The Fundamentals of Language

Book Review

By: Roman Jacobson
Morris Halle

Possibly no other book had such an impact on the fundamentals that govern language and other human sciences, than the small-sized book by Jacobson and Halle "The Fundamentals of Language". Although it contains just two articles, the book is recognized for its intensive language wherein each sentence reveals a potentially evolvable complete project. Its first chapter remains a wealthy source of theories of phonology and phonemics inventory for linguists and researchers; while the second chapter inspired the Structuralism and post-structuralism theorists to develop several theses and schools in psychology, rhetoric and literary criticism. It is worth noting that the second article contains the roots of Jacques Lacannes’ opinions on metaphors, Northrob Fray’s theory (The Three Phases of Language) and Roland Bart’s System of Food & Clothing. In fact, David Louge explains this short article in his book "Methods of Modern Writing: Metaphor, Metonymy and Archetypes of Modern Literature”.

With its small size, "The Fundamentals of Language" provides an exceptionally exciting presentation in a new and courageous attempt to organize the diversity in linguistic phenomena.

Romantic philology
University of California, Berkley

About the Authors

Roman Jakobson

(1896 – 1982) an American linguist and literary critic of Russian origin, he was a professor in several renowned universities. Together with Nikolai Trubetzkoi, he founded the Prague School of linguistic theory. He is renowned for his theories in linguistics and literature, notably “Distinctive Features”, and his theory on the two axes of selection and composition, the structure of poetry. His famous works include "Six Lectures on Sound and Meaning", "Fundamentals of Language", "The Framework of Language", "Articles on General Linguistics" ... etc.

Moris Halle

A Latvian-American linguist, famous for his studies in Latvic and Slavic languages as well as Linguistics. His famous works include "The Fundamentals of Language" with Robert Jakobson and "The Sound Pattern of the English Language" with Noam Chomsky. He was a professor of linguistics at Harvard and Colombia universities and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He retired in 1996.

About the Translator

Saeed Al Ghanmy

An Iraqi author residing in Australia with more than thirty books both as an author and a translator.

His works:

“The Masks of Script”, “Treasure and Realization”, “The Logic of Poetic Revelation”, “Hundred years of Critical Thought”, “The Babeleon Gospel”, and “ The Tales Treasury”

His translations:

"Sands" by Jorge Luis Borges
“Symiology and Interpretation” by Robert Schwitz
“Blindness and Insight” by Paul de mann
“Time and Narrative” by Paul Riceur
“Arabs and the Golden Bough” by Jaroslav Stetkevych
“Norwegian woods” by Haruki Murakami
“Mind, Language and Reality” by John Serale

Under Publication

"An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy" by Armstrong (translation), "Babylon", (translation), "The Language Mine: The Old Age of Arabic Literature" (author)