Timeline: An outline of the history of Linguistics

4000 BCE

Linguistics started with writing. 4000 BP

Cuneiform writing represents the earliest linguistic texts mainly of the Sumerian and Akkadian languages.

2000 BCE

Sumerian and Akkadian. 2000-1001 BC

The grammatical tradition of Sumerian was considered an isolated language since it is not related to any other type of language. That means Sumerian doesn't have roots from the language tree. -It was the language of religion and legality. -All information about Sumerian was written in clays for the teaching to foreigners. -In the oral practice people prefer Akkadian over Sumerian. Then, Sumerian was translated in Akkadian but in this case a whole text.

1000 BCE

Hindu Tradition 1000 BC - 1 BC

Sanskrit had an important and precious language for the prayers and rituals. For this reason Hindu Tradition stablished grammatical rules for the correct reading and speaking.

500 BCE

Panini the Grammarian. 500 BC

Panini studied about pronunciation the words alones as well as integrated and its respective formation.

500 BCE

Greek Linguistics. 500 BC

Language: Greek.
This linguistic tradition is based in studies about Sanskrit.
Speaking is different to writing, they needed explain Homer's epics because this only was oral (arguing).
Philosophical speculation: They asked themselves what's first Language or thinking, origin and relationship of words and meaning and so on.

500 BCE

Naturalist and conventionalist theory. 500 BC

Platon supports to the Naturalist because he believed that words had natural connection with things or shape. On the other hand, Aristotle believed was convention (arbitrary) it doesn't exist a specific relationship with this.

100 BCE

Téchne grammatike. 100 BC

Short description from Greek by Dionysius Thrax.
It contains the next subjects: Phonetics and morphology (including parts-of-speech) After, Apolonio Dyscolus studied about syntax.

27 BCE

Roman Tradition 116–27 BC

They continued with Greek linguistics studies.
Language: Latin.
Object of study focus in morphology, particularly parts-of-speech and the forms of nouns and verbs.
Syntax wasn't necessary.
Outstanding representatives: Varro Latin grammar.
Donatus (fourth century AD) and Priscan (sixth century AD)

700

Arabic and Hebrew traditions. Seventh century AD

Greatest exponent (Arabic): Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali. He wrote the first treatises on Arabic linguistics and grammar nahw focus in how to read and write Arabic words.
Saadya ben Joseph al-Fayyu5m45 produced the first grammar and dictionary of Hebrew (Afroasiatic, Israel). After, David Qimhi in his work stablished structure, etymology and identifies differences with other languages studying or commenting some bible's book.

900

Middle Ages in Europe AD 500–1400

Latin was the main language. Also the church were communicate its preaches only in Latin. Currently, Latin is still being taught.
Second language: Vernacular.

1000

Latin as foreign language.

An abbot in Britain teaches to children about the use, organization structures and basic principles of Latin grammar.
Vernacular languages were exposed similar to Latin shape.

1200

The first grammatical treatise. Twelfth century

Theory: The notion of the universal nature of grammar.
Bacon thought the grammar in the languages had the same structure, he defined the variations like incidental and shallow.
The Icelandic author wrote treatise. It was really important in the phonetic and phonology field. It based in the next studies:
*Orthographic reform.
*Description of Icelandic phonology.
*Differences between phones and phonemes and sound variations.

1500

European colonialism. Fifteenth century

The conquest allowed to know languages from other cultures thanks to documents with whole information about that particular grammar.

1600

Comparative linguistics. Sixteenth century

Many authors around the world were able to establish relationships of genetic relatives between similar languages, especially Andreas Jäger argued that the languages spread by waves of migrations into Europe and Asia. As well, William Jones discovered the relatedness of the Indo-European languages.

1801

Languages related. Nineteenth century

Comparative method between native and foreign languages.

1815

The Danish linguist Rasmus Rask

It gave a coherent order to the entire system of historical linguistics. The principles that establish the connections between languages are as follows:
*The grammatical evidence.
*Analysis of the cognates.
*European grammar is different from colonial grammar.
*Academic research on the non-Indo-European languages of the Russian Empire.