The Modistae (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for Modists), also known as the speculative grammarians, were the members of a school of
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...
ian philosophy known as Modism or speculative grammar, active in northern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, and
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
in the 13th and 14th centuries. Their influence was felt much less in the southern part of Europe, where the somewhat opposing tradition of the so-called "pedagogical grammar" never lost its preponderance.
History
William of Conches
William of Conches (c. 1090/1091 – c. 1155/1170s) was a French scholastic philosopher who sought to expand the bounds of Christian humanism by studying secular works of the classics and fostering empirical science. He was a prominent member ...
,
Peter Helias, and
Ralph of Beauvais
Ralph of Beauvais (fl. 1142–1182) was an English grammarian and linguist.
Born in England, Ralph moved to France no later than 1140 to study under Peter Abelard, who died in 1142. Although he was largely forgotten by the end of the Middle Ages, ...
, also referred to as speculative grammarians predate the Modist movement proper.
The Modist philosophy was first developed by
Martin of Dacia
Martin of Dacia (Martinus Dacus, Martinus de Dacia, Morten Mogensen, ca. 1240 - August 10, 1304) was a Danish scholar and theologian.
He authored ''De Modi significandi '' (ca. 1270), an influential treatise on grammar.
Biography
Morten Mo ...
(died 1304) and his colleagues in the mid-13th century, though it would rise to prominence only after its systematization by
Thomas of Erfurt decades later, in his treatise , probably written in the first decade of the 14th century. Until the early twentieth-century this work was assumed to have been authored by
John Duns Scotus
John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important ...
. Widely reproduced and commented upon in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, it remains the most complete textbook of Modist speculative grammar. The mistaken authorship arose out of the natural affinity of Erfurt's speculative grammar with Scotus's metaphysics.
Theory of modes
The philosophy of the Modistae, as indicated by their name, was based on a theory of 'modes' of meaning in language which was tripartite: modes of being (), modes of understanding (), and modes of signifying (). To the Modistae, the various
parts of speech
In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are ass ...
were viewed as representing
reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
in terms of these modes. The ''modi essendi'' are objectively existent qualities in an object of understanding, the ''modi intelligendi'' the understanding's means of representing the , and the grammar's means of representing the in language. This corresponds to Aristotle's tripartite semantic theory of ''words'' representing ''concepts'' which represent ''objects''.
Opposing
nominalism
In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are at least two main versions of nominalism. One version denies the existence of universalsthings ...
, they assumed that the analysis of the
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...
of ordinary language was the key to
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
. For the Modistae, grammatical forms, the of verbs, nouns, and adjectives, comprise the deep
ontological
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exi ...
structure of language, which objectively reflects reality. Their work predicted the concept of
universal grammar
Universal grammar (UG), in modern linguistics, is the theory of the genetic component of the language faculty, usually credited to Noam Chomsky. The basic postulate of UG is that there are innate constraints on what the grammar of a possible hu ...
, suggesting that universal grammatical rules may be extracted from all living languages.
Roger Bacon may have given the movement inspiration with his observation that all languages are built upon a common grammar, a shared foundation of ontologically anchored linguistic structures. He argued grammar is substantially the same in all languages, even though it may undergo accidental variations between languages.
Legacy
There are parallels between speculative grammar and
phenomenology
Phenomenology may refer to:
Art
* Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties
Philosophy
* Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...
, a fact that was picked up early on by
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th ce ...
, who wrote his first book, (''Duns Scotus's Doctrine of Categories and Meaning'', 1916), on Thomas of Erfurt's treatise (at that time still mistakenly attributed to Duns Scotus).
Modists
*
Martin of Dacia
Martin of Dacia (Martinus Dacus, Martinus de Dacia, Morten Mogensen, ca. 1240 - August 10, 1304) was a Danish scholar and theologian.
He authored ''De Modi significandi '' (ca. 1270), an influential treatise on grammar.
Biography
Morten Mo ...
, ''De modis significandi'' (after 1255)
*
Boetius of Dacia, ''De modis significandi sive Quaestiones super Priscianum majorem'' (c. 1270)
*
John of Dacia
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
, ''
Summa Grammatica
The ' (Latin for "Overview of Grammar"; . or ). was one of the earlier works on Latin grammar and Aristotelian logic by the medieval English philosopher Roger Bacon. It is primarily noteworthy for its exposition of a kind of universal grammar.
__ ...
'' (c. 1280)
*
Simon of Dacia
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
, ''Domus gramaticae'' (1255-1270)
*
Radulphus Brito Radulphus Brito (c. 1270 – 1320) was an influential grammarian and philosopher, based in Paris. He is usually identified as Raoul le Breton, though this is disputed by some.Confusion is possible since the contemporary (1316–1382) is also someti ...
, ''Quaestiones super Priscianum minore'' (c. 1300)
*
Thomas of Erfurt, ''Tractatus de modis significandi seu grammatica speculativa'' (before 1310)
*
Siger of Courtrai, ''Summa modorum significandi'' (1320).
See also
*
Roger Bacon's ''
Summa Grammatica
The ' (Latin for "Overview of Grammar"; . or ). was one of the earlier works on Latin grammar and Aristotelian logic by the medieval English philosopher Roger Bacon. It is primarily noteworthy for its exposition of a kind of universal grammar.
__ ...
''
*
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
's ''
De vulgari eloquentia
''De vulgari eloquentia'' (; "On eloquence in the vernacular") is the title of a Latin essay by Dante Alighieri. Although meant to consist of four books, it abruptly terminates in the middle of the second book. It was probably composed shortly aft ...
''
*
Philosophical language
References
{{reflist
Bibliography
Primary sources
* Radulphus Brito, ''Quaestiones super Priscianum minore'', ed. by Jan Pingorg and K. W. Enders, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1980.
* Thomas of Erfurt, ''Grammatica speculativa'', translated by G.L. Bursill-Hall, London: Longmans, 1972.
* Siger of Courtrai, ''Summa modorum significandi; Sophismata'' ed. by Jan Pinborg, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1977.
* Corpus Philosophorum Danicorum Medii Aevi:
** I,1-2: Johannis Daci Opera, 1955
** II: Martini de Dacia Opera, 1961
** III: Simonis Daci Opera, 1963
** IV: Boethii Daci Modi significandi, 1969.
Secondary sources
* Bursill-Hall, G. L. ''Speculative Grammars of the Middle Ages: The Doctrine of the partes orationis of the Modistae'', Approaches to Semantics, 11, Mouton: The Hague, 1971.
* Fredborg, Karin Margareta. ''Universal Grammar According to Some 12th-Century Grammarians'', in Studies in Medieval Linguistic Thought, ed. Konrad Koerner et al., Historiographia Linguistica, VII.1/2, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 1980, 69-84.
* Fredborg, Karin Margareta. ''Speculative Grammar'', in A History of Twelfth-Century Philosophy, ed. Peter Dronke, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, 177-195.
* Kelly, Louis G. ''The Mirror of Gammar. Theology, Philosophy, and the Modistae'', Philadelphia : J. Benjamins, 2002.
* Marmo, Costantino. ''A Pragmatic Approach to Language in Modism'', in ''Sprachtheorien in Spätantike und Mittelalter'', ed. Sten Ebbesen, Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1995, 169-183.
* Pinborg, Jan. ''Speculative Grammar'', in ''The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy'', Norman Kretzmann, Anthony Kenny, and Jan Pinborg (eds.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982, 254–69.
* Pinborg, Jan. ''Logik und Semantik im Mittelalter. Ein Uberblick'', Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1972.
* Pinborg, Jan. ''Radulphus Brito’s sophism on second intentions'', Vivarium, 13, 1975, 119–152,
* Rosier, Irène. ''La grammaire spéculative des Modistes'', Lille: Presses universitaires de Lille, 1983.
Grammar
Language and mysticism
Medieval literature
Medieval linguists
Medieval philosophy
History of linguistics
Philosophers of language