Modern schools and Movements of linguistics

Prepared by Pasichnyk Ilona

The study of linguistic changes over time in language or in
a particular language or language family, sometimes
including the reconstruction of unattested forms of earlier
stages of a language. This is the study of linguistic change
in “the synchrony and diachronic”.
HISTORICISM
Historicism does not necessarily imply evolutionism: the view that there is
directionality in the historical development of languages. Evolutionism was, in
fact, quite influential in linguistics in the late nineteenth century. Other version
have been put forward by idealists of various schools; and also, of course,
within the framework of dialectical materialism.
 It is probably true to say, however, that, with a few notable exceptions, most
linguists in the twentieth century have rejected evolutionism. Historicism, as
we shall see in the following section, is one of the movements against which
structuralism reached and in relation to which it may be defined.
STRUCTURALISM
Saussure was the founder of the Modern structuralism, where he focused not
on the use of language, but rather on the underlying system of language and
called his theory semiology. However, the discovery of the underlying system
had to be done via examination of the parole. As such, Structural Linguistics is
actually an early form of corpus linguistics.
This approach focused on examining how the elements of language related to
each other in the present, that is, ‘synchronically’ rather than ‘diachronically’.
Finally, he argued that linguistic signs were composed of two parts, a signifier
(the sound pattern of a word, either in mental projection – as when we silently
recite lines from a poem to ourselves – or in actual, physical realization as part
of a speech act) and a signified (the concept or meaning of the word).
FUNCTIONALISM

In linguistics, the approach to language study that is concerned with the

functions performed by language, primarily in terms of cognition (relating
information), expression (indicating mood), and conation (exerting influence).
Some linguists have applied the findings to work on stylistics and literary
criticism. The most characteristic feature of the Prague school approach is its
combination of structuralism with functionalism. The latter term (like
“structuralism”) has been used in a variety of senses in linguistics.
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