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The Prague Linguistic CircleCercle Linguistiqe de
Prague
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The Prague Linguistic CircleCercle Linguistiqe de
Prague
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[History] [Current Activities]
[Other Linguistic Events] [Basic References]
[Czech Linguistics Links]
[Future Plans]
[Bohemica.com]
[PLC Activities in 1995] [PLC Activities in October 2005] [PLC Activities in November 2005] [PLC Activities in December 2005] [PLC Activities in January 2006]
History
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The Prague Linguistic
Circle was one of the most influential schools of
linguistic thought in pre-war linguistics. Through its
former members like Roman Jakobson or René Wellek, it
influenced modern American linguistics as well as many
other linguists in the world. In the spring of 1996, many
renowned linguists came to Prague to pay homage to the
heritage of the Prague Linguistic Circle and to Roman
Jakobson during a conference to 70 Years of Existence
of the Prague Linguistic Circle and 100th Anniversary of
Roman Jakobson's Birthday. Although the 'classical period' of the Circle can be dated between 1926, the year of the first meeting, and the beginning of WWII, its roots are in much of the earlier work of its members, and also it did not completely cease its work with the outbreak of the war. Among the founding members were such personalities as Vilém Mathesius (President of PLC until his death in 1945), Roman Jakobson, Nikolay Trubetzkoy, Sergei Karcevskiy, Jan Mukařovský, and many others who began to meet in the mid-twenties to discuss issues of common interest. The, at first, irregular meetings with lectures and discussions gradually developed into regular ones. The first results of the members' cooperative efforts were presented in joint theses prepared for the First International Congress of Slavicists held in Prague in 1929. These were published in the 1st volume of the then started series Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague. The Théses outlined the
direction of the work of the Circle's members. Such
important concepts as the approach to the study of
language as a synchronic system which is, however,
dynamic, functionality of elements of language, and the
importance of the social function of language were
explicitly laid down as the basis for further research. |
Current activities
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After the war the
Circle's activities were being gradually toned down, and
continued largely in individual work of its former
members and their pupils. With renewed intensity, the 60s
witnessed much cooperative linguistic work in the Czech
Republic which resulted in the publication of Travaux
Linguistique de Prague which built upon the rich
linguistic tradition of Prague. However, with the
'normalization' of the 70's, the New Circle's work was
forcefully interrupted. After
the political changes of 1989, the Circle's activity was
slowly renewed. Thanks to several Czech linguists, namely
Prof. Petr Sgall and the late Prof. Oldřich Leška, the Circle
started regular meetings to which scholars are invited to
present on topics of interest, research in progress and
history of linguistics. The work was brought to fruition
with the publication of the new Travaux in the
fall of 1995. The success of the conference on 70
Years of PLC indicates that the work of the Circle is
still worthy of notice even after nearly three quarters
of a century. |
Other Prague linguistic events
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In the past five years,
Prague has been the site of a number of linguistic
conferences and workshops. In their efforts to educate a new generation of linguists, ÚFAL (The Institute for Applied and Formal Linguistics) led by Prof. Eva Hajičová has organized regular workshops to which many scholars of international renown were invited. To name just a few: C. Fillmore, G. Lakoff, B. Partee, G. Leech, J. Searl and many others have all lectured in Prague in recent years. The workshops were sponsored by the Soros foundation. Three conferences in Linguistics and Phonetics took place in Prague after 1989. LP '90 and LP '94, LP '96 . They were organized by Institute of Linguistics . The Institute of Near-Eastern Studies led by Prof. Petr Vavroušek organized a workshop on the Use of Computers in Historical and Comparative Linguistics. In July of 1998, the Institute organized Rencontre Assirioloqiue, which attracted a wide range of historians and linguists. 8th International European Summer Schools In Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI'96) took place in the summer of 1996 organized by UFAL of Charles University. Other associations also organize
regular meetings informing of current linguistic research
in the Czech Republic. They are the Linguistic
Association (Jazykovědné Sdružení) presided by dr. Světla Čmejrková, and the Club of Friends of the Czech
Language led by Prof. Alexandr Stich. |
Basic references
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A very good source book
on the history and theoretical development of the Prague
linguistic school is Josef Vachek's The Linguistic
School of Prague: An introduction to its theory and
practice, published by Indiana University Press in
1966. This book contains the most qualified description of
the basic tenets of the Prague Linguistic School, short
biographies of selected members and an extensive
bibliography of works related to the Circle's work. Josef Vachek was also the editor of A Prague School Reader in Linguistics, which contains papers dealing with important problems in general linguistics by members of the Prague Linguistic Circle. The collection was also published by Indiana University Press in 1964. For those wishing to acquaint themselves better with the Circle's work Travuax du Cercle Linguistique de Prague contains papers of the pre-war period. Travaux Linguistique de Prague gives clues about the post-war theoretical development of the Circle. Other works by Roman Jakobson , Nikolay Trubetzkoy, Sergei I. Karcevskiy, Vilém Mathesius, Vladimír Skalička, Bohumil Trnka, Josef Vachek and many others are also of interest, and not only to the student of the history of linguistics. Those interested can purchases selected works by
Czech linguists through Bohemica.com Bookstore. |
This page is still very much under development. Unfortunately, it has been in this state for quite a while. To be added are more linguistic links, some available texts, and announcements of the Circle's activities. I would also like to invite short papers about aspects of the Circle's work to be linked to this page. Here's a link to papers I wrote on several topics related to language and culture which may serve as a sample of an electronic paper.
I would also like to start some sort of Travaux
Electroniques de Linguistique. I will publish works of
linguistics and sociology on this page. (Lingva
Nova has a similar project, that is already up and running.) I see it both as an
opportunity for work in progress to be presented and discussed
before publication, as well as a forum for publication of works
in linguistics and sociolinguistics. Papers for the Travaux
should be original works and not necessarily about the Circle. This announcement
has been here for a long time now. Hopefully, I will be able to do more about it
soon. 
Created by Dominik
Lukeš. Last update July, 2004.
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