Substance and Structure of Language

Substance and Structure of Language, edited by Jaan Puhvel, brings together a landmark series of lectures from the 1966 Linguistic Institute at UCLA, capturing the intellectual vitality of a summer that gathered some of the field’s most influential voices. While two specialized series—the Indo-European and the Mathematical-Computational—were designed as more ephemeral explorations, the General Series was conceived from the outset for publication. This volume codifies those lectures into a lasting record, offering both participants and later readers access to the central questions and methods animating linguistics in the mid-twentieth century. From psycholinguistic experimentation and oral tradition to idioms, semantic structure, and the nature of dynamic comparison, the book reflects the cross-disciplinary currents that have since become central to the study of language.

The collection includes revised versions of lectures by Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, Uriel Weinreich, Wallace Lambert, Shlomo Morag, and Joseph Greenberg, as well as the traditional Collitz Lecture delivered by Werner Winter, the Institute’s Collitz Professor of Comparative Indo-European Grammar. Notably absent—though fondly remembered—are Roman Jakobson’s brilliant presentations on meaning and reference, which could not be prepared for publication in time. Together these essays trace a vivid picture of linguistics as a field negotiating the balance between formal rigor, historical depth, and cognitive insight. Essential for scholars of language history, semantics, and comparative grammar, Substance and Structure of Language stands as both a tribute to a transformative moment in linguistic scholarship and a resource that continues to inform contemporary debates.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1969.