LINGUISTICS AND ITS GENEALOGIES

Abstract

We propose to present and discuss the historical discourses related to the emergence of Linguistics, problematizing the idea of a unique founding narrative. The discussion is anchored in distinct perspectives about the emergence and consolidation of Linguistics, as the works of Saussure and Camara Jr. – representatives of a structural approach to language; of Labov, representing an approach to social change from both structural and social perspectives; and of Voloshinov/Bakhtin – representing a sociological/philosophical perspective. Such perspectives have a wide circulation in the Brazilian academic context. In addition to revealing elements that characterize the different approaches and also the elements that bring them closer together, we seek to bring contributions from authors who are often invisible, such as William Jones, Jespersen, Humboldt and Whitney. This article relativizes foundational discourses in the light of a more extensive, plural and compared genealogical historicity. In line with this, the question of paternity in Linguistics is also problematized.