In:The Loss of Primordial Language and the Future of National Languages
Edited by Irene Capdevila and Francesc Feliu
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 47] 2026
► pp. 250–260
L’aportació de Modest Prats a la Història de la llengua catalana
Article language: Catalan
Published online: 23 March 2026
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.47.16nic
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.47.16nic
Abstract
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death, this work undertakes an assessment of the
contribution of catalan professor Modest Prats to the discipline of language history. Apart from some aspects of his
personality, it explains why his project, only partially carried out, of an university manual on the History of the
Catalan language, in collaboration with Josep Maria Nadal, represented an epistemic break with respect to previous
works in this sphere, some of them of a sporadic nature on specific aspects, others of a very generic nature. The
historical-linguistic discourse that the author builds in his works and the underlying ideology are also analyzed in
detail. In short, this work reflects on the fact that linguistic history is a field in which, clearly, the development
of the discipline elaborates, develops and outlines the object of study itself. This explains the transcendence of the
academic labour of Prats in favor of the history of the Catalan language.
Article outline
- 1.Preàmbul
- 2.El perfil humà: Del context a la Paraula
- 3.La creació de l’objecte d’estudi
- 4.Els fonaments ideològics
- 5.El discurs de la història lingüística
- 6.Conclusions
Note Bibliografia
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