Article published In: Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 19:1 (1992) ► pp.111–143
Paul Hanly Furfey and the origins of American sociolinguistics
Published online: 1 January 1992
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.19.1.07jos
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.19.1.07jos
Summary
Although his contributions to the study of language are now all but forgotten, Catholic University of America sociologist Paul Hanly Furfey (b. 1896) gave the first known courses on the Sociology of Language starting in 1943. In 1944, he published articles on language and social class, men’s and women’s language, and the Bloomfieldian method of linguistic analysis, and in the early 1950s, he directed the joint dissertation of two of the very first urban dialect researchers to undertake work sufficiently systematic and socially oriented to merit the designation ‘sociolinguistic’ (Putnam & O’Hern 1955). This article surveys Furfey’s career as well as the work of many other pre-1960 contributors to sociolinguistics, notably in North America, most of which fell into oblivion following the great success of William Labov.
Résumé
Bien que ses ouvrages de linguistique soient aujourd’hui presque oubliés, c’est Paul Hanly Furfey (né en 1896), sociologue de l’Université Catholique d’Amérique, qui a donné dès 1943 les premiers cours de Sociologie du langage. En 1944, il fit publier des articles sur la langue et la classe sociale, le langage des hommes et celui des femmes, et la linguistique bloomfieldienne. Au début des années 50 il dirigea les premières thèses de doctorat dans le domaine des études dialectales jugées assez systematiques et d’une porté sociale pour mériter l’appellation ‘sociolinguistique’ (Putnam & O’Hern 1955). Dans cet article il s’agit aussi bien de la carrière de Furfey que des autres ouvrages ‘proto-sociolinguistiques’ d’avant 1960, dont la plupart sont tombés dans l’oubli depuis l’énorme succès de William Labov.
Zusammenfassung
Obschon sein Beitrag zum Studium der Sprache heute fast völlig vergessen ist, so steht doch fest, daß der Soziologe der Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Paul Hanly Furfey (b.1896), beginnend im Jahre 1943 die ersten Vorlesungen zur Soziologie der Sprache abgehalten hat. Im Jahre 1944 veröffentlichte er Artikel über Sprache und soziale Klasse, Männer- und Frauensprache und die Bloomfieldische Methode der Sprachanalyse. Während der frühen 50er Jahre leitete er zwei Dissertationen, die wohl die ersten Dialektforschungen darstellen, die hinreichend systematisch und sozial orientiert waren, um die Bezeichnung ‘soziolinguistisch’ zu verdienen (Putnam & O’Hern 1955). Der gegenwärtige Aufsatz bietet einen Überblick über Furfeys wissenschaftliche Laufbahn und über viele (vornehmlich nordamerikanische) Beiträge vor 1960, von denen die meisten nach dem großen Erfolg von William Labov in Vergessenheit geraten sind.
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