period studied. While the book makes progress in improving historiographical methodology in linguistics, there is still room for improvement.

SYNCHRONIC linguistics; CHALLENGED books; PHILOSOPHY of science; SCIENTIFIC knowledge; UNDERGROUND literature; ACHIEVEMENT

Acta Linguistica Academica, 2024, Vol 71, Issue 3, p381

2559-8201

Academic Journal

10.1556/2062.2024.00777