The-Prague-School

GeneralIntroductiononPragueSchoolI.HistoryofPragueSchoolII.TheRepresentativeCharactersIII.MainTheoriesandTasksIV.ImportantConceptsofPragueSchoolV.HistoricalStatusandInfluenceVI.RelatedWebsitesI.HistoryofPragueSchool1.Forerunner:•TheforerunnerofthePragueSchoolwastheMoscowLinguisticCirclefoundedin1915.Theissuesthatthiscircleconcernsareofbothlanguageandlinguisticsincludingproblemsofpoetics,literatureanalysis,andgeneralartisticstructureundertheinfluenceofSlavicandhistoricallinguistics.ThesourcesoftheirstudyarebasedonSaussureandBaudouin’sworks.WhentheRevolutionbrokeoutonOctober1917themembersofthiscirclefledandthiscirclenearlydismissed.2.Foundation:•Bythe1920s,theterms‘phoneme’and‘phonology’werewellknowntoEuropeanlinguistics.Moreimportantly,deSaussurehadleftalegacyofmodernstructuralismwhichgreatlyinfluencedlinguisticsingeneral.Workingwithinthisstructuralisttraditionwere,amongothers,agroupofscholarsknownfrom1926astheLinguisticCircleofPrague..3.ChronicleofthePragueSchoolPhonology•a.1915.ThefoundationoftheMoscowLinguisticcircle,Jakobson’sbeingthepresident•b.1917MembersfleeingMoscowduetoOctoberRevolution•c.1926ThefoundationofthePragueSchoolLinguisticCircle,Jakobson’sbeingthevicepresident•d.1928PresentingthePragueCirclemanifesto(draftedbyJakobsonandcosignedbyTrubetzkyandKarcevskij)atthefirstInternationalCongressofLinguisticatHague.•e.1938Trubetzkoydied.•f.1982JakobsondiedinMassachusetts.•backII.TheRepresentativeCharacters•1.RomanJakobson(1896-1982)•2.VilemMathesius（1882-1946）•3.Trubetzkoy,NikolaiSergeyevič(1890-1938)RomanJakobson(1896-1982)•ContributionJakobson’scontributiontolinguisticscanberepresentedastheconceptsuchasfeature,binaryopposition,markedness,redundancy,anduniversals.Healsofocusestheimportanceoflinguisticsonlanguageacquisition,aphasia,actofcommunication,meaningingrammar,poetry,andthesystematicityoflanguagechange.Jakobson’sgreatestinsight,distinctivefeature,(afterthephoneme)belongstothe(Functional)StructuralistPhonology.Jakobson’scontributioninthePragueschoolphonologycanberepresentedasthePragueCirclemanifesto,whichchangesthedirectionofthedevelopmentoftheEuropeanphonology.VilemMathesius（1882-1946）•ContributionHisearlyworkpioneeredthesynthesisofthesynchronicapproachtostudyingalanguageasitexistsatonepointintime,andthediachronicapproachstudyingthehistoryanddevelopmentofalanguageovertime.Mathesiusdevelopedtopicalstructureanalysisasamethodofstudyingthesemanticrelationshipsbetweensentencetopicsandtheoveralltopicofthediscourse.Thus,Mathesius'workmaintainedadynamic,orinteractive,component,asthelistenerorreaderisinacontinuousrelationshipwiththetext,interpretingeachindividualsentenceorunitinthecontextofthewholediscourseTrubetzkoy,NikolaiSergeyevič(1890-1938)•ContributionTrubetzkoy’schiefcontributioninphonologywastakeninthesenseoffunctionalphonology.(So,formoreinformation,seethefunctional(structuralist)phonology.Trubetzkiy’snotablecontributionsmadetophonologicaltheoryareasfollows:•a.Clarifyingthedistinctionbetweenphoneticsandphonologybythecriterionoffunction•b.Investigatinginsistentlyonphonicsubstanceintermsofitsvariousfunctionsinindividuallanguages•c.Emphasizingontheconceptofphonologicalopposition(primary)overphoneme(secondary)•d.Classifyingphonologicaloppositionstypologicallyinsteadofbinaristic•backIII.MainTheoriesandTasks•1.MainTheoryThePragueSchoolpracticedaspecialstyleofsynchroniclinguisticsanditsmostimportantcontributiontolinguisticsisthatisseeslanguageintermsoffunction.该学派有一种独特的共时语言学研究风格，对语言学最重要的贡献是从“功能”角度来看待语言。OfthemanyideasdevelopedinPragueSchool,threepointsareofspecialimportance•1）Itwasstressedthatthesynchronicstudyisfullyjustifiedasitcandrawoncontrollablematerialforinvestigationbutnorigidtheoreticalbarrieriserectedtoseparatediachronicstudy.（对语言的共时研究由于可以得到全面的、可控的语言材料以供参考而被充分强调，同时，也没有严格从理论上将之与历时语言研究分离。）•2）Thereisanemphasisonthesystemiccharacteroflanguage.（强调语言的系统的这一属性。）•3）Languagewaslookedonasfunctionalinanothersense,thatis,asatoolperforminganumberofessentialfunctionsortasksforthecommunityusingit.（在某种意义上把语言看作是一种“功能”，是一种由某一语言社团使用的，用来完成一系列基本职责和任务工具。）•2.ThePragueCirclemanifesto,whichchangesthecharacteroftheEuropeanphonology,pointsoutthetasksofphonologyareasfollows:•a.Toidentifythecharacteristicsofparticularphonologicalsystem,intermsofthelanguageparticularrangeofsignificantdifferencesamong“acoustico-motorimages”•b.Tospecifythetypesofdifferencesthatcanbefoundingeneral,andincharacterizemultiplepairsofelements(e.g.,voicingseparatespfromb)•c.Toformulategenerallawsgoverningtherelationsofthesecorrelationstooneanotherwithinparticularphonologicalsystems•d.Toaccountforhistoricalchangeintermsofthephonologicalsystem(ratherthantheindividualsound)whichundergoesit,andtoconstruesuchchangesasteleologicallygovernedbyconsiderationsofthesystem•e.Tofoundphoneticstudiesonanacousticratherthananarticulatorybasis,sinceitistheproductionofsoundthatisthegoaloflinguisticphoneticeventsandthatgivesthemtheirsocialcharacter.•backIV.ImportantConceptsofPragueSchool•1.DistinctiveFeatures•2.PhonologicalOppositions•3.FSP•1.DistinctiveFeatures:•Jakob