Linguistics in Britain: Personal Histories

This landmark volume provides a fascinating overview of the evolution of the discipline of linguistics in Britain since the end of the Second World War. It consists of a series of ‘linguistic autobiographies' by 23 British linguists who played a major role in the development of the subject during the second half of the twentieth century.

Commissioned by the Council of the Philological Society, contributors look back over the achievements of British linguistics in the previous 50 years. They reflect on how and why they went into linguistics, what branches of the subject attracted them, what formative influences they were exposed to, and how they reacted to them. They also consider the role they personally played in the intellectual and institutional development of the subject.