The Prague Circle
Andrew Heartquist Period 6 Pierce
Prague Linguistic Circle (Prague School)
- Prague was considered to be the "isle of democracy and freedom in Central Europe"
- The Prague Circle was a loosely knit group of German-Jewish literary critics and linguists.
- The first meeting of the Prague Circle was on October 6, 1926, when a young German scholar, Dr. Henrik Becker, gave a lecture.
- Started in Prague, which was in Czechoslovakia, a country that was formed after World War I in 1918.
- They were brought together by a common desire for a new approach to linguistics.
- The Prague Circle was a very influential linguistic group until World War II.
Roman Osipovich Jakobson
Nikolay Sergeyevich Trubetskoy
Jan Mukařovský
Important Members of the Prague Linguistic Circle
- Vilém Mathesius - The first president of the Prague Circle
- Franz Kafka - German writer considered today to be the most important member of the Prague Circle
- René Wellek - Early member of the Circle helped spread their way of linguistics to America
- Roman Osipovich Jakobson - Russian thinker who helped form the Moscow Linguistic Circle before moving to Prague.
- Nikolay Sergeyevich Trubetskoy - Russian linguist, son of a prince/philosopher.
- Jan Mukařovský - Professor at Charles University of Prague
Historical Significance
- The Prague Circle influenced a new way of linguistics across the globe.
- Played a large part in the culture of Prague.
- Their approach to linguistics was a way of studying the function of speech sounds that could be applied to a language that exists or a language as it changes.
Works Cited
"Prague Linguistic Circle." - New World Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Prague_Linguistic_Circle>.
"Prague Linguistics - Linguistique De Prague." About Prague Linguistic Circle. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://www.praguelinguistics.org/en/about>.
"Short History of the Prague Linguist Circle."Http://web.iol.cz/alesvo/vyuka/Short_History_PLC.pdf. N.p., n.d. Web. Sept.-Oct. 2012.
"Kalendárium." Radio Praha. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://www.radio.cz/cz/rubrika/Kalendarium/kalendarium-2010-04-17>.