Contributions of The Prague School

The Prague Linguistic represented an important moment in the development of
phonology, structuralism and linguistics in general and it prepared the grounds for research and
the subsequent evolution of linguistics. The paper attempts a general view on what The Prague
School meant for linguistics and it aims at giving a general survey on the activity and on the
contributions brought by The Prague Linguistic Circle.It focuses on the novelty which the most
important members of the Prague Linguistic Circle brought to linguistics and it points out the
importance of the Prague School moment in the history of linguistics.
The Prague Linguistic Circle came into being and properly started its activity in 1926, the
official year of its members`first meeting and the ”so-called” classical period in the activity of the
circle.


The circle`s roots can be dated back as far as 1911
when Vilém Mathésius, who was to become an important member of the circle, independently of
and without having any connection with Ferdinand de Saussure, predicted the synchronic study of
language. The preoccupations and the research of its members did not emerge out of nothing, they
set out with a solid foundation behind them. The forerunners of The Prague Linguistic Circle had
been Ferdinand de Saussure`s “Course in General Linguistics” and the Moscow Linguistic Circle,
founded in 1915.