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The Copenhagen School is a group of scholars dedicated to the study of
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
, centered around
Louis Hjelmslev Louis Trolle Hjelmslev (; 3 October 189930 May 1965) was a Danish linguist whose ideas formed the basis of the Copenhagen School of linguistics. Born into an academic family (his father was the mathematician Johannes Hjelmslev), Hjelmslev studi ...
(1899–1965) and the ''Linguistic Circle of Copenhagen'' ( French: ''Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague'', Danish: ''Lingvistkredsen''), founded by him and Viggo Brøndal (1887–1942). In the mid twentieth century the Copenhagen school was one of the most important centres of linguistic structuralism together with the
Geneva School The expression Geneva School refers to (1) a group of linguists based in Geneva who pioneered modern structural linguistics and (2) a group of literary theorists and critics working from a phenomenological perspective. Geneva School of Linguist ...
and the
Prague School The Prague school or Prague linguistic circle is a language and literature society. It started in 1926 as a group of linguists, philologists and literary critics in Prague. Its proponents developed methods of structuralist literary analysis and ...
. In the late 20th and early 21st century the Copenhagen school has turned from a purely structural approach to linguistics to a functionalist one, Danish functional linguistics, which nonetheless incorporates many insights from the founders of the Linguistic Circle of Copenhagen.


History

The Copenhagen School of Linguistics evolved around Louis Hjelmslev and his developing
theory of language Theory of language is a topic from philosophy of language and theoretical linguistics. It has the goal of answering the questions "What is language?"; "Why do languages have the properties they have?"; or "What is the origin of language?". Even t ...
,
glossematics Glossematics is a structuralist linguistic theory proposed by Louis Hjelmslev and Hans Jørgen Uldall although the two ultimately went separate ways each with their own approach. Hjelmslev’s theory, most notably, is an early mathematical meth ...
. Together with Viggo Brøndal he founded the ''Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague'' in 1931, a group of linguists based on the model of the
Prague Linguistic Circle The Prague school or Prague linguistic circle is a language and literature society. It started in 1926 as a group of linguists, philologists and literary critics in Prague. Its proponents developed methods of structuralist literary analysis and ...
. Within the circle the ideas of Brøndal and Hjelmslev were not always compatible. Hjelmslev’s more formalist approach attracted a group of followers, principal among them
Hans Jørgen Uldall Hans Jørgen Uldall (; 25 May 1907 Silkeborg, Denmark29 October 1957 Ibadan, Nigeria) was a Danish linguist known for developing the linguistic theory of glossematics with Louis Hjelmslev. Early life Having studied English with Danish linguis ...
and Eli Fischer-Jørgensen, who would strive to apply Hjelmslev's abstract ideas of the nature of language to analyses of actual linguistic data. Hjelmslev’s objective was to establish a framework for understanding communication as a formal system, and an important part of this was the development of precise terminology to describe the different parts of linguistic systems and their interrelatedness. The basic theoretical framework, called “
Glossematics Glossematics is a structuralist linguistic theory proposed by Louis Hjelmslev and Hans Jørgen Uldall although the two ultimately went separate ways each with their own approach. Hjelmslev’s theory, most notably, is an early mathematical meth ...
” was laid out in Hjelmslev’s two main works: ''Prolegomena to a theory of Language'' and ''Résumé of a theory of Language.'' However, since Hjelmslev's death in 1965 left his theories mostly on the programmatic level, the group that had formed around Hjelmslev and his glossematic theory dispersed—while the Copenhagen Linguistic Circle continued to exist, it was not really a "school" united by a common theoretical perspectives. In 1989, a group of members of the Copenhagen Linguistic Circle, inspired by the advances in
cognitive linguistics Cognitive linguistics is an interdisciplinary branch of linguistics, combining knowledge and research from cognitive science, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and linguistics. Models and theoretical accounts of cognitive linguistics are con ...
and the functionalist theories of Simon C. Dik founded the School of Danish Functional Grammar aiming to combine the ideas of Hjelmslev and Brøndal, and other important Danish linguists such as
Paul Diderichsen Paul Diderichsen (16 August 1905, Copenhagen9 October 1964, Copenhagen) was a Danish linguist who is known for his model of sentence structure in Danish which has been widely applied to describe the syntax of languages with fixed word order, such ...
and
Otto Jespersen Jens Otto Harry Jespersen (; 16 July 1860 – 30 April 1943) was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. Steven Mithen described him as "one of the greatest language scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth cen ...
with modern functional linguistics. Among the prominent members of this new generation of the Copenhagen School of Linguistics were Peter Harder,
Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen (; born 2 July 1952 in Svendborg) is a Danish linguist and professor of applied linguistics at the University of Copenhagen. She has contributed significantly to the description of Danish Sign Language and was the only s ...
,
Frans Gregersen Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is ''Francis''. Given name * Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diploma ...
,
Una Canger Una Canger (''née'' Una Rasmussen; born May 14, 1938) is a Danish linguist specializing in languages of Mesoamerica. She has published mostly about the Nahuatl language with a particular focus on the dialectology of Modern Nahuatl, and is consid ...
and
Michael Fortescue Michael David Fortescue (born 8 August 1946) is a British-born linguist specializing in Arctic and native North American languages, including Kalaallisut, Inuktun, Chukchi and Nitinaht. He gained his PhD in Linguistics from the University of ...
. The basic work of the school is ''Dansk Funktionel Grammatik'' (Danish Functional Grammar) by Harder (2006). Recent developments in the school include Ole Nedergaard Thomsen’s Functional Discourse
Pragmatics In linguistics and related fields, pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the in ...
. In the following the two stages of the Copenhagen School will be described as 1. The glossematic school and 2. Danish functional linguistics.


The glossematic school

Brøndal emphasised that formal properties of a system should be kept apart from its substance. Accordingly, Hjelmslev presented, as the key figure of Copenhagen School in the 1930s, a formal linguistic fundament, which was later known as
glossematics Glossematics is a structuralist linguistic theory proposed by Louis Hjelmslev and Hans Jørgen Uldall although the two ultimately went separate ways each with their own approach. Hjelmslev’s theory, most notably, is an early mathematical meth ...
(the double duality of the linguistic sign). He formulated his linguistic theory together with
Hans Jørgen Uldall Hans Jørgen Uldall (; 25 May 1907 Silkeborg, Denmark29 October 1957 Ibadan, Nigeria) was a Danish linguist known for developing the linguistic theory of glossematics with Louis Hjelmslev. Early life Having studied English with Danish linguis ...
as an attempt to analyse the expression (phonetics and grammar) and the meaning of a language on a coherent basis. He assumed that language was not the only instrument of communication (cf. the communication of deaf), and he was interested in a general theory of the signs of communication,
semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...
or
semiology Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes (semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something, ...
. More than the other schools, the Glossematic School referred to the teachings of Saussure, even though it was in many aspects connected with older traditions. Thus, it tried once more to combine logics and grammar. At any rate, Hjelmslev has taken over the psychological interpretation of the linguistic sign and thereby extended his study of the sign further than language as such. The principal ideas of the school are: * A language consists of content and expression. * A language consists of a succession and a system. * Content and expression are interconnected by commutation. * There are certain relations in the succession and the system. * There are no one-to-one correspondents between content and expression, but the signs may be divided into smaller components. Even more than Saussure, the Copenhagen School is interested in the langue rather than
parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
. It represented in a pure form the idea that language is a form and not a substance. It studied the relational system within the language on a higher level of abstraction.


Danish functional linguistics

The school of ''Danish functional linguistics'' (DFL) was developed in an attempt to combine modern functional grammar and
cognitive linguistics Cognitive linguistics is an interdisciplinary branch of linguistics, combining knowledge and research from cognitive science, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and linguistics. Models and theoretical accounts of cognitive linguistics are con ...
with the best ideas and concepts of the earlier structuralist school. Like Hjelmslev and Saussure, the approach insists on the basic structural division of communication in planes of content and expression. Like Simon Dik and functionalist grammarians, Danish functionalists also insist that language is fundamentally a means of communication between humans and is best understood and analysed through its communicative function. When analysing linguistic utterances, the content and expression planes are analysed separately, with the expression plane being analysed through traditional structural methods and the content plane being analysed mostly through methods from
semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comp ...
and
pragmatics In linguistics and related fields, pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the in ...
. However, it is assumed that structures on the expression plane mirror structures on the content plane. This can be seen in the parallelism between the structure of Danish sentences as described by the structural syntactic model of
Paul Diderichsen Paul Diderichsen (16 August 1905, Copenhagen9 October 1964, Copenhagen) was a Danish linguist who is known for his model of sentence structure in Danish which has been widely applied to describe the syntax of languages with fixed word order, such ...
dividing utterances into three basic fields: a foundation field, a nexus field and a content field; and the pragmatic structure of utterances that often uses the foundation field for discourse pragmatic functions, the nexus field for illocutionary functions and the content field for the linguistic message. Danish functionalists assume that an utterance is not to be analysed from the minimal units and up, but rather from the maximal units and down, because speakers begin the construction of utterances by choosing what to say in a given situation, then by choosing the words to use and finally by building the sentence by means of sounds. An example of a two planed analysis is given below in the analysis of the utterance "The book hasn't been read by anyone for a while". The Expression plane consists of "the book" which is a noun phrase with a determiner, a finite verb with a negational adverb "hasn't", and a passive verbal phrase "been read" with an agent "by anyone" and a time adverb "for a while". On the content plane "the book" has the function of topic of the utterance, that which the sentence is about and which links it to the larger discourse, the function of "hasn't" is to state the illocutionary force of the declarative utterance, and the predicate is the message "hasn't been read by anyone for a while" which is intended to be communicated. An example of a descriptive work within Danish functional linguistics is the 2011 grammar of Danish by Erik Hansen & Lars Heltoft, ''Grammatik over det Danske Sprog'' (Grammar over the Danish Language).


Notes


Bibliography

* Harder, Peter (2006): “''Funktionel lingvistik — eksemplificeret ved dansk funktionel lingvistik''”. NyS 34/35. 92-130. (Multivers. Det akademiske Forlag.) * Harder, Peter. ''Dansk funktionel Lingvistik: en Introduktion'

* Engberg-Pedersen, Elisabeth;
Michael Fortescue Michael David Fortescue (born 8 August 1946) is a British-born linguist specializing in Arctic and native North American languages, including Kalaallisut, Inuktun, Chukchi and Nitinaht. He gained his PhD in Linguistics from the University of ...
; Peter Harder; Lars Heltoft; Lisbeth Falster Jakobsen (eds.). (1996) ''Content, expression and structure: studies in Danish functional grammar''. John Benjamins Publishing Company. * Harder, Peter. (1996) ''Functional Semantics: A Theory of Meaning, Structure and Tense in English''. (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 87). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.


External links


Official page of the Linguistic Circle of Copenhagen at the University of Copenhagen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copenhagen School Structuralism Linguistics organizations Schools of linguistics