理性主义在语言学史中的地位

从古希腊关于语言起源的“名实之争”,到17、18世纪经验主义和理性主义关于“语言天赋论”的不同观点,再到当代美国结构主义和生成语言学派之间的对立,理性主义作为一种哲学思想始终贯穿于西方语言学史的发展历程中。如果以理性主义的视角梳理西方语言学的发展脉络,探讨理性主义在语言学史发展中的地位就会发现,理性主义使语言学成为了一门独立的学科,进而又成为一门领先的学科,影响着其他学科的发展。

The Role of Rationalism in Linguistic History

From the controversy concerning "form and meaning" in the origin of language in ancient Greece to the different views about "language innateness" between empiricism and rationalism in the 17th and 18th century,up to the conflicts between American structuralisim and generative linguistics in modern time,"rationalism" as a philosophical view has undergone the process of western linguistic development.This paper attempts to review the western linguistic history from the angle of rationalism and explore the role of rationalism in the development history of linguistics.It is concluded that linguistics has become a separate subject,and further an advanced subject influencing other subjects owing to rationalism.