Jakab Máté: A 19. századi nyelvtudomány rövid története [A short history of linguistics in the 19th century]. Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 1997, 216 pp.; Jakab Máté: A 20. századi nyelvtudomány történetének főbb elméletei és irányzatai [The main theories and trends of the history of linguistics in the 20th century]. Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 1998, 359 pp.; Jakab Máté: A nyelvtudomány (vázlatos) története az ókortól a 19. század elejéig [An outline of the history of linguistics from antiquity to the beginning of the 19th century]. Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 2003, 357 pp

Cser, András

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Acta Linguistica Hungarica, Vol. 50 (3–4), pp. 475–478 (2003)BOOK REVIEWJakab Máté: A 19. századi nyelvtudomány rövid története [A short history of linguisticsin the 19th century]. Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 1997, 216 pp.Jakab Máté: A 20. századi nyelvtudomány történetének főbb elméletei és irányzatai[The main theories and trends of the history of linguistics in the 20th century]. NemzetiTankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 1998, 359 pp.Jakab Máté: A nyelvtudomány (vázlatos) története az ókortól a 19. század elejéig [Anoutline of the history of linguistics from antiquity to the beginning of the 19th century].Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 2003, 357 pp.It is by now a commonplace that the history and historiography of linguistics has beenenjoying a kind of vogue in recent decades. Many distinguished scholars have turnedtheir attention or devoted their entire career to the study of linguistic thought in thepast. Several journals and series of books have started appearing whose main or soleconcern was the history of the linguistic sciences; one need only mention the AmsterdamStudies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science, Historiographia Linguistica,Histoire épistemologie langage, Lepschy’s History of Linguistics, and the list could becontinued. Publications in languages other than the major ones have been somewhatslow to follow—as is natural in any scientiﬁc ﬁeld, but some Hungarian linguists,e.g., Zsigmond Telegdi, István Szathmári, János Balázs or Éva Jeremiás have madesigniﬁcant contributions, and the late 1980’s and the following decade saw a deﬁnitesurge in interest (see Kiss – Szűts 1990). The revised edition of Robins’ now classicA Short History of Linguistics (1997) was translated into Hungarian and publishedin 1999; in 1996, Imre H. Tóth’s short survey came out (A nyelvtudomány történetea 20. század elejéig. Csomópontok és átvezető szálak [The history of linguistics upto the beginning of the twentieth century. Focal points and channels of transmission],Szombathely), when Jakab Máté (1926–2001) had already been engaged in a projectof a greater scope, the writing of an all-encompassing history of linguistics. This waseventually published by Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó in three volumes, the last of themonly after the untimely death of the author. In sheer length (c. 900 pages combined)the three volumes are more than three times as copious as Robins (1999), which showsthat the enterprise as well as its execution was of a diﬀerent nature, more ambitiousthan a readable single-volume historical survey.Here we shall discuss the three volumes in the chronological order of their con-tents, not in the chronological order of their publication. The volume on the nineteenthcentury was published ﬁrst, followed immediately by volume 2 on the twentieth cen-tury. Volume 3 on pre-nineteenth century linguistics only appeared some ﬁve yearslater. It is because of this that two introductory chapters can be found in the volumes:one at the beginning of volume 1 and one at the beginning of volume 3. The two in-troductions discuss, with some overlap, issues pertaining to the nature and the recentfate of the historiography of science in general and of linguistics in particular. Máté1216–8076/03/$ 20.00 c© 2003 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest476 book reviewpresents and discusses the views of several modern philosophers of science, rangingfrom Kedrov to Kuhn in order to place his own approach within a comparative frame-work. In these chapters we also ﬁnd a useful summary of the history of linguistics inHungary as well as outside it. After the introduction, volume 3 proceeds in a stan-dard chronological fashion. The titles of the chapters are: A nyelvészkedés kezdetei[The beginnings of linguistics], Az ókori görög nyelvészet fejlődési útja [The develop-ment of ancient Greek linguistics], A római nyelvészet kialakulása és eredményei [Theevolution and achievements of Roman linguistics], A kínai nyelvtudomány kezdetei éseredményei [The beginnings and the achievements of linguistics in China], Az ókori(görög-római) nyelvtudomány utóélete [The legacy of classical (Graeco-Roman) lin-guistics], A középkor nyelvtudománya (az 5. századtól a 12. századig) [Linguistics inthe Middle Ages, 5th to 12th centuries], Az európai nyelvtudomány a 12. századtól areneszánsz, a humanizmus és a reformáció koráig [European linguistics from the 12thcentury to the Renaissance, Humanism and Reformation], Nyelvészeti vizsgálódások areneszánsz, a humanizmus és a reformáció korában [Linguistic investigations duringthe Renaissance, Humanism and Reformation], A racionalizmus és az empirizmus (a17. és a 18. század nyelvtudománya) [Rationalism and Empirism (linguistics in the17th and 18th centuries)], Az összehasonlító-történeti nyelvészet forrásai és közvetlenelőzményei [The sources and predecessors of comparative-historical linguistics], A ma-gyar nyelv a 17–18. századi összehasonlító nyelvészetben [The Hungarian language incomparative linguistics in the 17th and 18th centuries], Rövid kitekintés a magyarnyelvújító mozgalomra [A bird’s eye view of the Hungarian neologist movement]. Mátéconveniently summarises mostly what is found in a couple of rather general works, suchas Robins (1999), H. Tóth (1996) and Graur – Wald (1977). The reader will hardlyﬁnd any attempt at original insight, the purpose of the work is largely reproductiveand comprehensive in nature. The author shows high erudition and evidence of beingwell-read, though his secondary sources and references are largely conﬁned to workspublished in Hungary and east of it. Describing and discussing ancient linguistics with-out a single reference to the works of Karl Barwick (esp. 1922; 1957) or P. H. Matthews(esp. 1994) and medieval linguistics without reference to Vivien Law (e.g., 1997 for anoverview) or Louis Holtz (e.g., 1992) and with one single reference to Pinborg (1967),let alone without consulting the actual sources in the original languages, is deﬁnitelynot unknown in professional circles, but certainly limits the author’s capacity of con-tributing to historiography. Of course, his selection of secondary works has good sidesas well: Graur – Wald (1977), for instance, would have otherwise remained unknownto readers not competent in Rumanian.Volume 1 is a survey of linguistics in the nineteenth century. As said above, thisvolume also begins with an introductory chapter devoted to general questions, then afour-page summary of pre-nineteenth century linguistics follows (A nyelvészeti gondol-kodás kezdetei [The beginnings of linguistic thought]). The nineteenth century itselfis introduced with a chapter on language comparison from Renaissance times to theend of the eighteenth century (Az összehasonlító-történeti nyelvészet kialakulásánakelőzményei és forrásai [The predecessors and sources of comparative-historical linguis-tics]). The bulk of the discussion in this volume falls into three chapters roughly onpre-Neogrammarians, Neogrammarians and their opponents or non-Neogrammariancontemporaries, respectively (Az összehasonlító-történeti nyelvészet mibenléte [Theessence of comparative-historical linguistics], Az újgrammatikus irányzat kialakulása,elméleti és módszertani alapelvei [The appearance of the Neogrammarian doctrine, itsActa Linguistica Hungarica 50, 2003book review 477theoretical and methodological underpinnings], Új utak keresése a századforduló éveibenés a 20. század első évtizedeiben [Searching for new ways around and after 1900]). Itis a merit on Máté’s part that he includes discussion of signiﬁcant Russian linguists(Potebna, Vostokov, Shakhmatov etc.) besides the standard list of outstanding ﬁgures,such as Bopp, Humboldt, Grimm, Rask, Schleicher and Steinthal. His discussion of theMoscow and Kazan schools ranks among the most valuable parts of volume 1. Máté isa generally content-oriented historian of linguistics, and therefore devotes much morespace to the development of ideas than to the development of institutional frameworkswithin which linguistics became a profession and an academic discipline in the courseof the 19th century. This distinguishes him from certain other historiographers of theﬁeld (e.g., Morpurgo-Davies for the nineteenth or Murray for the twentieth century).It is perhaps volume 2 that the majority of readers will approach with the mosteager interest, and indeed it seems it is to this volume that Máté devoted most ofhis time and energy. He distinguishes three major periods in twentieth-century lin-guistics and it is to his credit that he devotes enough space to all the three insteadof just discussing “structural” and then “generative” linguistics (in fact, the chapteron generative linguistics is the shortest). The three chapters are A nyelvtudomány vi-szonylagos önállóságának (autonómiájának) korszaka [The period of the relative auton-omy of linguistics], A generatív grammatika kialakulása és térhódítása [The emergenceand spread of generative linguistics], A tudományközi kapcsolatok elmélyülése, a ha-gyomány és újítás egysége a hetvenes–nyolcvanas–kilencvenes évek nyelvtudományában[The deepening of interdisciplinary contacts, the unity of tradition and innovation inlinguistics in the 1970’s–80’s–90’s]. The volume naturally begins with an ample, butnot superﬂuous discussion of Saussure’s views followed by a description of the majorcurrents of mainstream structuralism. The discussion of glossematics (pp. 69–86) is es-pecially enlightening and certainly useful for those who wish to understand this ratherarcane and actually little-known theory. The forty-odd years of generative linguisticshave been the object of a great deal of discussion in a variety of historiographical works,some of them reliable (Matthews 1993, Murray 1994), others highly partial and unme-thodical (Newmeyer 1980), so it is with relief that the reader only ﬁnds a useful andinteresting thirty-two page long discussion of this theory (or set of theories) and Mátémoves on to further topics in the much longer third chapter. Here we ﬁnd a detaileddiscussion of text linguistics, stylistic studies, sociolinguistics, mathematical linguis-tics and ethnolinguistics. While these do not necessarily cover the whole of what hasbeen done outside mainstream generative and structuralist linguistics, they certainlyrepresent ﬁelds to which Máté personally contributed throughout his career. The pre-ponderance of Eastern European protagonists and references to their works on thesepages is perhaps even more spectacular than in volume 3; on page 276, for instance,the author explicitly claims to have described the international sociolinguistic scene onthe basis of Shveytser (1976), a choice that is likely to raise sociolinguists’ eyebrows.Perhaps the single greatest contribution of these three volumes, but especiallyvolume 2, is that they make the reader aware of the immense variety of the ﬁeld, sincehardly anyone is nowadays likely to understand the scope of the activities that all rununder the name of linguistics. Professional linguists tend to engage in narrower andnarrower domains and read less and less of what does not pertain to their immediateconcerns. We hope that Máté’s three-volume enterprise will help widen the horizonsof the practitioners of this discipline and make the ﬁeld appear more interesting tooutsiders as well.András CserActa Linguistica Hungarica 50, 2003478 book reviewReferencesBarwick, Karl 1922. Remmius Palaemon und die römische Ars Grammatica. Dieterich,Leipzig.Barwick, Karl 1957. Probleme der stoischen Sprachlehre und Rhetorik. Akademie Ver-lag, Berlin.Graur, Alexandru – Lucia Wald 1977. Scurtă istorie a lingvisticii. București.H. Tóth, Imre 1996. A nyelvtudomány története a 20. század elejéig. Csomópontok ésátvezető szálak [The history of linguistics up to the beginning of the twentiethcentury. Focal points and channels of transmission]. Savaria, Szombathely.Kiss, Jenő – László Szűts (eds) 1991. Tanulmányok a magyar nyelvtudomány történe-tének témaköréből [Studies on the history of Hungarian linguistics]. AkadémiaiKiadó, Budapest.Law, Vivien 1997. Grammar and grammarians in the Early Middle Ages. Longman,Harlow.Holtz, Louis 1992. La grammaire carolingienne. In: Sylvain Auroux (ed.): Histoire desidées linguistiques 2. Le développement de la grammaire occidentale, 96–106.Mardaga, Liège.Matthews, Peter H. 1993. Grammatical theory in the United States from Bloomﬁeldto Chomsky. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Matthews, Peter H. 1994. Greek and Latin linguistics. In: Giulio C. Lepschy (ed.):History of linguistics. Vol II. 1–133. Harlow, Longman.Murray, Stephen 1994. Theory groups and the study of language in North America: asocial history. John Benjamins, Amsterdam & Philadelphia.Newmeyer, Frederick J. 1980. Linguistic theory in America. Academic Press, New York.Pinborg, Jan 1967. Die Entwicklung der Sprachtheorie im Mittelalter. Münster, Kopen-hagen.Robins, R. H. 1997. A short history of linguistics. Longman, Harlow.Robins, R. H. 1999. A nyelvészet rövid története [A short history of linguistics]. OsirisKiadó, Budapest.Shveycer, A. D. 1976. Sovremennaya sociolingvistika. Teoria, Problemi, Metodi. Moscow.Acta Linguistica Hungarica 50, 2003

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