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Paul Jules Antoine Meillet (; 11 November 1866 Moulins, France – 21 September 1936
Châteaumeillant Châteaumeillant (; oc, label=Auvergnat, Chastèlmelhan) is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Geography An area of winegrowing, farming and forestry comprising a small town and several hamlets situa ...
, France) was one of the most important French linguists of the early 20th century. He began his studies at the
Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sor ...
, where he was influenced by
Michel Bréal Michel Jules Alfred Bréal (; 26 March 183225 November 1915), French philologist, was born at Landau in Rhenish Palatinate. He is often identified as a founder of modern semantics. Life and career Michel Bréal was born at Landau in Germany ...
, Ferdinand de Saussure and the members of the '' L'Année Sociologique''. In 1890, he was part of a research trip to the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
, where he studied the
Armenian language Armenian ( classical: , reformed: , , ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is the official language of Armenia. Historically spoken in the Armenian Highlands, today Armenian is widely spoken t ...
. After his return, de Saussure had gone back to
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
so he continued the series of lectures on comparative linguistics that the
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...
linguist had given. Meillet completed his doctorate, ''Research on the Use of the Genitive-Accusative in Old Slavonic'', in 1897. In 1902, he took a chair in Armenian at the
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales ( en, National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French university specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. ...
and took under his wing
Hrachia Adjarian Hrachia Acharian ( hy, Հրաչեայ Աճառեան, reformed spelling: Հրաչյա Աճառյան ; 8 March 1876 – 16 April 1953) was an Armenian linguist, lexicographer, etymologist, and philologist. An Istanbul Armenian, Acharian stud ...
, who would become the founder of modern Armenian dialectology. In 1905, he was elected to the
Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...
, where he taught on the history and structure of
Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
. One of his most-quoted statements is that "anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant". He worked closely with linguists
Paul Pelliot Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French Sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and his discovery of many important Chinese texts such as the Dunhuang manuscripts. Early life and career ...
and
Robert Gauthiot Robert Edmond Gauthiot (13 June 1876, Paris – 11 September 1916, Paris) was a French Orientalist, linguist and explorer. Born in Paris, he became, in 1909, a member of the Société Asiatique and met Paul Pelliot. Together, they translated the S ...
. Today Meillet is remembered as the mentor of an entire generation of linguists and
philologists Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...
, who would become central to French linguistics in the twentieth century, such as
Émile Benveniste Émile Benveniste (; 27 May 1902 – 3 October 1976) was a French structural linguist and semiotician. He is best known for his work on Indo-European languages and his critical reformulation of the linguistic paradigm established by Ferdinand ...
, Georges Dumézil, and André Martinet. In 1921, with the help of linguists Paul Boyer and , he founded the ''
Revue des études slaves The ''Revue des études slaves'' is a journal of Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature ...
''


Historical linguistics

Today, Meillet is known for his contribution to
historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: # to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages # ...
. He is notable for having coined and formalized the concept of '' grammaticalisation'' (influential but still controversial today) to denote what he viewed as the process of innovation by which autonomous words ended up as "grammatical agents". Subsequent to the further development and popularization of the concept by
Jerzy Kuryłowicz Jerzy Kuryłowicz (; 26 August 1895 – 28 January 1978) was a Polish linguist who studied Indo-European languages. Life Born in Stanislawow, Austria-Hungary. He was a Polish historical linguist, structuralist and language theoretician, deeply i ...
and further development in the late 20th century, it would become a significant element of
functionalist linguistics Functional linguistics is an approach to the study of language characterized by taking systematically into account the speaker's and the hearer's side, and the communicative needs of the speaker and of the given language community. Linguistic fun ...
.


Homeric studies

At the Sorbonne, from 1924, Meillet supervised
Milman Parry Milman Parry (June 23, 1902 – December 3, 1935) was an American Classicist whose theories on the origin of Homer's works have revolutionized Homeric studies to such a fundamental degree that he has been described as the " Darwin of Homeric ...
. In 1923, a year before Parry began his studies with Meillet, the latter wrote the following (which, in the first of his two French theses, Parry quotes): Meillet offered the opinion that
oral-formulaic composition Oral-formulaic composition is a theory that originated in the scholarly study of epic poetry and developed in the second quarter of the twentieth century. It seeks to explain two related issues: # the process by which oral poets improvise poetry # ...
might be a distinctive feature of orally transmitted epics (which the ''
Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...
'' was said to be). He suggested to Parry that he observe the mechanics of a living
oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985 ...
to confirm whether that suggestion was valid; he also introduced Parry to the
Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...
scholar
Matija Murko Matija Murko, also known as Mathias Murko (10 February 1861 – 11 February 1952), was a Slovenian scholar, known mostly for his work on oral epic traditions in Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian. Life Murko was born in the small village of Drs ...
, who had written extensively about the heroic epic tradition in
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
and particularly in Bosnia with the help of phonograph recordings. From Parry's resulting research in Bosnia, the records of which are now housed at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, he and his student
Albert Lord Albert Bates Lord (15 September 1912 – 29 July 1991) was a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard University who, after the death of his mentor Milman Parry, carried on Parry's research on epic poetry. Early life Lord was bor ...
revolutionized
Homeric scholarship Homeric scholarship is the study of any Homeric topic, especially the two large surviving epics, the '' Iliad'' and '' Odyssey''. It is currently part of the academic discipline of classical studies. The subject is one of the oldest in scholarsh ...
.


Language controversies

Meillet has been accused of meddling politics with his observation of languages. He had negative views on German and especially on Hungarian. Hungarian, he claimed, was too difficult a language full of loanwords and not capable of being a culture bearer (in a way that he claimed other Finno-Ugric languages were unable to become such). His views on Hungarian provoked a critical response from the Hungarian writer
Dezső Kosztolányi Dezső Kosztolányi (; March 29, 1885 – November 3, 1936) was a Hungarian writer, journalist, translator and also a speaker of Esperanto. He wrote in all literary genres, from poetry to essays to theatre plays. Building his own style, he used ...
.


International languages

Meillet supported the use of an international auxiliary language. In his book ''
La Ricerca della Lingua Perfetta nella Cultura Europea ''La ricerca della lingua perfetta nella cultura europea'' (''The Search for the Perfect Language (the Making of Europe)''; trans. James Fentress) is a 1993 book by Umberto Eco about attempts to devise an ideal language. The writing is essayistic ...
'' ("The Pursuit of the Perfect Language in the Culture of Europe"),
Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel ''The Name of th ...
cites Meillet as saying, "Any kind of theoretical discussion is useless,
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
is functioning". In addition, Meillet was a consultant with the
International Auxiliary Language Association The International Auxiliary Language Association, Inc. (IALA) was an American organisation founded in 1924 to "promote widespread study, discussion and publicity of all questions involved in the establishment of an auxiliary language, together wi ...
, which presented
Interlingua Interlingua (; ISO 639 language codes ia, ina) is an international auxiliary language (IAL) developed between 1937 and 1951 by the American International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). It ranks among the most widely used IALs and is t ...
in 1951.


Works

*1902-05: ''Études sur l'étymologie et le vocabulaire du vieux slave''. Paris, Bouillon. *1903: ''Esquisse d'une grammaire comparée de l'arménien classique''. *1903: ''Introduction à l'étude comparative des langues indo-européennes''. *1908: ''Les dialectes indo-européens''. *1913: ''Aperçu d'une histoire de la langue grecque''. *1913: ''Altarmenisches Elementarbuch''. *1917: ''Caractères généraux des langues germaniques'' (rev. edn. 1949) *1921: ''Linguistique historique et linguistique générale''. *1923: ''Les origines indo-européennes des mètres grecs''. *1924: ''Les langues du monde'' (co-editor with
Marcel Cohen Marcel Samuel Raphaël Cohen (February 6, 1884 – November 5, 1974) was a French linguist. He was an important scholar of Semitic languages and especially of Ethiopian languages. He studied the French language and contributed much to general lingui ...
). (Collection linguistique, 16.) Paris: Champion. (2nd edn. 1952) *1924: ''Le slave commun'' *1928: ''Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine''. *1925: ''La méthode comparative en linguistique historique'' (''The comparative method in historical linguistics'' translated by Gordon B. Ford, Jr., 1966) *1932: ''Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine''.


See also

*
Meillet's law Meillet's law is a Common Slavic accent law, named after the French Indo-Europeanist Antoine Meillet, who discovered it. Overview According to the law, Slavic words have a circumflex on the root vowel (i.e., the first syllable of a word), if that ...
*
Pierre Chantraine Pierre Louis Chantraine (; 15 September 1899 – 30 June 1974) was a French linguist. He was born in Lille and died in Paris. A student of, among others, Antoine Meillet, Joseph Vendryes and Paul Mazon, Chantraine became one of the most renown ...


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meillet, Antoine Balticists 1866 births 1936 deaths Writers from Moulins, Allier French philologists Indo-Europeanists Linguists of Germanic languages Linguists of Indo-European languages Linguists from France University of Paris alumni University of Paris faculty Slavists Armenian studies scholars Scholars of Ancient Greek Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Collège de France faculty