Development and history in social science theories

pp. 9-16

in: Klaus F. Riegel, Psychology of development and history, Berlin, Springer, 1976

Abstract

Since the publication of de Saussure's lecture notes (1916), linguistics has been cut into two: synchronic linguistics, the description of a particular 'state" of a language at some "point" in time; and diachronic linguistics, the description of its historical development "through time." In deemphasizing the interdependence of these two approaches, linguistics has disregarded the human being as both the creator and the creation of language. This disregard is the result of the failure to understand individual and historical changes. The methodological, epistemological, and ideological implications of this issue may be clarified by the following examples.