The Predicate and Theories of Linguistic Communication. A diachronic approach
The Predicate and Theories of Linguistic Communication. A diachronic approach

Summary/Abstract: Theories regarding the predicate and predication are of interest not only as object of research, but also by their history. The present paper targets the latter aspect. The authors investigate the doctrines and schools that focused on the relationship between the predicate, as a grammatical category, and the notion of predication. A first significant survey of the issue appears in the Port-Royal Grammar (1600) where, among the linguistic universals postulated, the category of predicate also appears. John Locke is mentioned as opponent of the theory of linguistic universals and rationalist trends. Worth mentioning is also the work of the founders of linguistics as a science – Fr. Bopp, Rasmus Rask and Jakob Grimm –, as well as that of the so-called neogrammarians, with their immutable phonetic laws. An important section in the economy of the paper is dedicated to Ferdinand de Saussure and his Geneva school. A runner in the footsteps of de Saussure, Eugen Co
eriu’s view regarding language, norm and linguistic communication is then surveyed. The contributions of the Prague linguistic circle, of the Copenhagen school and of the French sociological school (with Antoine Meillet as main representative) are also discussed. The paper concludes with the main trends in American linguistics, with emphasis on Noam Chomsky’s generative-transformational grammar and on Ch. Fillmore’s case theory.

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