Description: "At last, a general history of linguistic thought that makes the subject interesting, relevant, and even exciting. Seuren sails between Scylia and Charybdis: he does not let a commitment to pre-20th century work lead him into dullness and irrelevance, yet he does not let an enthusiasm for post-1957 work drive him into a chronicling of ephemeral recent trends. His book is philosophically informed yet solidly about linguistics; scholarly yet accessible; good-humoured without being patronizing; provocative and yet reliable. It is a remarkable contribution to the field. Every graduate student in linguistics should get to know it, and so should anyone with a serious interest in the history or philosophy of linguistics." - Geoffrey K. Pullum , University of California, Santa Cruz "Peter Seuren's History of Western Linguistics is an excellent survey of the subject, ranging from Greek antiquity to the present day. It distinguishes itself substantially from related works currently available in its expert concern for the philosophical tradition, in the particular attention paid to the history of semantics, and in the manner in which these two are brought to bear on the development of grammatical theory in the twentieth century. Written in a lively and accessible style, it will be attractive to the general reader as well as to those specialising in the history of linguistics." - David Cram , Jesus College, University of Oxford " Western Linguistics is to be considered an important work, demonstrating a vast knowledge in the field of linguistics as well as in those of philosophy and methodology." - Flip G. Drost , University of Leuven

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