The concept of philology seems awkward and obsolete nowadays and, therefore, we cannot bring it back into use without endowing it with an explicit and positive programme. The author’s programme is a consciously structuralist one, based on the polarity between language as an abstract sign system and concrete texts (including utterances) as sign formations. Signs are studied by oppositional differentiation, which leads, when applied to the abstract system of language, to their meaning, and when applied to concrete texts, to their sense. Meaning and sense are values philology must never cease searching for, while philologists must always be aware that the abstract system of language is (i) an intellectual construction only, whereas concrete texts are real, and (ii) the key to understanding any concrete text. The different size of linguistic signs is recognized and taken into consideration: not only morphemes, but also sentences are signs. Even concrete texts themselves may at least in one aspect be conceived of as signs, for they are also studied by oppositional differentiation. Since the value of a sign depends on the definitional domain of the other signs to which it is compared, a concrete text, be it a historical document or a poetic work, is not graspable if not read oppositionally in contrast to others. Yet, definitional domains of texts do not exist by themselves as natural phenomena. They are created by philologists who are responsible for their own choices. This will be illustrated, in a further paper, by a new esquisse of historical Baltic philology.
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On the basis of the collection 'The Study of Language and the Politics of Community in Global Context' (edited by D. L. Hoyt and K. Oslund), the reviewe reflects on the phenomenon of philology, an aspiring discipline of scholarship, which oftentimes exchanged research for becoming a branch of national politics. The abandonment of objectivity as the highest ideal in the study of language began in the early 19th century when language was fashioned into an instrument of politics, and nationhood and statehood legitimization. In this scheme of things philologists easily became politicians, and numerous statesmen desired to be recognized as linguists in their own right. This politicization of linguistics continues to this day, especially in Eurasia (where ethnic nationalism seems to be the norm of state-building), but not only.
One of the most famous satirical works by M. Y. Saltykov-Shchedrin is a collection of fairy tales. Despite of their popularity, not only in Russia, but also abroad, fairy tales are still little-studied. The vast majority of studies devoted to this work are of general nature and have an ideological coloration. Proceeding from these facts, the researcher set out to determine the original character of the language of Saltykov-Shchedrin´s fairy tales, which is a one of the most important element of his sharp satire.
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The article deals with German studies as a scholarly pursuit and, at the same time, one of the national philologies in the Czech Lands reflecting their social, cultural and political development. It also describes the position of German studies in the 100-year history of the journal as the most important German studies representatives, such as Josef Janko, Hugo Siebenschein, Eduard Goldstuecker, Jaromir Povejsil and Alena Simeckova, have been among its leading editors and authors since 1911, publishing on various topics concerning the German language and literature.
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The article attempts to portray the life and work of Pavel Trost, the oldest among the first generation of the distinguished disciples of the Prague Linguistic Circle, as a linguist, literary scholar, university professor and philologist. Surveying the principal areas of Trost’s academic interest – German and Baltic philology, historical linguistics, onomatology, contact linguistics, stylistics, etymology, German and Czech medieval literature –, as well as his method, style and major achievements, the portrayal presents Trost’s scholarly programme as one based on what might be characterized as holistic philology, guided by, and drawing upon, what Trost himself described as “the great unifying power of language”.
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The paper outlines the close relationship between the journal and the history of English studies in this country, reviewing not only the contributions by the leading Czech scholars in the fields of English language (Mathesius, Trnka, Vachek, Nosek, Poldauf, et al.) and literature (e.g. Chudoba, Vocadlo, Wellek, Vancura, Stribrny), but also noting nearly all papers related to English studies that have appeared in the journal up to the present.
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