Table of Contents

Introduction - the life, work and influence of Roman Jakobson, Linda R. Waugh and Monique Monville-Burston. Part 1 The science of language - general overviews: current issues of general linguistics; efforts toward a means-end model of language in interwar continental linguistics; my favourite topics. Part 2 The function and structure of language - some fundamental concepts: the speech event and the functions of language; langue and parole - code and message; parts and wholes in language; two aspects of language and two types of aphasic disturbances; the concept of mark (with Krystyna Pomorska). Part 3 Dimensions of language - invariants and variants across time and space: typological studies and their contribution to historical comparative linguistics; implications of language universals for linguistics; the time factor in language (with Krystyna Pomorska); the space factor in language (with Krystyna Pomorska); principles of historical phonology; on the theory of phonological affinities between languages. Part 4 The sound system of language: the concept of phoneme; the concept of the distinctive feature (with C. Gunnar Fant and Morris Halle); quest for the ultimate constituents (with Linda R. Waugh); the sound laws of child language and their place in general phonology; why "mama" and "papa"?. Part 5 Meaning in language - grammatical and lexical: some questions of meaning; Boas' view of grammatical meaning; contribution to the general theory of case; shifters and verbal categories. Part 6 Sound and meaning in language - their interrelations: the phonemic and grammatical aspects of language in their interrelations; quest for the essence of language; the spell of the speech sound (with Linda R. Waugh). Part 7 The place of language - interdisciplinary perspectives: linguistics in relation to other sciences; linguistics and communication theory; brain and language.

Reviews

An accessible collection of theoretical works by one of the most important and versatile linguists of the century...The works collected in this volume...speak eloquently.--Olga T. Yokoyama "Russian Review "

An anthology which unquestionably offers the best of Jakobson...even a brief perusal of the volume under review should persuade anyone that in terns I of trenchancy, precision, versatility and cultural range, Jakobson's "oeuvre" is without rival in the modern age. He has been the central, if as yet unacknowledged. figure in the development of modern poetics; it is time for us to come to terms with his formidable legacy.--F. W. Galan "Times Literary Supplement "

Part of the fascination of "Language in Literature" is that it shows Jakobson returning again and again to the same topics, and sometimes even to the same texts, over a period of sixty years, and placing them in ever larger contexts...Jakobson's youthful ties to the Russian Futurists, and particularly to Velimir Khlebnikov, surely helped to strengthen his conviction that the critic's role is to formulate explicitly, and to demonstrate by means of a rigorous analysis the truths that the poet discovers intuitively.--Thomas R. Hart "Comparative Literature "

Twenty-nine articles in all, written over a period of sixty years, although the represent only a fraction of Jakobson's output, provide scarcely-needed con firmation of the extraordinary and sustained depth and breadth of his erudition and interests.--David Shepherd "Modern Language Review "

Part of the fascination of Language in Literature is that it shows Jakobson returning again and again to the same topics, and sometimes even to the same texts, over a period of sixty years, and placing them in ever larger contexts...Jakobson's youthful ties to the Russian Futurists, and particularly to Velimir Khlebnikov, surely helped to strengthen his conviction that the critic's role is to formulate explicitly, and to demonstrate by means of a rigorous analysis the truths that the poet discovers intuitively.

Roman Jakobson has given us a marvelous gift: he has given linguistics to artists. It is he who opened up the live and sensitive juncture between one of the most exact of the sciences of man and the creative world. He represents, both for his theoretical thought and for his actual accomplishments, the meeting, of scientific thought and the creative spirit.

An accessible collection of theoretical works by one of the most important and versatile linguists of the century...The works collected in this volume...speak eloquently.--Olga T. Yokoyama "Russian Review "
An anthology which unquestionably offers the best of Jakobson...even a brief perusal of the volume under review should persuade anyone that in terns I of trenchancy, precision, versatility and cultural range, Jakobson's "oeuvre" is without rival in the modern age. He has been the central, if as yet unacknowledged. figure in the development of modern poetics; it is time for us to come to terms with his formidable legacy.--F. W. Galan "Times Literary Supplement "
Part of the fascination of "Language in Literature" is that it shows Jakobson returning again and again to the same topics, and sometimes even to the same texts, over a period of sixty years, and placing them in ever larger contexts...Jakobson's youthful ties to the Russian Futurists, and particularly to Velimir Khlebnikov, surely helped to strengthen his conviction that the critic's role is to formulate explicitly, and to demonstrate by means of a rigorous analysis the truths that the poet discovers intuitively.--Thomas R. Hart "Comparative Literature "
Twenty-nine articles in all, written over a period of sixty years, although the represent only a fraction of Jakobson's output, provide scarcely-needed con firmation of the extraordinary and sustained depth and breadth of his erudition and interests.--David Shepherd "Modern Language Review "
Part of the fascination of Language in Literature is that it shows Jakobson returning again and again to the same topics, and sometimes even to the same texts, over a period of sixty years, and placing them in ever larger contexts...Jakobson's youthful ties to the Russian Futurists, and particularly to Velimir Khlebnikov, surely helped to strengthen his conviction that the critic's role is to formulate explicitly, and to demonstrate by means of a rigorous analysis the truths that the poet discovers intuitively.
Roman Jakobson has given us a marvelous gift: he has given linguistics to artists. It is he who opened up the live and sensitive juncture between one of the most exact of the sciences of man and the creative world. He represents, both for his theoretical thought and for his actual accomplishments, the meeting, of scientific thought and the creative spirit.