The Systemic View as a Basis for Philological Thought

Reviews / Votes

It is difficult to say whether this book is 'an outstanding contribution to modern linguistics.' But! It is very interesting, very useful, and...highly systemic. The systemic approach to the study of language and linguistic identity is the idea that permeates all parts of the monograph. This would sound very banal if the system were understood only as a set of units connected with each other by certain types of relations. The authors of the monograph 'animate' and 'humanize' the language system, viewing it throughout as a continuously changing object. The causes and conditions of such changes also enter into their research. -- Igor V. Ruzhitsky, Lomonosov Moscow State University The Systemic View as a Basis for Philological Thought is a mile-stone achievement of Russian scholars based at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (Moscow) who propound the ideas of the systemic approach to language phenomena. Premised on the ever-lasting traditions of Wilhelm von Humboldt, Jan Niecislaw Baudouin de Courtenay, Ivan Meshchaninov, the authors pay tribute to the legacy of Gennadii Prokop'evich Mel'nikov (1928-2000), the founder of systemic linguistics which has many supporters both in Russia and West Europe. The discussion of different themes and problems sheds light on their typological aspects, the connection of language and speaker, the poetics of text, and other both traditional and innovative topical areas. Offering a non-orthodox perspective on human language in its manyfold manifestations, this book will find its grateful readership across linguistic borders. -- Volodymyr Dubichynskyi, University of Warsaw