[Lingtyp] Abralin talk on the history of typology (by James McElvenny)

[Uni KN]

Concerning Martin’s posting on the history of linguistics in general and Georg von der Gabelentz’s contribution to typology in particular:

I was bowled over when the talk that Martin alerted us to yesterday stated, at its outset, that a 1991 paper of mine on the same subject as that talk is, sadly, “the classic paper in the vein of" looking at Gabelentz’s contribution to typology as a mere "historical curiosity”, while the present talk itself, at long last, would seriously “exhume” Gabelentz and thereby open a "window on [linguistics at] the time” when Gabelentz was operating.

I've never heard of anybody reading my “classic" hypology/typology paper, or my other work on early typology, like that speaker did.  On the evidence of his talk this slur might well be the only original contribution of his own to throwing open windows on Gabelentz and on typology and its history.

Come to think of it, I once DID some curio flogging concerning Gabelentz on this very list.  I re-attach this piece along with the 1991 paper, to assist less discerning historians of our field and their thrilled audience in recognising the difference.

Frans


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> On 13. Jan 2021, at 20:04, Martin Haspelmath <martin_haspelmath at eva.mpg.de> wrote:
> 
> Dear typologists,
> 
> Many of you may well be interested in this fascinating talk by James McElvenny on Georg von der Gabelentz and the earlier history of typology:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNsNV1AQD-8&t
> 
> Highly recommended! Many people know Gabelentz from ALT's Gabelentz Award, and some may have heard that he was the first to use the term "typology" (in 1894), in a fascinating article that also mentions the idea of expert-based comparative methodology, as well as statistical correlations.
> 
> McElvenny does not glorify Gabelentz, and also puts him in the context of racist physical anthropology and Galton's eugenics, which were very fashionable in the days before Boas.
> 
> (One new thing that I learned from the talk is that Friedrich von Schlegel (1808) actually used my preferred term "comparative grammar", so it also has a very respectable pedigree.)
> 
> Best,
> Martin
> 
> P.S. I should also mention that McElvenny is series editor of a LangSci series on the history of linguistics (https://langsci-press.org/catalog/series/hpls), and co-editor of the LangSci edition of Gabelentz's famous book "Die Sprachwissenschaft" (1891/1901): https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/97
> 
> -- 
> Martin Haspelmath
> Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
> Deutscher Platz 6
> D-04103 Leipzig
> https://www.shh.mpg.de/employees/42385/25522
> 
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