michaelaubrey Greek

How to understand the history of Greek linguistics

I’ve been a subscriber to the History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences Podcast for a couple years now. I only realized today that I have never promoted it.

If you are someone coming from biblical studies and are interested in learning more about linguistics, the history of linguistics and the ways that it interweaves with the history of Classical languages, like Greek & Latin, should be of great interest to you in any case. Your grammar of Greek, especially, is deeply embedded in and dependent on the linguistic research of the past. You deserve to know where your grammars came from.

But the history linguistics is also invaluable for understanding what is happening now. Why does Generative Grammar look the way it does? Why does System Functional Linguistics organize itself with so many pluses, minuses, and arrows? Why did New Testament Greek grammar stop engaging with linguistics so completely after World War I until the end of the 20th century?

The history of linguistics can provide answers to these questions. And the History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences Podcast continues to provide excellent surveys of books, research, and people in the development of our field.