200 Years of Syntax
A Critical Survey

Argues against the opinion that very few syntactic studies were carried out before the 1950s. Relying on the analysis of original sources, it shows that syntactic matters were in fact carefully investigated throughout both the 19th century and during the first half of the 20th century.

This work argues against the widespread opinion that very few syntactic studies were carried out before the 1950s. Relying on the detailed analysis of a large amount of original sources, it shows that syntactic matters were in fact carefully investigated throughout both the 19th century and during the first half of the 20th century. Moreover, it illustrates how the enormous development of syntactic research since 1950 has already condemned even several recent ideas and analyses to oblivion, and deeply influenced current research programmes. The wealth of research undertaken since the early 19th century is presented here in a systematic way, taking as its starting point the relationship of syntax with psychology throughout this period. The critical ideas expressed in the text are based on a detailed illustration of the different syntactic models and analyses rather than on the polemics between the different schools.

Part 1 Introduction: "history of linguistic science" and "history of linguistic thought"
syntax and psychology -vicissitudes of a relationship
overall design of the volume. Part 2 The age of psychologism in linguistics: the rise and fall of "psychologistic" syntax
"what is syntax?"
the analyses of the sentence and of the word groups. Part 3 The age of structural linguistics: the role of syntax in the structuralist systems
structuralist approaches to sentence analysis
the techniques of syntactic description. Part 4 The age of syntactic theories: the shaping of syntactic theories
different views of syntax
the "Chomskian programme".