Contenu du sommaire : Les idéologues et les sciences du langage

Les idéologues et les sciences du langage

• Introduction

  - Tristan Hordé, Claude Désirat p. 5-20
  Introduction (Cl. Désirat & T. Hordé) The history of sciences often reduces the Ideologists (D. de Tracy, F. Thurot, Volney, etc...) to being, linguistica1ly, the defenders of the then moribund " Grammaire Générale". This special issue of H. E. L. shows that a1though it was never a unified doctrine, either in the sciences of language or in philosophy, Ideology has defined certain metatheorica1 principles (" Ideology is the theory of theories", wrote D. de Tracy) of the organization and the development of the human sciences, at the basis of which grammar, or more precisely, the semiolo · gical component of Ideology (as in Degerando for instance) acts as the epistemological pattern. It is on such principles that the Ideologists, very close to government from 1795 to the Empire, relied when they planned and in part implemented the basis of a school system and of an institutional organization of the sciences (cf. in particular Cabanis and Destutt de Tracy). In linguistics, they not oruy defended " Grammaire Générale" (Tracy tired to include in his Elemens d1deologie the ana1ysis of Beauzée and Condillac) but a1so continued the French anthropological movement in which the comparison of languages was linked with an historica1 and/ or geographical wiewpoint. They also originated a research in the history of linguistics (like Thurot and Volney). All this now opens up a rich field of research for the historians of the language sciences, whose task should be to revea1 the existence and nature of French linguistics in the first half of the nineteenth century, which for decades had Iain hidden beneath the huge number of French school grammars and the success of German comparative grammar.

• Première partie: Analyse des théories linguistiques

  • La grammaire idéologique et sa place dans l'histoire de la grammaire philosophique - Richard Baum p. 23-33
    La grammaire idéologique et sa place dans l'histoire de la grammaire philosophique (R. Baum). The author begins with a statement by F. Thurot (1796) in his preliminary discourse on the Hermes of Harris; according to this statement, the best account of Aristotle's theory is contained in the treatise entitled Hermêneia. The history of universal grammar depends on the Stagirite's interpretation of natural language. The Ideologists inherited this tradition, which is briefly outlined by the author. As a result, this appoach shows how the stability and success of the " Grammaire Générale" stems from a centuries-old organization of the parts of speech which accords for the most part with the Indo-European languages, as shown by Benveniste in his treatment of Aristotle.
  • Le pouvoir du verbe - Simone Delesalle, Claude Désirat p. 35-45
    Le pouvoir du verbe (S. Delesalle & Cl. Désirat) This article concerns a crucial point of grammatical theory, Le. the analysis of predicates, showing that the descriptive principles used by the grammarians who are contemporaries of Ideology should be classified less in their support for or their opposition to certain doctrines than in respect of the various fields of human sciences related to linguistic research. Destutt de Tracy continuing philosophical grarnmar, tends toward a kind of functionalism that combines all grammatical and semantic categories -noun, verb, adjective -as so many modalities of the subject's existence. In his research on Semitic languages and civilizations, as well as in his desire for unifying the different kinds of writing, Volney takes up the analyses in Arabic grammar where the verb dominates the nominal categories. The work that originated from these two positions contains severa! aspects that are related to Port-Royal and Humboldt and lead to divergent propositions not only in grammar (particularly on word-order), but also on the origin and function of language.
  • Destutt lecteur de Beauzée - Sonia Branca p. 47-51
    Destutt, lecteur de Beauzée (S. Branca) Beauzée, the grammarian who was responsible for the articles on grammar in the Encyclopédie, was one of D. de Tracy's main sources. The author attempts to show the philosophical differences between these two men (sensualism vs. rationalism) are reflected in grammatical analyses. The two themes analysed are the organization of the clause and the scope of the articles in noun phrases.
  • Idéologie et langue des calculs - Sylvain Auroux p. 53-57
    Idéologie et langues des calculs (S. Auroux) From a summary of the texts in which the principal ldeologists (Destutt, Garat, de Gérando, Maine de Biran) react to Condi1lac's treatise La Langue des calculs, the author attempts to show how a unanimous refusaI of the mathematization of logic led the Ideologists to adopt a position that showed down development in this feld.
  • Changer la langue - Sonia Branca p. 59-66
    Changer la langue (S. Branca) This article shows how the Ideologists at the same time theorists of the sign and grammarians, treated the problems of Usage, of its socio-historical determinations, and of the intervention of scholars and politicians in the field of linguistic change. Is it possible or advisable to improve languages in order to regulate social relations, to provide new sciences with a solid terminological foundation, and finally to ensure by means of a perfect language the transmission of knowledge?
  • La néologie - Françoise Dougnac p. 67-72
    La néologie (F. Dougnac) Relying on the preface written in 1798 by Garat for the fifth edition the Dictionnaire de l'Académie, the author takes on the problem of neology. After the French Revolution, the improvement of language is a crucial question; the · theoretical foundations of this project are examined with respect to the works of Butet and Mercier (an enemy of the Ideologists). Mention is made of research done in the same field.
  • La question de l'histoire de la langue et du comparatisme - Tristan Hordé, Claude Désirat, Sylvain Auroux p. 73-81
    La question de l'histoire des langues et du comparatisme (S. Auroux, Cl. Désirat, T. Hordé) Comparative grammar and the historical study of languages appear to oppose the traditional " grammaire générale", as is shown by the difference between the bibliographies in Thurot's historical article on grammar (1796) and Volney's text on " l'Etude philosophique des langues" (1819). The authors try to prove that Volney has of the subject of language the same conception as Destutt. They study Volney's contribution to the development of linguistic research in France (Académie Celtique, alphabet universel, prix Volney).
  • Le syndrome chinois des Idéologues ou les débuts de la sociolinguistique - Jean Jamin p. 83-92
    Le syndrome chinois des idéologues ou les débuts de la sociolinguistique (J. Jamin) The Ideologists' political imagination sees the Chinese social hierarchy, cominated by the Mandarins, as a fascinating pattern, -is it a model or not? -for the status of French inteUectuals (then called: la classe savante) in the state that is being founded. The visit of the Chinaman Tchong-A-Sam to Paris in 1799, initiates a debate on another type of hierarchy: that of the world's languages, and leads fmally to significant choices about the shaping of concepts and inquiry procedures of the then emerging sciences: ethnography and sociolinguistics.
  • Les Idéologues et le style - Jean-Claude Chevalier p. 93-97
    Le style (J.-Cl. Chevalier) For the Ideologists, scientific discourse, judged to be simple and trude, is the stylistic model for the new society which should be based on reason. Idealistically, then, rhetoric merges with grammar, and grammatical analysis merges with stylistic analysis. But the disorder in social relations, the expression of emotions troubles the transparent link between signs and ideas; therefore a perfect language appears impossible. Nevertheless, thanks to its proper characteristics and above all to the dynamic reform of French society, the French language is more likely to lend itself to the pure and efficient style of scientific discourse.
  • Un adversaire des Idéologues aux Ecoles Normales : la controverse Garat Saint-Martin - Nicole Jacques-Chaquin p. 99-104
    La controverse Garat/ Saint-Martin (N. Jacques-Chaquin) The author takes up the controversy that opposed the famous theosophist to the Ideologist during the lectures Garat gave at the Ecole Normale. The former claims that " feeling and thinking are one", while the latter considers desire and will to be the roots of knowledge. Saint-Martin reproaches the Ideologists for supporting a genetic point of view; he sees language above aU as the manifestation of the characteristics present in each human being. For him desire is the teacher of language.

• Deuxième partie: Éléments informatifs et statistiques

  • La vague condillacienne - Sylvain Auroux p. 107-110
    La vague condillacienne (S. Auroux) The author draws a graph of the successive editions of Condillac's works on logic and compares these editions with the various editions of the main treatises of logic.
  • Les concours de l'Institut en sciences politiques - Martin S. Staum p. 111-116
    Statistical approach to the " Concours de l'Institut" concerning language and mind (topics, authors, etc...). Les premiers périodiques linguistiques français (1784-1840) (S. Auroux, F. Dougnac, T. Hordé) Inventory of French periodicals on language, from the Journal de la langue Française by U. Domergue. down to the Journal de la langue française et des langues en général, which became the organ of the Société de Linguistique. six of those periodicals are described, with a brief analysis of their content and orientation; introduction on the usefulness of that type of work which had until now been absent in the history of linguistics.
  • Les premiers périodiques de linguistique français - Françoise Dougnac, Tristan Hordé, Sylvain Auroux p. 117-132
  • Circulaires sur l'enseignement de la grammaire - Claude Désirat, Tristan Hordé p. 133-135
    Circulaires du ministère de 11ntérieur sur l'enseignement de la grammaire (Cl. Désirat, T. Hordé) Under this title are presented two unpublished circulars from the Ministère de 11ntérieur, dated the year VII (1799), which il1uminate the Ideologists' influence on the organization of the teaching of grammar and literature during the le Republic.
  • Idéologie et langage en Italie - Lia Formigari, C. Romer [Trad.] p. 137-141
    Ideologie et langage en Italie (L. Formigari) The author notes the influence of the Ideologists, after that of Condillac, on linguistic studies in Italy, in spite of the suspicion aroused by the materalist views that are supposed to accompany their philosophical positions. As early as 1796, there appears a trend of thought close to Ideology, which aims at theorizing on the relationship between language, society and culture. This was a fundamental problem for a country that had not yet found its linguistic or political unity. The substantial bibliography in this article brings up numerous points concerning research on the influence of the Ideologists.

• Troisième partie: Données bibliographiques

  • Les Idéologues et les sciences du langage : bibliographie - Sylvain Auroux, Claude Désirat, Tristan Hordé p. 145-170