Library: Linguistics by Credo Reference: Linguists and Language Philosophers

Sub-Disciplines & Language Philosophies

Cryptography: Topic Page
The science of secret writing. There are many devices by which a message can be concealed from the casual reader, e.g., invisible writing, but the term cryptography strictly applies to translating messages into cipher or code.
Linguistics: Topic Page
Scientific study of language, covering the structure (morphology and syntax; see grammar), sounds (phonology), and meaning (semantics).
Morphology
From Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics
The branch of grammar which studies the structure or forms of words, primarily through the use of the morpheme construct. It is traditionally distinguished from syntax, which deals with the rules governing the combination of words in sentences.
Phonetics: Topic Page
The identification, description, and classification of sounds used in articulate speech.
Phonology: Topic Page
In linguistics, the study of the sound systems of languages. Its main activity is the discovery of the distinctive sounds of language.
Pragmatics
From A Dictionary of Sociolinguistics
Pragmatics is the study of language in use: how language is produced and interpreted in context. Pragmatics shares with semantics a concern with meaning, but whereas semantics is concerned with linguistic meaning, pragmatics also takes into account commonsense (non-linguistic) understandings that may be brought to bear on the interpretation of an utterance.
Semantics: Topic Page
[Gr.,=significant] in general, the study of the relationship between words and meanings. The empirical study of word meanings and sentence structure.
Semiotics
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Or semiology, discipline deriving from the American logician C. S. Peirce and the French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. It has come to mean generally the study of any cultural product (e.g., a text) as a formal system of signs. Saussure's key notion of the arbitrary nature of the sign means that the relation of words to things is not natural but conventional.
Sociolinguistics: Topic Page
The study of language as it affects and is affected by social relations. Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns.
Syntax
From Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics
A traditional term for the study of the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language.

Linguists and Language Philosophers

Noam Chomsky (1928 - ): Topic Page
U.S. linguist and political critic. His theory of language structure, transformational generative grammar, superseded the behaviourist view of Bloomfield.
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913): Topic Page
Swiss linguist. The founder of structural linguistics, he declared that there is only an arbitrary relationship between a linguistic sign and that which it signifies.
Umberto Eco (1932 - 2016): Topic Page
Italian semiologist and writer. His novels include The Name of the Rose (1981) and Foucault's Pendulum (1988).
Roman Jakobson (1896-1982): Topic Page
U.S. linguist, born in Russia. His publications include Children's Speech (1941) and Fundamentals of Language (1956).
Robin Lakoff (1942 - )
From Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics
Robin Lakoff is widely recognized as one of the first linguists to acknowledge gender as a powerful, complex, and nuanced influence on the relation between linguistic form and social practice.
Charles Pierce (1839 - 1914): Topic Page
American philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who cofounded pragmatism, made many contributions to logic, and was one of the original developers of semiotics.
Edward Sapir (1884 - 1939)
From Key Thinkers in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language
Investigator of North American indigenous languages, grammarian, phonologist and an especially influential theorist on the relation between culture, language and thought.
Benjamin Whorf (1897-1941): Topic Page
American linguist who developed what came to be known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in collaboration with his teacher Edward Sapir.
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951): Topic Page
1889-1951, British philosopher born in Austria; explored language and meaning; influenced logical positivism.