text:
List of linguists

A linguist in the academic sense is a person who studies natural language (an academic discipline known as linguistics). Ambiguously, the word is sometimes also used to refer to a polyglot (one who knows several languages), a translator/interpreter (especially in the military), or a grammarian (a scholar of grammar), but these uses of the word are distinct (and one does not have to be multilingual in order to be an academic linguist). The following is a list of notable academic linguists.

A

 * Abbott, Barbara (United States, 1943–), pragmatics, semantics
 * Abel, Carl (Germany, 1837–1906), comparative lexicography
 * Abdul Haq, Maulvi (India, 1870–1961), Urdu language
 * Abrams, Lise (United States), psycholinguistics
 * Abramson, Arthur S. (United States, 1925–2017), phonetics
 * Adamou, Evangelia (France), language contact
 * Adams, Douglas Q. (United States), English language, comparative linguistics, Tocharian language
 * Adler, George J. (Germany/United States, 1821–1868), lexicography, German language, English language
 * Aijmer, Karin (Sweden, 1939–), pragmatics, semantics
 * Aikhenvald, Alexandra Yurievna (Russia, 1957–), syntax, typology, Amazonian languages, Papuan languages, Hebrew language, Russian language
 * Aitken, Adam Jack (UK, 1921–1998), lexicography
 * Ajduković, Jovan (Serbia, 1968–), Slavic languages, sociolinguistics, contact linguistics, Russian language, Serbian language
 * Albright, William Foxwell (United States, 1891–1971), Semitic languages
 * Alexiadou, Artemis (1969–), Greek language, syntax
 * Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (Oman, 718–786 CE), Arabic prosody
 * Al-Kisa'i (Iraq, d. 804), Arabic grammar
 * Allan, Keith (Australia, 1943–), semantics
 * Allen, Shanley (1964–), psycholinguistics, Inuktitut
 * Alleyne, Mervyn Coleridge (Trinidad and Tobago/Jamaica, 1933–2016), creole language
 * Ameka, Felix (Ghana, Australia, Netherlands, 1957–), pragmatics, semantics
 * Amerias (Greece, 3rd century BC), Ancient Macedonian language, lexicography
 * Anagnostopoulou, Elena (1967–), Greek language, theoretical linguistics
 * Anderson, Gregory D.S. (United States), Munda languages
 * Anderson, Stephen (United States, 1943–), morphology and history of linguistics
 * Aoun, Joseph (Lebanon/United States, 1953–), Arabic language, syntax
 * Aquilina, Joseph (Malta, 1911–1997), Maltese language
 * Ariel, Mira (Israel), Accessibility Theory, pragmatics
 * Arisaka Hideyo (Japan, 1908–1952), Japanese language
 * Aristar, Anthony (South Africa/United States, 1948–), linguistic infrastructure
 * Armstrong, Lilias (UK, 1882–1937), phonetics
 * Aronoff, Mark (Canada, 1949–), morphology
 * Ascoli, Graziadio Isaia (Italy, 1829–1907), substrata, Ladin language
 * Austin, John Langshaw (UK, 1911–1960), philosophy of language, speech act
 * Awobuluyi, Oladele (Nigeria, 1937–), African languages
 * Ayres-Bennett, Wendy (UK), history of French and history of linguistic thought
 * Azad, Humayun (Bangladesh, 1947–2004), Bengali language
 * Al-Harbi, Abdul Aziz (Saudi Arabia, 1965–)
 * Al-Mubarrad (Basra, c. 826–c. 898)
 * Al-Mubarrad (Basra, c. 826–c. 898)

B

 * Babiniotis, Georgios (Greece, 1939–), Greek language
 * Babych, Nadiya (Ukraine, 1943–2021), phraseology
 * Bach, Emmon (United States, 1929–2014), syntax, phonology, Haisla language
 * Baker, Mark (United States, 1959–), Mohawk language, generative grammar
 * Bally, Charles (Switzerland, 1865–1947), French language, phraseology
 * Barbara, Leila (Brazil, 1938–2024), systemic functional linguistics
 * Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen (United States, 1954–), second-language acquisition, tense and aspect, pragmatics
 * Bar-Hillel, Yehoshua (Israel, 1915–1975), machine translation, categorial grammar
 * Barker, (Philip) Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman (United States, 1930–2012), Urdu language, Indian languages
 * Barlow, Robert Hayward (United States, 1918–1951), Nahuatl language
 * Barnhart, David K. (United States, 1941–), lexicography, English language
 * Barnhart, Robert (United States, 1933–2007), lexicography, English language
 * Barsky, Robert (Canada), discourse analysis
 * Barthes, Roland (France, 1915–1980)
 * Bartlett, John Russell (United States, 1805–1886)
 * Basbøll, Hans (Denmark, 1943–), phonology, Danish
 * Baudouin de Courtenay, Jan Niecisław (Poland, 1845–1929), phonology, Polish language
 * Bauer, Robert Stuart (United States, 1946–), syntax, phonology, Sino-Tibetan languages (especially Cantonese)
 * Baugh, John (United States, 1949–), sociolinguistics, linguistic profiling, forensic linguistics
 * Beckman, Mary E. (United States, 1953–), phonetics, phonology
 * Beckwith, Christopher (United States, 1945–), Asian languages, Tibetan language
 * Beddor, Patrice (United States), Phonetics, speech perception
 * Bedirxan, Celadet Alî (Syria, 1893–1951) Kurdish language
 * Beeken, Jeannine (Belgium, 1961–), lexicography, syntax, Dutch language
 * Bello, Andrés (Venezuela, 1781–1865), Spanish language, philology
 * Bellugi, Ursula (United States, 1931–2022), sign language, neurolinguistics
 * Ben-Yehuda, Eliezer (Israel, 1858–1922), lexicography, Revival of the Hebrew language
 * Bender, M. Lionel (United States, 1934–2008), African languages
 * Benedict, Paul K. (United States, 1912–1977), Sino-Tibetan languages, Tai–Kadai languages, historical linguistics
 * Benveniste, Émile (France, 1902–1976)
 * Berez-Kroeker, Andrea L. (United States, 1972–), language documentation
 * Berlitz, Charles Frambach (United States, 1914–2003), language acquisition
 * Berlitz, Maximilian Delphinius (United States, 1852–1921), language acquisition
 * Bhartrihari (India, 450–510), Sanskrit
 * Bickel, Balthasar (Switzerland, 1965–), language typology, Kiranti languages
 * Bickerton, Derek (United States, 1926–2018), creole languages, origin of language
 * Bleek, Wilhelm Heinrich Immanuel (Germany, 1827–1875), languages of Africa
 * Bloch, Bernard (United States, 1907–1965), Japanese language
 * Bloch, Jules (France, 1880–1953), languages of India
 * Bloomfield, Leonard (United States, 1887–1949), structural linguistics
 * Blust, Robert (United States, 1940–2022), Austronesian languages
 * Boas, Franz (United States, 1858–1942), indigenous languages of the Americas
 * Bœck, Égide de (Belgium, Belgish Congo, 1875–1944), Bangala language, Lingala
 * Boersma, Paul (Netherlands, 1959–), phonetics
 * Boiagi, Mihail G. (Habsburg monarchy, 1780–uncertain), Aromanian grammar
 * Bohn, Ocke-Schwen (Germany, 1953–), phonetics, second-language acquisition
 * Bolinger, Dwight Le Merton (United States, 1907–1992), semantics, Spanish language
 * Bomhard, Allan R. (United States, 1943–), Nostratic languages, historical linguistics
 * Bopp, Franz (Germany, 1791–1867), Indo-European languages, comparative linguistics
 * Boyd, Julian Charles (United States, 1931–2005), English language
 * Bowerman, Melissa (1942–2011), psycholinguistics, language acquisition
 * Bowern, Claire, historical linguistics
 * Bresnan, Joan (United States, 1945–), syntax
 * Bright, William (United States, 1928–2006), Native American languages, South Asian languages
 * Brinton, Laurel J. (Canada, 1953–), grammaticalization, discourse markers
 * Brody, Michael (Hungary, 1954–), syntax
 * Broselow, Ellen (United States, 1949–), second language acquisition, phonology
 * Browman, Catherine (United States, 1945–2008), phonetics, phonology
 * Brugmann, Karl (Germany, 1849–1919), Indo-European languages, Sanskrit, comparative linguistics
 * Bucholtz, Mary (United States, 1966–), sociolinguistics
 * Burgess, Anthony (UK, 1917–1993), English language, phonetics
 * Burling, Robbins (United States, 1926–2021), languages of India
 * Burridge, Kate (Australia), Germanic languages
 * Butt, Miriam (Germany, 1966–), syntax, South Asian languages
 * Butzkamm, Wolfgang (Germany, 1938–), applied linguistics, English language
 * Byington, Cyrus (United States, 1793–1868), translated English religious text into Choctaw language
 * Badawi, El-Said (Egypt, 1929–2014), Arabic

C

 * Campbell, Lyle (United States, 1942–), Native American languages
 * Canger, Una (Denmark, 1938–), Mesoamerican languages
 * Canonge, Elliott D. (United States, 1921–1971), Comanche, Inuit
 * Capell, Arthur (Australia, 1902–1986), Australian languages, Austronesian languages, Papuan languages
 * Cardona, George (United States, 1936–), Indo-European studies
 * Carnap, Rudolf (Germany, 1891–1970), syntax, constructed languages
 * Carnie, Andrew (Canada, 1969–), syntax
 * Caro Baroja, Julio (1914–1995), Basque language
 * Caro, Miguel A. (Colombia, 1843–1909), Spanish language, Colombian Spanish
 * Carpenter, William Henry (United States, 1853–1936), Icelandic language
 * Cart, Théophile (France, 1855–1931), Esperanto
 * Carter, Hazel (UK, 1928–2016), Bantu languages
 * Catford, J. C. (UK, 1917–2009), phonetics
 * Chadwick, John (UK, 1920–1998), Linear B
 * Chafik, Mohamed (Morocco, 1926–), writer and specialist in the Berber or Amazigh languages, dialects, and literature
 * Chafe, Wallace (United States, 1927–2019), cognitive linguistics, semantics
 * Chao Yuen Ren (PR China, 1892–1982), Chinese language
 * Chakrabarti, Byomkes (India, 1923–1981), Santali language, Bengali language, comparative linguistics
 * Champollion, Jean-François (France, 1790–1832), Egyptian hieroglyphs
 * Chambers, Jack (Canada, 1938–), sociolinguistics
 * Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (India, 1890–1977), Bengali language
 * Chelliah, Shobhana, Tibeto-Burman languages
 * Chierchia, Gennaro (Italy, 1953–), semantics, pragmatics
 * Choijinzhab (PR China, 1931–2022), Mongolian language
 * Chomsky, Noam (United States, 1928–), syntax, universal grammar
 * Choueiri, Lina (Lebanon), syntax, Lebanese Arabic
 * Chyet, Michael L. (United States, 1957–), Kurdish language
 * Clark, Eve V. (UK/United States, 1942–), psycholinguistics, language acquisition
 * Clyne, Michael George (Australia, 1939–2010), Germanic languages
 * Cohen, Paul S. (United States), 1942–), phonology, etymology
 * Cohen, Maurice Abraham (Australia), 1851–1923), Urdu
 * Collitz, Hermann (Germany/United States, 1855–1935), historical linguistics
 * Comrie, Bernard (UK, 1947–), typology
 * Cook, Guy (UK, 1951–), applied linguistics
 * Cook, Vivian (UK, 1940–2021), applied linguistics
 * Corder, Stephen Pit (UK, 1918–1990), applied linguistics
 * Coşeriu, Eugen (Romania/Germany, 1921–2002), Romance languages
 * Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth (1943–), interactional linguistics
 * Cowgill, Warren (United States, 1929–1985), Indo-European studies
 * Cowper, Elizabeth (Canada, 1952–), syntax
 * Creissels, Denis (France, 1943–), syntax, phonology, Niger–Congo languages, Nakh-Daghestanian languages
 * Croft, William (United States, 1956–), syntax, cognitive linguistics
 * Crystal, David (UK, 1941–), English language, language death, applied linguistics
 * Cuervo, Rufino José (Colombia, 1844–1911), Spanish language, Colombian Spanish
 * Culicover, Peter W. (United States), syntax, language change
 * Culioli, Antoine (France, 1924–2018), general linguistics
 * Cumakunova, Gülzura (Kyrgyzstan, 1954–), Turkic languages
 * Curme, George Oliver, Sr. (United States, 1860–1948), German language, English language
 * Curzan, Anne (United States), English language, Descriptivism, Prescriptivism, lexicography
 * Calvet, Louis-Jean (France, 1942-), Sociolinguistique

D

 * Dal, Vladimir (Russia, 1801–1872), lexicography, Russian language
 * Dahl, Östen (Sweden, 1945–), tense and aspect in linguistic typology
 * Darzi, Ali (Iran, 1959–), generative syntax, minimalist program
 * Das, Khudiram (India, 1916–2002), Bengali and Santali language
 * Dani, Ahmad Hasan (Pakistan, 1920–2009), South Asian languages
 * Daniels, Peter T. (United States, 1951–), writing systems
 * Davies, Shaun (Australia), Yugambeh language
 * Dayal, Veneeta (United States, 1956–), semantics, syntax
 * Deacon, Terrence (United States, 1950–), language change, origin of language, cognitive linguistics
 * Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar (Iran, 1879–1959), lexicography, Persian language
 * De Houwer, Annick (Belgium, 1958–), early child bilingualism
 * Delbrück, Berthold (Germany, 1842–1922), Indo-European languages, syntax, comparative linguistics
 * DeLancey, Scott (United States, 1949–), Tibeto-Burman languages, linguistic typology, historical linguistics
 * Dempwolff, Otto (Germany, 1871–1938), Austronesian languages
 * Diderichsen, Paul (Denmark, 1905–1964), Danish
 * Diffloth, Gérard (United States, 1939–2023), Mon–Khmer languages
 * van Dijk, Teun Adrianus (Netherlands, 1943–), pragmatics, discourse analysis, text linguistics
 * Dik, Simon (the Netherlands, 1940–1995) Functional Grammar, theoretical linguistics
 * Dixon, Robert Malcolm Ward (Australia, 1939–), syntax, typology, Australian languages, Amazonian languages
 * Dobrovský, Josef (Czech Republic, 1753–1829), Slavic languages, Czech language, lexicography
 * Dobson, Veronica Perrule (Australia, 1944–), Arrernte language
 * Doke, Clement Martyn (South Africa, 1893–1980), Bantu languages, Lamba language
 * Dolgopolsky, Aharon (Russia/Israel, 1930–2012), Nostratic languages
 * Dorian, Nancy (United States, 1936–2024), language death, Scottish Gaelic
 * Dougherty, Ray C. (United States, 1940–), transformational grammar, computational linguistics
 * Dowty, David (United States, 1945–), semantics, syntax
 * Dozier, Edward P. (United States, 1916–1971), Native American languages, languages of the Philippines
 * Dressler, Wolfgang U. (Austria, 1939–), phonology, morphology, text linguistics
 * van Driem, George (Netherlands, 1957–), Tibeto-Burman languages, symbiosism, Dzongkha language
 * Dryer, Matthew (United States), typology, syntax, language documentation
 * Duden, Konrad (Germany, 1829–1911), lexicography, German language
 * Dunn, John Asher (United States,1939–2017), Tsimshian language
 * Dušková, Libuše (Czech Republic, 1930–), English language, functional linguistics

E

 * Eckert, Penelope (United States, 1942–), sociolinguistics, language and gender
 * Edmondson, Jerold A. (United States, 1941–2023), Tai–Kadai languages, languages of Southeast Asia
 * Edwards, Jonathan, Jr. (United States, 1745–1801), North American languages, historical linguistics, Mohegan language
 * Ehret, Christopher (United States, 1941–), languages of Africa, historical linguistics
 * Elbert, Samuel Hoyt (United States, 1907–1997), Polynesian languages of Hawaii and Rennell and Bellona, Puluwatese language
 * Elgin, Suzette Haden (United States, 1936–2015), constructed languages, transformational grammar
 * Ellis, Rod (UK), second-language acquisition
 * Elman, Jeffrey L. (United States, 1948–2018), language processing, neurolinguistics
 * Emeneau, Murray Barnson (United States, 1904–2005), Dravidian languages, linguist areas
 * Emre, Ahmet Cevat (Turkey, 1876–1961), Member of the Turkish Language Association, Turkish alphabet
 * Engberg-Pedersen, Elisabeth (Denmark, 1952–), semantics, Danish Sign Language
 * Epps, Patience L., Amazonian languages, language documentation
 * Erdal, Marcel (Turkey, 1945–), Turkic languages
 * Esenç, Tevfik (Turkey, 1904–1992), Ubykh language
 * Esling, John (Canada, 1939–), phonetics
 * Evans, Nicholas (Australia, 1956–), Indigenous Australian languages, Papuan languages, typology
 * Evans, Vyvyan (UK, 1968–), cognitive linguistics, digital communication, and emoji
 * Even-Shoshan, Avraham (Belarus/Israel, 1906–1984), Hebrew language, lexicography
 * Everett, Daniel Leonard (United States, 1951–), languages of Brazil, Pirahã language
 * Everson, Michael (United States/Ireland, 1963–), writing systems, historical linguistics

F

 * Fairuzabadi (Iran, 1329–1414), lexicography, Arabic grammar
 * Fierz-David, Linda (Germany, 1891–1955), philology
 * Fillmore, Charles J. (United States, 1929–2014), syntax, lexical semantics, cognitive linguistics, lexicography
 * Firbas, Jan (Czech Republic, 1921–2000), English language, functional linguistics
 * Firth, John Rupert (UK, 1890–1960), phonetics, phonology, prosody
 * Fischer-Jørgensen, Eli (Denmark 1911–2010), phonetics, phonology, Danish language
 * Fishman, Joshua (United States, 1926–2015), sociology of language
 * Fiske, Willard (United States, 1831–1904), Northern European languages, Icelandic language
 * Fodor, Janet Dean (United States, 1942–2023), psycholinguistics, semantics, syntax
 * Fodor, Jerry Alan (United States, 1935–2017), psycholinguistics, language of thought
 * Foley, William A. (Australia, 1949–), Papuan languages, Austronesian languages
 * Ford, Jeremiah Denis Mathias (United States, 1873–1958), Spanish language
 * Fowler, Carol A. (United States), phonetics, phonology
 * François, Alexandre (France), Austronesian languages, historical linguistics, language contact
 * Freiman, Aleksandr Arnoldovich (Poland/Russia, 1879–1968), Iranian languages
 * French, David Heath (United States, 1918–1994), Native American languages
 * Friedrich, Johannes (Germany, 1893–1972), Hittite language
 * Fromkin, Victoria (United States, 1923–2000), theoretical linguistics, constructed languages
 * Fujitani Nariakira (Japan, 1738–1779), Japanese language

G

 * Galloway, Brent D. (United States, 1944–2014), Amerindian languages, Halkomelem language
 * Gamkrelidze, Thomas V. (Georgia, 1929–2021), Indo-European studies, Georgian language
 * Gans, Eric (United States, 1941–), origin of language
 * Garnier, Romain (France, 1976–), Indo-European linguistics
 * Gazdar, Gerald (UK, 1950–), computational linguistics, syntax, semantics
 * Gebauer, Jan (Czech Republic, 1838–1907), Czech language
 * Geeraerts, Dirk (Belgium, 1955–), semantics, lexicography
 * van Geert, Paul (Netherlands, 1950–), second language development
 * Giles, Howard (Wales/United States, 1946–), sociolinguistics
 * Givón, Talmy (Israel/United States, 1936–), syntax, semantics, pragmatics, typology, functionalism
 * Giegerich, Heinz (Germany/UK, 1952–), English language, phonology
 * Gleason, Jean Berko (United States, 1931–), psycholinguistics, language acquisition
 * Goatly, Andrew (UK), English language, Chinese language
 * Goddard, Cliff (Australia, 1953–), semantics, pragmatics
 * Goddard, R.H. Ives, III (United States, 1941–), Algonquian languages, historical linguistics
 * Gode, Alexander (Germany/United States, 1906–1970), constructed languages, Germanic languages
 * Goldberg, Adele (United States, 1963–), syntax, psycholinguistics
 * Goldsmith, John Anton (United States, 1951–), phonology, computational linguistics
 * Goldstein, Louis M. (United States), phonetics, phonology
 * Gong Hwang-cherng (Republic of China, 1934–2010), Sino-Tibetan languages, Old Chinese, Tangut language
 * Gordon, Cyrus Herzl (United States, 1908–2001), ancient languages, cuneiform script
 * Gramsci, Antonio (Italy, 1891–1937), Italian language
 * Gray, Louis Herbert (United States, 1875–1955), Indo-Iranian languages, phonology
 * Green, Lisa (United States), syntax of African American English
 * Greenberg, Joseph Harold (United States, 1915–2001), typology, language universals, languages of Africa
 * Grenoble, Lenore (United States, 1958–), language contact, language endangerment, deixis, Slavic and Arctic Indigenous languages
 * Grice, (Herbert) Paul (UK/United States, 1913–1988), pragmatics
 * Grierson, George Abraham (Ireland, 1851–1941), languages of India
 * Gries, Stefan Th. (Germany/United States, 1970–), corpus linguistics, computational linguistics, cognitive linguistics, construction grammar
 * Grimm, Jakob Ludwig Carl (Germany, 1785–1863), historical linguistics, comparative linguistics, German language
 * Grinder, John Thomas (United States, 1940–), neurolinguistics
 * Grosz, Barbara J. (United States, 1948– ), natural language processing, computational modeling of discourse
 * Groupe μ (Belgium, 1967–), rhetorics, semiotics
 * Grube, Wilhelm (Germany, 1855–1908), Tungusic languages, Nivkh language, Jurchen language
 * Grønnum, Nina (Denmark, 1945–), intonation of Danish
 * Gumperz, John Joseph (United States, 1922–2013), sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, linguistic anthropology
 * Gutiérrez Eskildsen, Rosario María (Mexico, 1899–1979), Spanish language, dialectology
 * Guy, Gregory (United States, 1950–), sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, phonetics, phonology
 * Guthrie, Malcolm (Britain, 1903–1972), Bantu languages
 * Gygax, Pascal (Swiss, 1974–), inclusive language in French

H

 * Haarmann, Harald (Germany, 1946–), evolutionary linguistics, language contact
 * Haas, Mary Rosamund (United States, 1910–1996), Native American languages, Thai language, historical linguistics
 * Haase, Martin (Germany, 1962–), Romance languages
 * Hagberg, Carl August (Sweden, 1810–1864), Scandinavian languages
 * Hajič, Jan (Czech Republic), computational linguistics
 * Hajičová, Eva (Czech Republic, 1935–), corpus linguistics
 * Hale, Kenneth Locke (United States, 1934–2001), syntax, phonology
 * Hall, Kira (United States, 1962–), sociocultural linguistics
 * Hall, Robert A., Jr. (United States, 1911–1997), Romance languages, Pidgins and Creoles
 * Halle, Morris (Latvia/United States, 1923–2018), phonology, morphology
 * Halliday, Michael Alexander Kirkwood (UK/Australia, 1925–2018), systemic functional grammar, ecolinguistics, applied linguistics
 * Hammarström, Harald (Sweden, 1977–), computational linguistics, historical linguistics, linguistic typology
 * Hammond, Michael (United States, 1957–), phonology, computational linguistics, syntax
 * Hamp, Eric P. (United States, 1920–2019), Indo-European languages, Native American languages
 * Hanzeli, Victor (United States, 1925–1991), Romance languages
 * Haq, Mehr Abdul (Pakistan, 1915–1995), Saraiki language
 * Harder, Peter (Denmark, 1950–), English language, functional linguistics
 * Harkavy, Alexander (Belarus/United States, 1863–1939), Yiddish language, lexicography
 * Harley, Heidi B. (United States, 1969–), distributed morphology, syntax
 * Harrington, John Peabody (United States, 1884–1961), Native American languages, phonetics
 * Harris, Roy (UK, 1931–2015), semiology, integrationism
 * Harris, Zellig Sabbetai (Ukraine/United States, 1909–1992), structural linguistics, discourse analysis, Semitic languages
 * Harrison, K. David (United States, 1966–), phonology, endangered languages, language extinction
 * Hartmann, Reinhard Rudolf Karl (Austria/UK, 1938–), lexicography, contrastive linguistics
 * Hasan, Ruqaiya (India/Australia, 1931–2015), systemic functional grammar, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics
 * Hashimoto Mantarō (Japan, 1932–1987), Japanese language
 * Hashimoto Shinkichi (Japan, 1882–1945), Old Japanese language, Japanese language
 * Haspelmath, Martin (Germany, 1963–), typology, language change, language contact, Lezgian language
 * Haugen, Einar Ingvald (United States, 1906– 1994), sociolinguistics, Old Norse
 * Hawkins, John A. (UK), psycholinguistics, historical linguistics
 * Hayakawa, Samuel Ichiye (Canada/United States, 1906–1992), semantics
 * Hayes, Bruce (United States, 1955–), phonology
 * Hays, David Glenn (United States, 1928–1995), computational linguistics, machine translation, dependency grammar, corpus linguistics, natural language processing, cognitive science
 * Heath, Jeffrey (United States, 1949–), historical linguistics, morphology, linguistic anthropology
 * Heim, Irene Roswitha (Germany/United States, 1954–), semantics
 * Heine, Bernd (Germany, 1939–), languages of Africa, sociolinguistics, language contact
 * Hepburn, James Curtis (United States, 1815–1911), Japanese language, lexicography
 * Herbert, Robert Knox (United States, 1952–2007), phonology, languages of Africa, sociolinguistics
 * Hetzron, Robert (Hungary/United States, 1937–1997), Afro-Asiatic languages
 * Hewitt, John Napoleon Brinton (United States, 1859–1937), Iroquoian languages
 * Hjelmslev, Louis (Denmark, 1899–1965), comparative linguistics, semantics
 * Hobbs, Jerry R. (United States, 1942–), computational linguistics, discourse analysis, syntax, semantics
 * Hock, Hans Henrich (Germany/United States, 1938–), historical linguistics, comparative linguistics, Sanskrit
 * Hockett, Charles Francis (United States, 1916–2000), phonology, morphology
 * Hoey, Michael (UK, 1948–2021), lexical priming, textual interaction, corpus linguistics
 * Hoff, Erika (United States, 1951—), Psycholinguistics
 * Hoffmann, John-Baptist (Germany, 1857–1928), Mundari language
 * Hogg, Richard M. (UK, 1944–2007), phonology, historical linguistics
 * Hoijer, Harry (United States, 1904–1976), Athabaskan languages, Tonkawa language
 * Hopper, Paul (UK/United States), historical linguistics, emergent grammar
 * Hornstein, Norbert (United States), syntax
 * Hryhorchuk, Lidiia (Ukraine, 1926–2018), Ukrainian language
 * Hrozný, Bedřich (Czech Republic, 1879–1952), Hittite language, ancient languages
 * Huddleston, Rodney D. (UK/Australia, 1937—), English language
 * Hudson, Richard (UK, 1939–), syntax, word grammar, linguistics in education
 * von Humboldt, Wilhelm (Germany, 1787–1835), Basque language
 * Hunston, Susan (UK, 1953–), corpus linguistics, lexical semantics
 * Hupel, August Wilhelm (Germany/Estonia, 1737–1819), Estonian language, lexicography
 * Hurford, James R. (UK, United States, 1941–), phonetics, semantics, grammar, computational linguistics, evolutionary linguistics
 * Husain Khan, Masud (India, 1919–2010), Urdu language, phonetics, stylistics, linguistic description
 * Hyman, Larry M. (United States, 1947–), phonology, languages of Africa
 * Hymes, Dell Hathaway (United States, 1927–2009), sociolinguistics, Kathlamet language

I

 * Ibn Sidah (Andalusia, c. 1007–1066)
 * Ibn Manzur (c. 1233–1311/1312)
 * Ibn Jinni (c. 932–1002)
 * Illich-Svitych, Vladislav Markovich (Ukraine/Russia, 1934–1966), comparative linguistics, Nostratic languages
 * Ivanov, Aleksei Ivanovich (Russia, 1878–1937), Chinese language, Tangut language
 * Ivanov, Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich (Russia, 1929–2017), Indo-European studies
 * Ivić, Pavle (Serbia, 1924–1999), South Slavic languages, phonology, Serbo-Croatian language

J

 * Jackendoff, Ray (United States, 1945–), syntax, lexical semantics
 * Jackson, Abraham Valentine Williams (United States, 1862—1937), Indo-Iranian languages, Avestan language
 * Jackson, Kenneth Hurlstone (UK, 1909—1991), Brythonic languages, Gaelic languages
 * Jacobsen, Lis (1882–1961), Danish and Nordic languages
 * Jacques, Guillaume (France, 1979—), Old Chinese, Rgyalrongic languages, Tangut language
 * Jagić, Vatroslav (Croatia, 1838—1923), Croatian language, Slavic languages
 * Jakobson, Roman Osipovich (Russia/Czech Republic/United States, 1896—1982), structuralism, phonology
 * Jarring, Gunnar (Sweden, 1907—2002), Turkic languages
 * Jasanoff, Jay (United States, 1942–), Indo-European linguistics
 * Jaszczolt, Katarzyna (UK, 1963—), semantics, pragmatics, philosophy of language
 * Jaunius, Kazimieras (Lithuania, 1848—1908), Lithuanian language, comparative linguistics
 * Jendraschek, Gerd (Germany), Basque language, Turkish language, Iatmul language
 * Jensen, Eva Skafte (Denmark, 1966—), Danish language
 * Jespersen, Otto (Denmark, 1860—1943), English language, phonetics, constructed languages
 * Johnson, David E. (United States, 1946–), syntax
 * Jones, Daniel (UK, 1881—1967), phonetics
 * Jones, Sir William (UK, 1746—1794), Indo-European studies, Sanskrit, comparative linguistics
 * Joshi, Aravind Krishana (India/United States, 1929–2017), computational linguistics
 * Junast (PR China, 1934–2010), Mongolian language, Monguor language, Eastern Yugur language, Phags-pa script
 * Jurafsky, Daniel (United States, 1962—), computational linguistics

K

 * Kaplan, Ronald M. (United States, 1946—), computational linguistics
 * Karadžić, Vuk Stefanović (Serbia, 1787—1864), Serbian language, lexicography
 * Kari, James (United States), Native American languages
 * Kasravi, Ahmad (Iran, 1890—1946), ancient languages, Iranian languages
 * Katz, Jerrold J. (United States, 1932—2002), semantics, generative grammar
 * Kaufman, Terrence (United States, 1937—2022), historical linguistics, contact linguistics, Mesoamerican languages
 * Kay, Martin (UK, United States, 1935–2021), computational linguistics
 * Kay, Paul (United States, 1934—), construction grammar
 * Kayne, Richard S. (United States, 1944—), syntax, transformational grammar
 * Kazama Kiyozō (Japan, 1928–), Japanese language
 * Keating, Patricia (United States, 1952—), phonetics
 * Kellogg, Samuel H. (United States, 1839–1899), Hindi language
 * Kenyon, John Samuel (United States, 1874—1959), English language, lexicography, phonology
 * Keyser, Samuel Jay (United States, 1935–), phonology, English language
 * Kiesling, Scott Fabius (United States), sociolinguistics
 * Kindaichi Haruhiko (Japan, 1913–2004), Japanese language
 * Kindaichi Kyōsuke (Japan, 1882–1971), Ainu language
 * Kinkade, M. Dale (United States, 1933—2004), Salishan languages
 * Kiparsky, Paul (Finland/United States, 1941–), phonology, morphology
 * Kirby, Simon (UK), computational linguistics, evolutionary linguistics
 * Klima, Edward (United States, 1931—2008), sign language
 * Klinkenberg, Jean-Marie (Belgium, 1944–), rhetorics, semiotics, stylistics
 * Kloekhorst, Alwin (Netherlands, 1978–), Anatolian languages
 * Knechtges, David R. (United States, 1942–), East Asian languages, Chinese language
 * Knorozov, Yuri Valentinovich (Russia, 1922—1999), Maya hieroglyphics, writing systems
 * Kober, Alice (UK/United States, 1906—1950), Linear B
 * Komárek, Miroslav (Czechia, 1924–2013), Czech language, morphology, phonology
 * Kordić, Snježana (Croatia, 1964–), Serbo-Croatian language, syntax, sociolinguistics
 * Kornai András (Hungary/United States, 1957–), mathematical linguistics, phonology, morphology, Hungarian language, syntax
 * Kornfilt, Jaklin, theoretical linguistics, syntax, morphology, Turkic languages, Germanic languages
 * Korsakov, Andrey Konstantinovich (Russia/Ukraine, 1916—2007), Germanic languages, English language, morphology, syntax
 * Korzybski, Alfred Habdank Skarbek (Poland/United States, 1879—1950), general semantics
 * Koster, Jan (Netherlands, 1945–), generative grammar
 * Krahe, Hans (Germany, 1898—1965), Indo-European languages, Illyrian language
 * Krashen, Stephen (United States, 1941–), second-language acquisition
 * Kratzer, Angelika (United States/Germany), semantics
 * Krauss, Michael E. (United States, 1941–2019), Native American languages
 * Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (India, 1929–2012), Dravidian languages
 * Kroeber, Alfred Louis (United States, 1876—1960), Native American languages
 * Kučera, Henry (Czech Republic/United States, 1925–2010), computational linguistics
 * Kuno Susumu (Japan/United States, 1933–), Dravidian languages, Japanese language, syntax
 * Kurath, Hans (Austria/United States, 1891—1992), English language, lexicography, dialectology
 * Kuroda Shigeyuki (Japan, 1934–2009), Japanese language
 * Kuryłowicz, Jerzy (Poland, 1895—1978), Indo-European languages, syntax, morphology
 * Kvergić, Hermann Feodor (Slovakia, 1895–sometime after 1948), Turkish language
 * Kychanov, Evgenij Ivanovich (Russia, 1932–2013), Tangut language

L

 * Labov, William (United States, 1927–), sociolinguistics, phonology, English language
 * Lado, Robert (United States, 1915–1995), applied linguistics, contrastive analysis
 * Ladefoged, Peter Nielsen (UK/United States, 1925–2006), phonetics, endangered languages
 * Laird, Charlton (United States, 1901–1984), lexicography, English language
 * Lakoff, George P. (United States, 1941–), cognitive linguistics, transformational grammar, generative semantics, syntax
 * Lakoff, Robin Tolmach (United States, 1942–), sociolinguistics
 * Lamb, Sydney MacDonald (United States, 1929–), stratificational grammar, Native American languages, historical linguistics, computational linguistics
 * Lambdin, Thomas Oden (United States, 1927–2020), Semitic languages, Egyptian language
 * Lane, Harlan (United States, 1936–2019), speech, Deaf culture, sign language
 * Langacker, Ronald W. (United States, 1942–), cognitive linguistics
 * Langdon, Margaret (United States, 1926–2005), Native American languages
 * LaPolla, Randy J. (United States), morpho-syntax, Chinese, Qiang, Rawang
 * Lasersohn, Peter (United States), semantics
 * Lasnik, Howard (United States, 1945–), syntax
 * Laycock, Donald (Australia, 1936–1988), languages of Papua New Guinea
 * Lee, Joan H. (Canada, 1981–), text messaging
 * Leech, Geoffrey (UK, 1936–2014), applied linguistics, English language
 * Lees, Robert (United States, 1922–1996), machine translation
 * Lehiste, Ilse (United States, 1922–2010), phonetics, Estonian language, Serbo-Croatian, phonology
 * Lehmann, Winfred P. (United States, 1916– 2007), historical linguistics, Proto-Indo-European language
 * Leonard, Robert A. (United States), Forensic linguistics
 * Lepsius, Karl Richard (Germany, 1810– 1884), Egyptian language, Nubian languages, phonology
 * Leslau, Wolf (Polish-born American, 1906–2006), Semitic languages, Languages of Ethiopia
 * Leskien, August (Germany, 1840–1916), comparative linguistics, Baltic languages, Slavic languages
 * Levin, Beth (United States, 1955–), semantics
 * Levinson, Stephen C. (UK/Netherlands, 1947–), pragmatics
 * Levstik, Fran (Slovenia, 1831–1881), Slovene language
 * Li Fanwen (PR China, 1932–), Tangut language
 * Li, Fang-Kuei (PR China/United States, 1902–1987), Mattole language, Tai languages, Old Chinese, Tibetan language
 * Li, Paul Jen-kuei (Taiwan, 1936–), Formosan languages, Austronesian languages, historical linguistics, lexicography
 * Liberman, Alvin Meyer (United States, 1917–2000), speech perception, phonology
 * Liberman, Anatoly (Russia/United States, 1937–), etymology, Germanic languages
 * Liberman, Mark (United States), phonetics, prosody
 * Lieber, Rochelle (United States, 1954–), morphology, syntax, lexical semantics
 * Lieberman, Philip (United States, 1934–2022), phonetics, language evolution
 * Lillo-Martin, Diane (United States), signed languages
 * Lisker, Leigh (United States, 1918–2006), phonetics, Dravidian languages
 * Local, John (UK, 1947–), phonetics, phonology, conversation analysis
 * Lounsbury, Floyd Glenn (United States, 1914–1998), Native American languages, Mayan languages
 * Lowman, Guy Sumner, Jr. (United States, 1909–1941), phonetics
 * Ludlow, Peter (United States, 1957–), syntax, semantics
 * Lukoff, Fred (United States, 1920–2000), Korean language, phonology
 * Lunde, Ken (United States, 1965–), East Asian languages
 * Lynch, John (Australia, 1946–2021), Austronesian languages, historical linguistics

M

 * Maclovitch, Elliott (Canada), linguist, machine translation
 * MacWhinney, Brian (United States, 1945–), language acquisition, second-language acquisition, corpus linguistics
 * Maddieson, Ian (United States, 1942–), phonetics
 * Fray Francisco Maldonado (1571– c. 1640), Guatemalan Franciscan linguist and historian
 * Manzini, Rita (Italy), generative syntax, Romance languages
 * Malkiel, Yakov (United States, 1914–1998), etymology, philology
 * Manaster Ramer, Alexis (United States/Poland, 1956–), phonology, syntax, poetics, etymology
 * Marantz, Alec (United States, 1959–), distributed morphology
 * March, Francis Andrew (United States, 1825–1911), comparative linguistics, lexicography, Old English language, English language
 * Margolis, Max Leopold (Lithuania/United States, 1866–1932), Semitic languages
 * Marr, Nikolay Yakovlevich (Georgia/Russia, 1865–1934), historical linguistics, comparative linguistics, origin of language
 * Martin, James (Sydney, Australia, 1950–), genre
 * Martin, Samuel Elmo (United States, 1924–2009), Korean language, Japanese language
 * Martinet, André (France, 1908–1999), structuralism, historical linguistics, constructed languages
 * Martinet, Jeanne (France, 1920–2018), semiotics, constructed languages
 * Massam, Diane (Canada), syntax, Austronesian languages
 * Mathesius, Vilém (Czech Republic, 1882– 1945), phonology, syntax, English language, Czech language
 * Matisoff, James A. (United States, 1937–), Tibeto-Burman languages, phonology
 * Matthews, Peter Hugoe (UK, 1934–2023), morphology, syntax
 * Matthews, Stephen (UK/PR China), typology, syntax, semantics, Cantonese language
 * Mattingly, Ignatius G. (United States, 1927–2004), phonetics, speech synthesis, speech perception
 * Matveyev, Aleksandr (Russia, 1926–2010), onomastics, etymology
 * McArthur, Tom (UK, 1938–2020), English language, lexicography
 * McCarthy, John J. (United States, 1953–), phonology, morphology, optimality theory
 * McCawley, James D. (UK/United States, 1938–1999), syntax, semantics, phonology
 * McConnell-Ginet, Sally (United States, 1938–), language of gender and sexuality
 * McCulloch, Gretchen (Canada), internet linguistics
 * McCune, George McAfee (North Korea/United States, 1908–1988), Korean language
 * McNamara, Barbara (United States, 1942–), Chinese language
 * McGregor, William B. (Australia, 1952–), Australian Aboriginal languages, theoretical linguistics, Shua language
 * McWhorter, John Hamilton (United States, 1965–), creole languages, Saramaccan language
 * Meillet, Antoine (France, 1866–1936), Comparative Linguistics, Armenian language, Philology
 * Meinhof, Carl Friedrich Michael (Germany, 1857–1944), languages of Africa
 * Melchert, H. Craig (United States, 1945–), Anatolian languages
 * Merchant, Jason (United States, 1966–), syntax, semantics, ellipsis
 * Michaelis, Laura A. (United States), syntax, English language
 * Michaud, Alexis (France, 1975–), Phonetics, Tonology, Naish languages, Vietnamese
 * Miklosich, Franz (Slovenia/Austria, 1813–1891), Slavic languages
 * Miller, Wick R. (United States, 1932–1994), Keresan languages, Uto-Aztecan languages
 * Miller, Roy Andrew (United States, 1924–2014), Tibetan language, Japanese language
 * Mithun, Marianne (United States, 1946–), Native American languages
 * Mitxelena Elissalt, Koldo (Spain, 1915–1987), Basque language
 * Miura Tsutomu (Japan, 1911–1989), Japanese language
 * Miyake, Marc (United States, 1971–), historical linguistics, Old Japanese, Tangut language
 * Mönkh-Amgalan, Yümjiriin (Mongolia, 1956–), pragmatics, semantics, syntax, Mongolian language, dialectology
 * Mori Hiromichi (Japan, 1949–), Japanese language
 * Moskvin, Anatoly (Russia, 1966–), academic and linguist, arrested in 2011 after the bodies of 26 mummified young women were discovered in his home
 * Motoori Norinaga (Japan, 1730–1801), Japanese language
 * Motoori Haruniwa (Japan, 1763–1828), Japanese language
 * Montague, Richard Merett (United States, 1930–1971), semantics, philosophy of language
 * Moro, Andrea (Italy, 1962–), syntax, copula, expletive, antisymmetry, neurolinguistics
 * Moser, Edward W. (United States, 1924–1976), Seri language
 * Mufwene, Salikoko (United States), creole languages, African-American English, language evolution
 * Mulder, Jean (United States, 1954–), Australian English, Tsimshianic languages
 * Munro, Pamela (United States, 1947–), Native American languages, lexicography
 * Murayama Shichirō (Japan, 1908–1995), Japanese language
 * Murray, James (UK, 1837–1915), lexicography, English language, etymology
 * Muti’I, Ibrahim (China, 1920–2010), Uyghur language
 * Myers-Scotton, Carol (United States, 1934–), language contact

N

 * Nábělková, Mira (Slovakia, 1956–), lexical semantics, sociolinguistics
 * Nádasdy Ádám (Hungary, 1947–), phonology, morphophonology
 * Napoli, Donna Jo (United States, 1948–), syntax, phonetics, phonology, Japanese language
 * Neeleman, Ad (Netherlands/UK, 1964–), syntax, semantics, phonology, generative grammar
 * Nelson, Andrew Nathaniel (United States, 1893–1975), Japanese language, lexicography
 * Nevsky, Nikolai Aleksandrovich (Russia, 1892– 1937), Tangut language
 * Newman, Paul (United States, 1937-), African languages
 * Newmeyer, Frederick J. (United States, 1944–), syntax, origin of language
 * Nichols, Johanna (United States, 1945–), languages of the Caucasus, Chechen language, Ingush language, typology
 * Niftawayh (Iraq, c. 8585–935), Arabic grammar, lexicography
 * Nishida Tatsuo (Japan, 1928–2012), Tangut language
 * Nolan, Francis (UK), phonetics
 * Noreen, Adolf Gotthard (Sweden, 1854–1925), dialectology, historical linguistics, Germanic languages
 * Nunberg, Geoffrey (United States, 1945–2020), lexical semantics, English language

O

 * Odden, David A. (United States, 1954–), phonology, African linguistics, Bantu languages
 * Ohala, John (United States, 1941–2020), phonetics, phonology
 * Okrand, Marc (United States, 1948–), Klingon language, Mutsun language
 * Ōno Susumu (Japan, 1919–2008), Japanese language, Tamil language
 * Orešnik, Janez (Slovenia, 1935–), comparative linguistics
 * Orikuchi Shinobu (Japan, 1887–1953), Japanese language
 * Orton, Harold (UK, 1898–1975), phonology, dialectology, English dialects
 * Osthoff, Hermann (Germany, 1847–1909), Indo-European studies, historical linguistics
 * Ōtsuki Fumihiko (Japan, 1847–1928), Japanese language
 * Özyürek, Aslı, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics

P

 * Pāṇini (India, ca. 520–460 BC), Sanskrit, morphology, descriptive linguistics, generative linguistics
 * Frank R. Palmer (England, 1922–2019), semantics, English language, Ethiopian languages
 * Partee, Barbara Hall (United States, 1940–), semantics
 * Paul, Hermann Otto Theodor (Germany, 1846–1921), lexicography, German language
 * Pawley, Andrew Kenneth (Australia/New Zealand, 1941), Austronesian languages, Papuan languages, lexicography, phraseology
 * Peacock, Dmitri Rudolf (Britain, 1842–1892), Kartvelian languages
 * Pedersen, Holger (Denmark, 1867–1953), Celtic languages, historical linguistics, Nostratic languages
 * Pedersen, Johannes (Denmark, 1883–1977), Hebrew language
 * Pei, Mario Andrew (Italy/United States, 1901–1978), Italian language, Indo-European languages
 * Pesetsky, David Michael (United States, 1957–), transformational grammar
 * Keith Malcolm Petyt (UK, 1941–), sociolinguistics
 * Phillipson, Robert (UK/Denmark, 1942–), language policy
 * Pierrehumbert, Janet (United States, 1954–), phonetics, phonology
 * Piller, Ingrid (Australia, 1967–), applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, intercultural communication
 * Pinault, Georges-Jean (France, 1955–), Tokharian, Indo-European linguistics
 * Pike, Kenneth Lee (United States, 1912–2000), English language, constructed languages, tagmemics
 * Pilch, Herbert (Germany, 1927–2018), Old English, Celtic languages, phonetics
 * Pimsleur, Paul (United States, 1927–1976), language acquisition, French language, phonetics
 * Pinker, Steven (Canada/United States, 1954–), language acquisition, syntax, semantics
 * Piron, Claude (Switzerland, 1931–2008), Esperanto, psycholinguistics
 * Polinsky, Maria (United States), syntax, Austronesian languages
 * Pollard, Carl Jesse (United States, 1947–), syntax, semantics
 * Pollock, Jean-Yves (France, 1946–), syntax
 * Poplack, Shana (United States), sociolinguistics
 * Poppe, Nicholas (Russia, 1897–1991), Mongolic languages
 * Postal, Paul M. (United States, 1936–), syntax, semantics
 * Primer, Sylvester (United States, 1842–1912), English language, dialectology, phonetics, Germanic languages
 * Prince, Alan Sanford (United States, 1946–), optimality theory, phonology
 * Prince, Ellen (United States, 1944–2010), pragmatics
 * Pulgram, Ernst (Austria/United States, 1915– 2005), Romance languages, Italic languages
 * Pullum, Geoffrey K. (UK/United States, 1945–), syntax, English language
 * Pustejovsky, James D. (United States, 1956–), natural language processing, computational linguistics, semantics

Q

 * Quirk, Charles Randolph (UK/Germany, 1920–2017), English language

R

 * Radford, Andrew (UK, 1945–), syntax, generative grammar, child language acquisition
 * Rael, Juan Bautista (United States, 1900–1993), phonology, morphology, New Mexican Spanish
 * Rask, Rasmus Christian (Denmark, 1787–1832), lexicography, comparative linguistics, Indo-European language
 * Ratliff, Martha (United States, 1946–), Hmong–Mien languages, historical linguistics
 * Rauch, Irmengard (United States, 1933–), Germanic languages, semiotics
 * Read, Allen Walker (United States, 1906–2002), etymology, lexicography, English language
 * Reinhart, Tanya (Israel, 1943–2007), syntax
 * Rice, Keren (Canada), phonology, morphology, Athapaskan languages
 * Rickford, John Russell (United States, 1949–), sociolinguistics, African-American English
 * van Riemsdijk, Henk (Netherlands, 1948–), prepositional phrases, free relatives, syntax, Germanic language
 * Rizzi, Luigi (Italy, 1952–), syntax, language acquisition
 * Roberts, Ian G. (UK, 1957–), syntax
 * Rock, Joseph Francis Charles (Austria/United States/PR China, 1884–1962), Naxi language, lexicography
 * Rosenblat, Ángel (Poland/Venezuela, 1902–1984), lexicography, Venezuelan Spanish, Philology
 * Ross, John Robert (United States, 1938–), semantics, syntax
 * Ross, Malcolm David (Australia, 1942–), Austronesian languages, Papuan languages, historical linguistics, language contact
 * Rubach, Jerzy (Poland/United States, 1948–), phonology, Polish language
 * Rubin, Philip E. (United States, 1949–), articulatory synthesis, phonology
 * Ruhlen, Merritt (United States, 1944–2021), typology, historical linguistics

S

 * Sacks, Harvey (United States, 1935–1975), conversation analysis
 * Sadock, Jerrold (United States), syntax, morphology, pragmatics, Greenlandic language, Yiddish language
 * Sag, Ivan (United States, 1949–2013), syntax, construction grammar
 * Sagart, Laurent (France, 1951–), Chinese linguistics and Austronesian languages
 * Sakaguchi, Alicja (Poland/Germany, 1954–), interlinguistics, Esperanto
 * Shakirova, Liya (Soviet Union/Russia, 1921–2015), Russian language
 * Salo, David (United States, 1969–), constructed languages, Tocharian languages, Elvish languages
 * Sampson, Geoffrey (UK, 1944–), philosophy of language
 * Sánchez Carrión, José María (Spain, 1952–), Basque language, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics
 * Sankoff, Gillian (Canada, 1943–), sociolinguistics
 * Sankrityayan, Rahul (India, 1893–1963), Tibetan language, Hindi language
 * Sapir, Edward (Germany/United States, 1884–1939), Native American languages, constructed languages, semantics
 * Sarkar, Prabhat Ranjan (India, 1921–1990), Transliteration, Science of Letters
 * Saunders, Irene (United States/PR China), lexicography, Chinese language
 * de Saussure, Ferdinand (Switzerland/France, 1857–1913), semantics, Indo-European studies, structural linguistics
 * Saxon, Leslie (Canada), First Nations languages
 * Sayce, Archibald Henry (UK, 1846–1933), Akkadian language
 * Schegloff, Emanuel (United States, 1937–), conversation analysis
 * Schleicher, August (Germany, 1821–1868), Indo-European studies, language development, historical linguistics
 * Schmidt, Johannes (Germany, 1843–1901), historical linguistics, Indo-European studies
 * Schmidt, Richard (United States, 1941–2017), second-language acquisition
 * Schmidt, Wilhelm (Germany/Austria/Switzerland, 1868–1954), Mon–Khmer languages
 * Searle, John Rogers (United States, 1932–), philosophy of language, pragmatics
 * Selinker, Larry (United States), second-language acquisition
 * Sen, Sukumar (India, 1900–1992), Bengali language
 * Sequoyah (United States, 1767–1843), Cherokee language
 * Setälä, Eemil Nestor (Finland, 1864–1935), Finnish language, Uralic languages
 * Sgall, Petr (Czech Republic, 1926–2019), syntax
 * Shackle, Christopher (UK, 1942–), Urdu language, Saraiki language
 * Shepard-Kegl, Judy (United States, 1953– ), Nicaraguan Sign Language
 * Shevoroshkin, Vitaly Victorovich (Russia/United States, 1932–), Slavic languages, Nostratics
 * Shinmura Izuru (Japan, 1876–1967), Japanese language
 * Shipley, William F. (United States, 1921-2011), Maidu language
 * Sibawayh (Iran, ca. 760– 796), Arabic language
 * Sidi Boushaki (Algeria, ca. 796–857), Arabic language
 * Sievers, Eduard (Germany, 1850–1932), Germanic languages, historical linguistics
 * Siewierska, Anna (Poland/Netherlands/UK, 1955–2011), language typology
 * Sihler, Andrew Littleton (United States, 1941–), comparative linguistics, Indo-European languages
 * Silvet, Johannes (Estonia, 1895–1979), lexicography
 * Sinclair, John McHardy (UK, 1933–2007), applied linguistics, corpus linguistics, discourse analysis
 * Skeat, Walter W. (UK, 1835–1912), Old English, Middle English, etymology, philology
 * Skinner, B.F. (United States, 1905–1992), verbal behavior
 * Skousen, Royal (United States, 1945–), language modeling
 * Smith, Neilson Voyne (UK, 1939–), syntax, language acquisition
 * Smith-Stark, Thomas (United States, 1948–2009), Mesoamerican languages
 * Smolensky, Paul (United States, 1955–), phonology, optimality theory, syntax
 * Stachowski, Marek (Poland, 1957–), historical linguistics, Turkic languages
 * Starostin, Georgiy Sergeevich (Russia, 1976–), comparative linguistics, historical linguistics, Nostratics, Proto-World
 * Starostin, Sergei Anatolyevich (Russia, 1953–2005), comparative linguistics, historical linguistics, Nostratics, Proto-World
 * Stati, Sorin (Romania-French, 1931–2008), pragmatics, syntax
 * Steedman, Mark (UK, United States, 1946–), theoretical linguistics, categorial grammar, syntax, computational linguistics
 * Steels, Luc (Belgium, 1952–), computational linguistics, evolutionary linguistics
 * Steinmetz, Sol (United States, 1930–2011), Yiddish language
 * Stetson, Raymond Herbert (United States, d. 1950), phonetics
 * Stieber, Zdzisław (Poland, 1903–1980), Slavic languages, phonology
 * Stokoe, William (United States, 1919–2000), American Sign Language, cherology
 * Stollznow, Karen (United States, 1976–), lexical semantics, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics
 * Stuart-Smith, Jane (United Kingdom, 1965–), phonetics, sociolinguistics
 * Suzuki Takao (Japan, 1926–2021), Japanese language, sociolinguistics
 * Svoboda, Aleš (Czech Republic, 1941–2010), English language, Czech language, functional linguistics
 * Swadesh, Morris (United States, 1909–1967), typology, historical linguistics, Native American languages, lexicostatistics
 * de Swart, Henriette (Netherlands, 1961–), semantics
 * Sweet, Henry (UK, 1845–1912), Germanic languages, phonetics
 * Sweetser, Eve (United States), cognitive linguistics, semantics, historical linguistics, Celtic languages

T

 * Talmy, Leonard (United States, 1942–), cognitive linguistics, semantics, Yiddish language, Native American languages
 * Tannen, Deborah Frances (United States, 1945–), discourse analysis
 * Tarone, Elaine (United States, 1962–), second-language acquisition
 * Tarpent, Marie-Lucie (Canada, 1941–), Tsimshianic languages
 * Tha Myat (Burma, 1899–1977), Mon language, Burmese language, Pyu language, Nagari
 * Teeter, Karl van Duyn (United States, 1929– 2007), Algic languages, endangered languages
 * Thieberger, Nicholas (Australia), Indigenous Australian languages
 * Thomas, Calvin (United States, 1854–1919), Germanic languages, German language
 * Thomason, Sarah Grey (United States, 1939–), language contact, historical linguistics, typology, Montana Salish
 * Thompson, John Eric Sidney (UK, 1898– 1975), Maya languages, Maya hieroglyphics
 * Thompson, Sandra A. (United States, 1941–), syntax, discourse analysis, Mandarin language
 * Tokieda Motoki (Japan, 1900–1967), Japanese language
 * Tolkien, John Ronal Reuel (UK, 1892–1973), Old English language, constructed languages, Sindarin, Quenya
 * Toporišič, Jože (Slovenia, 1926–2014), Slovene language
 * Trager, George Leonard (United States, 1906–1992), phonemics, paralanguage, semantics
 * Trask, Robert Lawrence (United States, 1944–2004), Basque language, historical linguistics, origin of language
 * Traugott, Elizabeth C. (United States, 1939–), grammaticalization
 * Trubetzkoy, Nikolai Sergeyevich (Russia/Austria, 1890–1938), structural linguistics, morphology, phonology
 * Trudgill, Peter (UK, 1943–), sociolinguistics, English language, dialectology
 * Tuite, Kevin (United States, 1954–), Caucasian languages, Georgian language
 * Turner, Mark (United States, 1954–), cognitive linguistics
 * Tucker, Archibald (South Africa, 1904–1980), African languages

U

 * Uldall, Elizabeth T. (United States, 1913–2004), phonetics
 * Uldall, Hans Jørgen (Denmark, 1907–1957), glossematics, Maidu language
 * Ullendorff, Edward (UK, 1920–2011), Semitic languages
 * Unger, James Marshall (United States, 1947–), Japanese language, historical linguistics, writing systems
 * Upton, Clive (UK, 1946–), English language, sociolinguistics, dialectology

V

 * Vajda, Edward (United States, 1958–), Ket language, historical linguistics, Na-Dené languages, comparative linguistics
 * van Valin, Robert D. (United States, 1952–), syntax, semantics, cognitive linguistics
 * Valli, Clayton (United States, 1951–2003), American Sign Language,
 * Vasmer, Max (Russia/Germany, 1886–1962), etymology, historical linguistics, Russian language
 * Vassalli, Mikiel Anton (Malta, 1764–1829), Maltese language
 * Vaux, Bert (United States, 1968–), phonology, morphology, Armenian language
 * Veltman, Calvin (United States/Canada/France, 1941–), sociolinguistics
 * Vendler, Zeno (United States, 1921–2004), philosophy of language, event structure
 * Ventris, Michael George Francis (UK, 1922–1956), Linear B, Archaic Greek
 * Verner, Karl (Denmark, 1846–1896), phonology, comparative linguistics, historical linguistics
 * Vincent, Nigel (UK, 1947–), morphology, syntax, historical linguistics
 * Voegelin, Charles F. (United States, 1906–1986), indigenous languages of North America
 * Voegelin, Florence M. (United States, 1927–1989), Hidatsa language
 * Voloshinov, Valentin Nikolaevich (Russia, 1895–1936), semantics
 * Vovin, Alexander (Russia/United States, 1961–2022), Japanese language, Siberian languages, Korean language, Ainu language, Central Asian languages

W

 * Wackernagel, Jacob (Switzerland, 1853–1938), Indo-European studies, Sanskrit
 * Wang Li (PR China, 1900–1986), Chinese language
 * Watanabe Shōichi (Japan, 1930–2017), Japanese language
 * Watkins, Calvert (United States, 1933–2013), comparative linguistics, Indo-European languages
 * Weeks, Raymond (United States, 1863–1954), phonetics, French language
 * Weinreich, Max (Latvia/United States, 1893– 1969), Yiddish language
 * Weinreich, Uriel (Poland/United States, 1926–1967), sociolinguistics, dialectology, semantics, Yiddish language
 * Wells, John Christopher (UK, 1939–), phonetics, Esperanto
 * Westermann, Diedrich Hermann (Germany, 1875–1956), languages of Africa, typology
 * Westphal, Ernst Oswald Johannes (South Africa/UK, 1919–1990), Bantu languages, Khoisan languages
 * Whalen, Douglas H. (United States), phonology, endangered languages
 * Wheeler, Benjamin Ide (United States, 1854–1927), historical linguistics, comparative linguistics, Greek language
 * White, Lydia (UK/Canada, 1946–), second-language acquisition
 * Whitney, William Dwight (United States, 1827–1894), lexicography, Sanskrit, English language
 * Wilks, Yorick (UK, 1939–2023), artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, natural language processing, semantics
 * Whorf, Benjamin Lee (United States, 1897–1941), Native American languages, Maya script, linguistic relativity
 * Wichmann, Søren (Denmark, 1964–), Mesoamerican languages, Mixe–Zoque languages, Mayan languages, Maya script
 * Widdowson, Henry G. (UK, 1935–), English language, discourse analysis
 * Wierzbicka, Anna (Poland/Australia, 1938–), semantics, pragmatics
 * Wiese, Richard (Germany, 1953–), phonology, morphology, neurolinguistics
 * Williams, Nicholas Jonathan Anselm (UK/Ireland, 1942–), Cornish language, Irish language, Manx language, phonology
 * Williams, Samuel Wells (United States/China, 1812–1884), Chinese language, lexicography
 * Wilson, Robert Dick (United States, 1856–1930), comparative linguistics, Hebrew language, Syriac language
 * Wittmann, Henri (France/Canada, 1937–), French language, creole languages, morphology, comparative linguistics
 * Wodak, Ruth (Austria/UK, 1950–), discourse analysis
 * Wolvengrey, Arok (Canada, 1965–), Cree language, syntax, Native American languages, lexicography
 * Worcester, Samuel (1798–1859), Presbyterian missionary, linguist, co-founder of Cherokee Phoenix with Elias Boudinot (first Cherokee newspaper in Indian Territory)
 * Wright, Alfred (United States, 1788–1853), Presbyterian minister, physician, linguist, Choctaw language
 * Wurm, Stephen Adolphe (Hungary/Australia, 1922–2001), Australian Aboriginal languages, Papuan languages

Y

 * Yeda Pessoa de Castro (Brazil), African languages
 * Yamada Yoshio (Japan, 1873–1958), Japanese language
 * Yiakoumetti, Androula (Cyprus), Greek language, dialectology
 * Yip, Virginia (Hong Kong, 1962–), bilingual language acquisition, Sinitic grammar
 * Yngve, Victor (United States, 1920–2012), computational linguistics, natural language processing
 * Young, Robert W. (United States, 1912–2007), Navajo language, lexicography

Z

 * Zamenhof, Ludwik Łazarz (Poland, 1859–1917), Esperanto
 * Zepeda, Ofelia (United States, 1952–), O'odham language
 * Zhang, Niina Ning (PR China), formal syntax, morphology
 * Zhou Youguang (PR China, 1906–2017), orthography, Romanization of Chinese
 * Zuazo, Koldo (Spain, 1956–), Basque dialectology, sociolinguistics
 * Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (Israel, Italy, UK, Australia, 1971–), contact linguistics, lexicology, revival linguistics
 * Zwicky, Arnold (United States, 1940–), syntax, morphology

title: List of linguists


text:
History of linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of language, involving analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context.

Language use was first systematically documented in Mesopotamia, with extant lexical lists of the 3rd to the 2nd Millennia BCE, offering glossaries on Sumerian cuneiform usage and meaning, and phonetical vocabularies of foreign languages. Later, Sanskrit would be systematically analysed, and its rules described, by Pāṇini (fl. 6-4th century BCE), in the Indus Valley. Beginning around the 4th century BCE, Warring States period China also developed its own grammatical traditions. Aristotle laid the foundation of Western linguistics as part of the study of rhetoric in his Poetics c. 335 BC. Traditions of Arabic grammar and Hebrew grammar developed during the Middle Ages in a religious context like Pānini's Sanskrit grammar.

Modern approaches began to develop in the 18th century, eventually being regarded in the 19th century as belonging to the disciplines of psychology or biology, with such views establishing the foundation of mainstream Anglo-American linguistics, although in England philological approaches such as that of Henry Sweet tended to predominate. This was contested in the early 20th century by Ferdinand de Saussure, who established linguistics as an autonomous discipline within social sciences. Following Saussure's concept, general linguistics consists of the study of language as a semiotic system, which includes the subfields of phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Each of these subfields can be approached either synchronically or diachronicially.

Today, linguistics encompasses a large number of scientific approaches and has developed still more subfields, including applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and computational linguistics.

Antiquity
Across cultures, the early history of linguistics is associated with a need to disambiguate discourse, especially for ritual texts or arguments. This often led to explorations of sound-meaning mappings, and the debate over conventional versus naturalistic origins for these symbols. Finally, this led to the processes by which larger structures are formed from units.

Babylonia
The earliest linguistic texts – written in cuneiform on clay tablets – date almost four thousand years before the present. In the early centuries of the second millennium BCE, in southern Mesopotamia, there arose a grammatical tradition that lasted more than 2,500 years. The linguistic texts from the earliest parts of the tradition were lists of nouns in Sumerian (a language isolate, that is, a language with no known genetic relatives), the language of religious and legal texts at the time. Sumerian was being replaced in everyday speech by a very different (and unrelated) language, Akkadian; it remained however as a language of prestige and continued to be used in religious and legal contexts. It therefore had to be taught as a foreign language, and to facilitate this, information about Sumerian was recorded in writing by Akkadian-speaking scribes.

Over the centuries, the lists became standardised, and the Sumerian words were provided with Akkadian translations. Ultimately texts emerged that gave Akkadian equivalents for not just single words, but for entire paradigms of varying forms for words: one text, for instance, has 227 different forms of the verb ĝar "to place".

India
Linguistics in ancient India derives its impetus from the need to correctly recite and interpret the Vedic texts. Already in the oldest Indian text, the Rigveda, ("speech") is deified. By 1200 BCE, the oral performance of these texts becomes standardized, and treatises on ritual recitation suggest splitting up the Sanskrit compounds into words, stems, and phonetic units, providing an impetus for morphology and phonetics.

Some of the earliest activities in the description of language have been attributed to the Indian grammarian Pāṇini (6th century BCE), who wrote a rule-based description of the Sanskrit language in his Aṣṭādhyāyī.

Over the next few centuries, clarity was reached in the organization of sound units, and the stop consonants were organized in a 5x5 square (c. 800 BCE, Pratisakhyas), eventually leading to a systematic alphabet, Brāhmī, by the 3rd century BCE.

In semantics, the early Sanskrit grammarian Śākaṭāyana (before c. 500 BCE) proposes that verbs represent ontologically prior categories, and that all nouns are etymologically derived from actions. The etymologist Yāska (c. 5th century BCE) posits that meaning inheres in the sentence, and that word meanings are derived based on sentential usage. He also provides four categories of words—nouns, verbs, pre-verbs, and particles/invariants—and a test for nouns both concrete and abstract: words which can be indicated by the pronoun that.

Pāṇini (c. 6th century BCE) opposes the Yāska view that sentences are primary, and proposes a grammar for composing semantics from morphemic roots. Transcending the ritual text to consider living language, Pāṇini specifies a comprehensive set of about 4,000 aphoristic rules (sutras) that:

In addition, the Pāṇinian school also provides a list of 2000 verb roots which form the objects on which these rules are applied, a list of sounds (the so-called Shiva-sutras), and a list of 260 words not derivable by the rules.
 * 1) Map the semantics of verb argument structures into thematic roles
 * 2) Provide morphosyntactic rules for creating verb forms and nominal forms whose seven cases  are called karaka (similar to case) that generate the morphology
 * 3) Take these morphological structures and consider phonological processes (e.g., root or stem modification) by which the final phonological form is obtained

The extremely succinct specification of these rules and their complex interactions led to considerable commentary and extrapolation over the following centuries. The phonological structure includes defining a notion of sound universals similar to the modern phoneme, the systematization of consonants based on oral cavity constriction, and vowels based on height and duration. However, it is the ambition of mapping these from morpheme to semantics that is truly remarkable in modern terms.

Grammarians following Pāṇini include Kātyāyana (c. 3rd century BCE), who wrote aphorisms on Pāṇini (the Varttika) and advanced mathematics; Patañjali (2nd century BCE), known for his commentary on selected topics in Pāṇini's grammar (the Mahabhasya) and on Kātyāyana's aphorisms, as well as, according to some, the author of the Yoga Sutras, and Pingala, with his mathematical approach to prosody. Several debates ranged over centuries, for example, on whether word-meaning mappings were conventional (Vaisheshika-Nyaya) or eternal (Kātyāyana-Patañjali-Mīmāṃsā).

The Nyaya Sutras specified three types of meaning: the individual (this cow), the type universal (cowhood), and the image (draw the cow). That the sound of a word also forms a class (sound-universal) was observed by Bhartṛhari (c. 500 CE), who also posits that language-universals are the units of thought, close to the nominalist or even the linguistic determinism position. Bhartṛhari also considers the sentence to be ontologically primary (word meanings are learned given their sentential use).

Of the six canonical texts or Vedangas that formed the core syllabus in Brahminic education from the 1st century CE until the 18th century, four dealt with language:
 * Shiksha (): phonetics and phonology (sandhi), Gārgeya and commentators
 * Chandas (): prosody or meter, Pingala and commentators
 * Vyakarana (): grammar, Pāṇini and commentators
 * Nirukta (): etymology, Yāska and commentators

Bhartrihari around 500 CE introduced a philosophy of meaning with his sphoṭa doctrine.

Pāṇini's rule-based method of linguistic analysis and description has remained relatively unknown to Western linguistics until more recently. Franz Bopp used Pāṇini's work as a linguistic source for his 1807 Sanskrit grammar but disregarded his methodology. Pāṇini's system also differs from modern formal linguistics in that, since Sanskrit is a free word-order language, it did not provide syntactic rules. Formal linguistics, as first proposed by Louis Hjelmslev in 1943, is nonetheless based on the same concept that the expression of meaning is organised on different layers of linguistic form (including phonology and morphology).

The Pali Grammar of Kacchayana, dated to the early centuries CE, describes the language of the Buddhist canon.

Greece
The Greeks developed an alphabet using symbols from the Phoenicians, adding signs for vowels and for extra consonants appropriate to their idiom (see Robins, 1997). In the Phoenicians and in earlier Greek writing systems, such as Linear B, graphemes indicated syllables, that is sound combinations of a consonant and a vowel. The addition of vowels by the Greeks was a major breakthrough as it facilitated the writing of Greek by representing both vowels and consonants with distinct graphemes. As a result of the introduction of writing, poetry such as the Homeric poems became written and several editions were created and commented on, forming the basis of philology and criticism.

Along with written speech, the Greeks commenced studying grammatical and philosophical issues. A philosophical discussion about the nature and origins of language can be found as early as the works of Plato. A subject of concern was whether language was man-made, a social artifact, or supernatural in origin. Plato in his Cratylus presents the naturalistic view, that word meanings emerge from a natural process, independent of the language user. His arguments are partly based on examples of compounding, where the meaning of the whole is usually related to the constituents, although by the end he admits a small role for convention. The sophists and Socrates introduced dialectics as a new text genre. The Platonic dialogs contain definitions of the meters of the poems and tragedy, the form and the structure of those texts (see the Republic and Phaidros, Ion, etc.).

Aristotle supports the conventional origins of meaning. He defined the logic of speech and of the argument. Furthermore, Aristotle's works on rhetoric and poetics became of the utmost importance for the understanding of tragedy, poetry, public discussions etc. as text genres. Aristotle's work on logic interrelates with his special interest in language, and his work on this area was fundamentally important for the development of the study of language (logos in Greek means both "language" and "logic reasoning"). In Categories, Aristotle defines what is meant by "synonymous" or univocal words, what is meant by "homonymous" or equivocal words, and what is meant by "paronymous" or denominative words. He divides forms of speech as being:

 * Either simple, without composition or structure, such as "man," "horse," "fights," etc.
 * Or having composition and structure, such as "a man fights," "the horse runs," etc.

Next, he distinguishes between a subject of predication, namely that of which anything is affirmed or denied, and a subject of inhesion. A thing is said to be inherent in a subject, when, though it is not a part of the subject, it cannot possibly exist without the subject, e.g., shape in a thing having a shape. The categories are not abstract platonic entities but are found in speech, these are substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, action and affection. In de Interpretatione, Aristotle analyzes categoric propositions, and draws a series of basic conclusions on the routine issues of classifying and defining basic linguistic forms, such as simple terms and propositions, nouns and verbs, negation, the quantity of simple propositions (primitive roots of the quantifiers in modern symbolic logic), investigations on the excluded middle (which to Aristotle isn't applicable to future tense propositions — the Problem of future contingents), and on modal propositions.

The Stoics made linguistics an important part of their system of the cosmos and the human. They played an important role in defining the linguistic sign-terms adopted later on by Ferdinand de Saussure like "significant" and "signifié". The Stoics studied phonetics, grammar and etymology as separate levels of study. In phonetics and phonology the articulators were defined. The syllable became an important structure for the understanding of speech organization. One of the most important contributions of the Stoics in language study was the gradual definition of the terminology and theory echoed in modern linguistics.

Alexandrian grammarians also studied speech sounds and prosody; they defined parts of speech with notions such as "noun", "verb", etc. There was also a discussion about the role of analogy in language, in this discussion the grammatici in Alexandria supported the view that language and especially morphology is based on analogy or paradigm, whereas the grammatic in schools in Asia Minor consider that language is not based on analogical bases but rather on exceptions.

Alexandrians, like their predecessors, were very interested in meter and its role in poetry. The metrical "feet" in the Greek was based on the length of time taken to pronounce each syllable, with syllables categorized according to their weight as either "long" syllables or "short" syllables (also known as "heavy" and "light" syllables, respectively, to distinguish them from long and short vowels). The foot is often compared to a musical measure and the long and short syllables to whole notes and half notes. The basic unit in Greek and Latin prosody is a mora, which is defined as a single short syllable. A long syllable is equivalent to two moras. A long syllable contains either a long vowel, a diphthong, or a short vowel followed by two or more consonants.

Various rules of elision sometimes prevent a grammatical syllable from making a full syllable, and certain other lengthening and shortening rules (such as correption) can create long or short syllables in contexts where one would expect the opposite. The most important Classical meter as defined by the Alexandrian grammarians was the dactylic hexameter, the meter of Homeric poetry. This form uses verses of six feet. The first four feet are normally dactyls, but can be spondees. The fifth foot is almost always a dactyl. The sixth foot is either a spondee or a trochee. The initial syllable of either foot is called the ictus, the basic "beat" of the verse. There is usually a caesura after the ictus of the third foot.

The text Tékhnē grammatiké (c. 100 BCE, Gk. gramma meant letter, and this title means "Art of letters"), possibly written by Dionysius Thrax (170 – 90 BCE), is considered the earliest grammar book in the Greek tradition. It lists eight parts of speech and lays out the broad details of Greek morphology including the case structures. This text was intended as a pedagogic guide (as was Panini), and also covers punctuation and some aspects of prosody. Other grammars by Charisius (mainly a compilation of Thrax, as well as lost texts by Remmius Palaemon and others) and Diomedes (focusing more on prosody) were popular in Rome as pedagogic material for teaching Greek to native Latin-speakers.

One of the most prominent scholars of Alexandria and of the antiquity was Apollonius Dyscolus. Apollonius wrote more than thirty treatises on questions of syntax, semantics, morphology, prosody, orthography, dialectology, and more. Happily, four of these are preserved—we still have a Syntax in four books, and three one-book monographs on pronouns, adverbs, and connectives, respectively.

Lexicography become an important domain of study as many grammarians compiled dictionaries, thesauri and lists of special words "λέξεις" that were old, or dialectical or special (such as medical words or botanic words) at that period. In the early medieval times we find more categories of dictionaries like the dictionary of Suida (considered the first encyclopedic dictionary), etymological dictionaries etc.

At that period, the Greek language functioned as a lingua franca, a language spoken throughout the known world (for the Greeks and Romans) of that time and, as a result, modern linguistics struggles to overcome this. With the Greeks a tradition commenced in the study of language. The terminology invented by Greek and Latin grammarians in the ancient world and medieval period continue as a part of our everyday language. Think, for example, of notions such as the word, the syllable, the verb, the subject etc.

Rome
In the 4th century, Aelius Donatus compiled the Latin grammar Ars Grammatica that was to be the defining school text through the Middle Ages. A smaller version, Ars Minor, covered only the eight parts of speech; eventually when books came to be printed in the 15th century, this was one of the first books to be printed. Schoolboys subjected to all this education gave us the current meaning of "grammar" (attested in English since 1176).

China
Similar to the Indian tradition, Chinese philology, Xiaoxue (小學 "elementary studies"), began as an aid to understanding classics during the Han dynasty (c. 3rd century BCE). Xiaoxue came to be divided into three branches: Xungu (訓詁 "exegesis"), Wenzi (文字 "script [analysis]") and Yinyun (音韻 "[study of] sounds") and reached its golden age in the 17th century CE (Qing dynasty). The glossary Erya (c. 3rd century BCE), comparable to the Indian Nighantu, is regarded as the first linguistic work in China. Shuowen Jiezi (c. 2nd century BCE), the first Chinese dictionary, classifies Chinese characters by radicals, a practice that would be followed by most subsequent lexicographers. Two more pioneering works produced during the Han dynasty are Fangyan, the first Chinese work concerning dialects, and Shiming, devoted to etymology.

As in ancient Greece, early Chinese thinkers were concerned with the relationship between names and reality. Confucius (6th century BCE) famously emphasized the moral commitment implicit in a name, (zhengming) stating that the moral collapse of the pre-Qin was a result of the failure to rectify behaviour to meet the moral commitment inherent in names: "Good government consists in the ruler being a ruler, the minister being a minister, the father being a father, and the son being a son... If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things." (Analects 12.11,13.3).

However, what is the reality implied by a name? The later Mohists or the group known as School of Names (ming jia, 479-221 BCE), consider that ming (名 "name") may refer to three kinds of shi (實 "actuality"): type universals (horse), individual (John), and unrestricted (thing). They adopt a realist position on the name-reality connection - universals arise because "the world itself fixes the patterns of similarity and difference by which things should be divided into kinds". The philosophical tradition is well known for conundra resembling the sophists, e.g. when Gongsun Longzi (4th century BCE) questions if in copula statements (X is Y), are X and Y identical or is X a subclass of Y. This is the famous paradox "a white horse is not a horse".

Xun Zi (3rd century BCE) revisits the principle of zhengming, but instead of rectifying behaviour to suit the names, his emphasis is on rectifying language to correctly reflect reality. This is consistent with a more "conventional" view of word origins (yueding sucheng 約定俗成).

The study of phonology in China began late, and was influenced by the Indian tradition, after Buddhism had become popular in China. The rime dictionary is a type of dictionary arranged by tone and rime, in which the pronunciations of characters are indicated by fanqie spellings. Rime tables were later produced to aid the understanding of fanqie.

Philological studies flourished during the Qing dynasty, with Duan Yucai and Wang Niansun as the towering figures. The last great philologist of the era was Zhang Binglin, who also helped lay the foundation of modern Chinese linguistics. The Western comparative method was brought into China by Bernard Karlgren, the first scholar to reconstruct Middle Chinese and Old Chinese with Latin alphabet (not IPA). Important modern Chinese linguists include Y. R. Chao, Luo Changpei, Li Fanggui and Wang Li.

The ancient commentators on the classics paid much attention to syntax and the use of particles. But the first Chinese grammar, in the modern sense of the word, was produced by Ma Jianzhong (late 19th century). His grammar was based on the Latin (prescriptive) model.

Arabic grammar
Owing to the rapid expansion of Islam in the 8th century, many people learned Arabic as a lingua franca. For this reason, the earliest grammatical treatises on Arabic are often written by non-native speakers.

The earliest grammarian who is known to us is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Isḥāq al-Ḥaḍramī (died 735-736 CE, 117 AH). The efforts of three generations of grammarians culminated in the book of the Persian linguist Sibāwayhi (c. 760–793).

Sibawayh made a detailed and professional description of Arabic in 760 in his monumental work, Al-kitab fi al-nahw (الكتاب في النحو, The Book on Grammar). In his book he distinguished phonetics from phonology.

European vernaculars
The Irish Sanas Cormaic 'Cormac's Glossary' is Europe's first etymological and encyclopedic dictionary in any non-Classical language.

The Modistae or "speculative grammarians" in the 13th century introduced the notion of universal grammar.

In De vulgari eloquentia ("On the Eloquence of Vernacular"), Dante expanded the scope of linguistic enquiry from Latin/Greek to include the languages of the day. Other linguistic works of the same period concerning the vernaculars include the First Grammatical Treatise (Icelandic) or the Auraicept na n-Éces (Irish).

The Renaissance and Baroque period saw an intensified interest in linguistics, notably for the purpose of Bible translations by the Jesuits, and also related to philosophical speculation on philosophical languages and the origin of language.

Founding Fathers In the 1600s, Joannes Goropius Becanus was the oldest representative of Dutch linguistics. He was the first person to publish a fragment of Gothic, mainly The lord's prayer. Franciscus Juniuns, Lambert ten Kate from Amsterdam and George Hickes from England are considered to be the founding fathers of German linguistics.

Modern linguistics
Modern linguistics did not begin until the late 18th century, and the Romantic or animist theses of Johann Gottfried Herder and Johann Christoph Adelung remained influential well into the 19th century.

In the history of American linguistics, there were hundreds of Indigenous languages that were never recorded. Many of the languages were spoken, not written, and so they are now inaccessible. Under these circumstances, linguists such as Franz Boas tried to prescribe sound methodical principles for the analysis of unfamiliar languages. Boas was an influential linguist and was followed by Edward Sapir and Leonard Bloomfield.

Historical linguistics
During the 18th century conjectural history, based on a mix of linguistics and anthropology, on the topic of both the origin and progress of language and society was fashionable. These thinkers contributed to the construction of academic paradigms in which some languages were labelled "primitive" relative to the English language. Hugh Blair wrote that for Native Americans, certain motions and actions were found to convey meaning as much as what was said verbally. Around the same time, James Burnett authored a 6 volume treatise that delved more deeply into the matter of "savage languages". Other writers theorized that Native American languages were "nothing but the natural and instinctive cries of the animal" without grammatical structure. The thinkers within this paradigm connected themselves with the Greeks and Romans, viewed as the only civilized persons of the ancient world, a view articulated by Thomas Sheridan who compiled an important 18th century pronunciation dictionary: "It was to the care taken in the cultivation of their languages, that Greece and Rome, owed that splendor, which eclipsed all the other nations of the world".

In the 18th century James Burnett, Lord Monboddo analyzed numerous languages and deduced logical elements of the evolution of human languages. His thinking was interleaved with his precursive concepts of biological evolution. Some of his early concepts have been validated and are considered correct today. In his The Sanscrit Language (1786), Sir William Jones proposed that Sanskrit and Persian had resemblances to Classical Greek, Latin, Gothic, and Celtic languages. From this idea sprung the field of comparative linguistics and historical linguistics. Through the 19th century, European linguistics centered on the comparative history of the Indo-European languages, with a concern for finding their common roots and tracing their development.

In the 1820s, Wilhelm von Humboldt observed that human language was a rule-governed system, anticipating a theme that was to become central in the formal work on syntax and semantics of language in the 20th century. Of this observation he said that it allowed language to make "infinite use of finite means" (Über den Dualis, 1827). Humboldt's work is associated with the movement of Romantic linguistics, which was inspired by Naturphilosophie and Romantic science. Other notable representatives of the movement include Friedrich Schlegel and Franz Bopp.

It was only in the late 19th century that the Neogrammarian approach of Karl Brugmann and others introduced a rigid notion of sound law.

Historical linguistics also led to the emergence of the semantics and some forms of pragmatics (Nerlich, 1992; Nerlich and Clarke, 1996).

Historical linguistics continues today and linguistics have succeeded in grouping approximately 5000 languages of the world into a number of common ancestors.

Structuralism
In Europe there was a development of structural linguistics, initiated by Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss professor of Indo-European and general linguistics, whose lectures on general linguistics, published posthumously by his students, set the direction of European linguistic analysis from the 1920s on; his approach has been widely adopted in other fields under the broad term "Structuralism".

By the 20th century, the attention shifted from language change to the structure, which is governed by rules and principles. This structure turned more into grammar and by the 1920s structural linguistic, was developing into sophisticated methods of grammatical analysis.

Descriptive linguistics
During the second World War, North American linguists Leonard Bloomfield, William Mandeville Austin and several of his students and colleagues developed teaching materials for a variety of languages whose knowledge was needed for the war effort. This work led to an increasing prominence of the field of linguistics, which became a recognized discipline in most American universities only after the war.

In 1965, William Stokoe, Carl G. Croneberg, and Dorothy C. Casterline linguists from Gallaudet University published an analysis which proved that American Sign Language fits the criteria for a natural language.

Other subfields
From roughly 1980 onwards, pragmatic, functional, and cognitive approaches have steadily gained ground, both in the United States and in Europe.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: History of linguistics


text:
Theoretical linguistics

Theoretical linguistics is a term in linguistics that, like the related term general linguistics, can be understood in different ways. Both can be taken as a reference to the theory of language, or the branch of linguistics that inquires into the nature of language and seeks to answer fundamental questions as to what language is, or what the common ground of all languages is. The goal of theoretical linguistics can also be the construction of a general theoretical framework for the description of language.

Another use of the term depends on the organisation of linguistics into different sub-fields. The term theoretical linguistics is commonly juxtaposed with applied linguistics. This perspective implies that the aspiring language professional, e.g. a student, must first learn the theory i.e. properties of the linguistic system, or what Ferdinand de Saussure called internal linguistics. This is followed by practice, or studies in the applied field. The dichotomy is not fully unproblematic because language pedagogy, language technology and other aspects of applied linguistics also include theory.

Similarly, the term general linguistics is used to distinguish core linguistics from other types of study. However, because college and university linguistics is largely distributed with the institutes and departments of a relatively small number of national languages, some larger universities also offer courses and research programmes in 'general linguistics' which may cover exotic and minority languages, cross-linguistic studies and various other topics outside the scope of the main philological departments.

Fields of linguistics proper
When the concept of theoretical linguistics is taken to refer to core or internal linguistics, it means the study of the parts of the language system. This traditionally means phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Pragmatics and discourse can also be included; delimitation varies between institutions. Furthermore, Saussure's definition of general linguistics consists of the dichotomy of synchronic and diachronic linguistics, thus including historical linguistics as a core issue.

Linguistic theories
There are various frameworks of linguistic theory which include a general theory of language and a general theory of linguistic description. Current humanistic approaches include theories within structural linguistics and functional linguistics. In addition to the humanistic approaches of structural linguistics and functional linguistics, the field of theoretical linguistics encompasses other frameworks and perspectives. Evolutionary linguistics is one such framework that investigates the origins and development of language from an evolutionary and cognitive perspective. It incorporates various models within generative grammar, which seeks to explain language structure through formal rules and transformations. Cognitive linguistics and cognitive approaches to grammar, on the other hand, focuses on the relationship between language and cognition, exploring how language reflects and influences our thought processes.

title: Theoretical linguistics