New books

The author explores the style of linguistic work of the early 20th century, the role of the city‘s multi-cultural society in the inception of the Prague Linguistic Circle, its links to the avantgarde movement and the impact of modernist cultural ideals on linguistics, partly through the intellectual biographies of Vilem Mathesius, Roman Jakobson and Nikolay S. Trubetzkoy. They demonstrate the extent to which the ideals of collective work, knowledge synthesis and an emphasis on the societal obligation towards linguistics influenced their work. Other chapters depict the development of Prague phonology and the theory of linguistic culture. The monograph was originally published in English (MIT Press, 1995, synopsis). The Czech translation includes the author’s retrospective essay and an updated bibliography.