In the footsteps of Morris Swadesh: in search of ‘total’ linguistics

Abstract

The notion of “antecedents” in the historiography of linguistics calls for a number of observations, concerning, e.g., the relevance and the justification of any reference to ‘precursors’. An even more interesting question concerns the motivation underlying the identification of ‘antecedents’. Basically, the reference to antecedents implies some kind of ‘association’, a type of ‘solidarity’ with ideas, techniques, projects formulated in the past. While this ‘association’ or ‘solidarity’ may seem a purely subjective affair, upon close inspection one detects an ‘objective foundation’, in the form of cognitive elements that appear in techniques, methods or models identified as methodological, or epistemological, antecedents. These objective cognitive elements gain in significance when they are tied up with views on the general nature of language, seen in its broader social and cultural context. An ‘inspiring antecedent’ in this respect is Morris (Mauricio) Swadesh, a student of Edward Sapir, who became one of the leading linguists in the second quarter of the 20th century. Although he is probably better (or best) known for his “technical”, “theoretical”, and “methodological” contributions and innovations –the phonemic principle; the morphophoneme as a solution for phonological alternations; glottochronology or lexicostatistics–, his most inspiring ideas can be found in two of his more general works (written in Spanish) on linguistics, La nueva filología and El lenguaje y la vida humana.