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Article published In: Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 31:1 (2004) ► pp.105–136

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Leonard Bloomfield

Linguistics and mathematics

 | Downing College, Cambridge
Published online: 30 July 2004
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.31.1.06tom
Summary
This paper considers various aspects of Leonard Bloomfield’s (1887–1949) interest in contemporaneous mathematics. Specifically, some of the sources from which he obtained his mathematical knowledge are discussed, as are his own proposals for a linguistics-based solution to the foundations crisis which preoccupied leading mathematicians during the first half of the 20th century. In addition, his attitude towards the role of meaning in linguistic theory is reassessed in the light of his knowledge of Hilbertian Formalism.
Résumé
Cet article discute divers aspects de l’intérêt que portait Leonard Bloomfield (1887–1949) pour les mathématiques de son époque. Plus précisément, on y traitera de certaines des sources d’où il obtint ses connaissances en mathématiques. On y traitera également de ses propres propositions (tirées de la linguistique) visant à résoudre la crise des fondations qui préoccupait nombre d’illustres mathématiciens au cours de la première moitié du XXe siècle. De plus, on reverra son point de vue quant au rôle du sens en linguistique théorique à la lumière de sa connaissance du formalisme d’Hilbert.
Zusammenfassung
Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht verschiedenen Aspeckte von Leonard Bloomfields (1887–1949) Interesse an der zeitgenössischen Mathematik. Insbesonders werden einige Quellen diskutiert, von denen er mathematische Kenntnisse erworben hatte, aber auch seine eigenen Vorschläge zur einer auf der Linguistik basierenden Lösung der Krise der Grundlagen der Mathematik, die führende Wissenschaftler in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts vornehmlich beschäftigte. Darüber hinaus wird Bloomfields Haltung gegenüber der Rolle der Bedeutung in der Sprachtheorie im Lichte seiner Kenntnis des hilbertischen Formalismus neu bewertet.
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