author
Leonard Bloomfield
1887–1949
A key figure in modern linguistics, this American scholar helped make the study of language more systematic and scientific. His 1933 book Language shaped how generations of students and researchers approached the subject.
1 Audiobook
Tagalog Texts with Grammatical Analysis
by Leonard Bloomfield
About the author
Born in Chicago on April 1, 1887, Leonard Bloomfield became one of the central architects of American structural linguistics. He studied at Harvard and went on to teach at several universities, building a reputation for clear, disciplined analysis of how languages work.
Bloomfield is best known for insisting that language should be described carefully from observable evidence rather than impression or tradition. His book Language (1933) became one of the most influential works in twentieth-century linguistics, helping define the field in the United States for many years.
He also did important work on Germanic and Indo-European languages and contributed to the study of Indigenous languages of the Americas. Bloomfield died in New Haven, Connecticut, on April 18, 1949, but his emphasis on rigorous description continued to influence linguistics long after his death.