History of Linguistics Volume I : The Eastern Traditions of Linguistics

Aims to provide a history of linguistic thought rather than an account of the development of linguistic science. For different societies and different periods, the editor presents prevailing attitudes towards language: its social, cultural, religious and liturgical functions and so on.

This comprehensive history of linguistics is part of a 5 volume set. Together, the volumes examine the social, cultural and religious functions of language, its place in education, the prestige attached to different varieties of language, and the presentation of lexical and grammatical descriptions. They explore the linguistic interests and assumptions of individual cultures in their own terms, without trying to transpose and reshape them into the context of contemporary ideas of what the scientific study of language ought to be. The authors of individual chapters are all specialists who have been able to analyse the primary sources, and so produce original syntheses which offer an authoritative view of the different traditions and periods.

Volime One examines the developments of Chinese linguistics, Indian grammatical tradition, the linguistic interests of the Near East, the Hebrew tradition, and the Arabic grammatical system of the Middle Ages.