Preliminary Material / Ferenc Kiefer and Piet van Sterkenburg -- Introduction / Ferenc Kiefer and Piet van Sterkenburg -- 1. Que Pensez-vous de l’Adaption d’une Langue Internationale? / Otto Jespersen -- 2. La Structure Morphologique (Types de Système) / Louis Hjelmslev -- 3. Relative Frequency and Dynamic Equilibrium in Phonology and Morphology / George Kingsley Zipf -- 4. Speech Synthesis as a Research Technique / Pierre Delattre , Franklin S. Cooper , Alvin M. Lieberman and Louis J. Gerstman -- 5. Les « Laryngales » Indo-européennes / Andre Martinet -- 6. Research Frontiers in Bilingualism Studies / Uriel Weinreich -- 7. The Logical Basis of Linguistic Theory / Noam Chomsky -- 8. On the Methods of Internal Reconstruction / Jerzy Kuryłowicz -- 9. Linguistics in Its Relations to Other Sciences / Roman Jakobson -- 10. Numeral Classifiers and Substantival Number: Problems in the Genesis of a Linguistic Type / Joseph Greenberg -- 11. On the Use of the Present to Explain the Past / William Labov -- 12. Basic Problems of Semantics / John Lyons -- 13. Some Basic Principles of Functional Grammar / Simon C. Dik -- 14. Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Notion of Linguistic Creativity / Robert H. Robins -- 15. Holistic versus Partial Typologies / Bernard Comrie -- 16. On the Human Value of Local Language / Ken Hale -- 17. Grandeur et Misère de la Typologie / Gilbert Lazard -- 18. Linguistic Universals and Particulars / Emmon Bach -- 19. Aspects of the Neural Representation of Spoken Language / Grzegorz Dogil.

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Eight Decades of General Linguistics presents the key lectures delivered at the eighteen conferences organized by the Permanent International Committee of Linguists and also a history of the Committee itself. The contributions of outstanding scholars such as Otto Jesperson, Louis Hjelmslev, André Martinet, Uriel Weinreich, Noam Chomsky and many other linguists cannot be over-estimated. The majority of the papers address a radically new topic, each of which became one of the central issues in subsequent linguistic research. In addition to their empirical findings and/or the theoretical innovations presented in their papers, each contribution is still interesting and pivotal to the development of contemporary linguistics.

Description based on print version record.