The Copenhagen school (Linguistics) in the context of "Functional theories of grammar"

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⭐ Core Definition: The Copenhagen school (Linguistics)

The Copenhagen School is a group of scholars dedicated to the study of linguistics, centered around Louis Hjelmslev (1899–1965) and the Linguistic Circle of Copenhagen (French: Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague, Danish: Lingvistkredsen), founded by him and Viggo Brøndal (1887–1942). In the mid-twentieth century, the Copenhagen school was one of the most important centres of linguistic structuralism, together with the Geneva School and the Prague School. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the Copenhagen school's approach to linguistics has evolved from purely structural to functionalist, culminating in Danish functional linguistics—which, despite the "functional" moniker, nonetheless incorporates many insights from the founders of the Linguistic Circle.

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The Copenhagen school (Linguistics) in the context of Louis Hjelmslev

Louis Trolle Hjelmslev (Danish: [ˈjelˀmsle̝w]; 3 October 1899 – 30 May 1965) was a Danish linguist whose ideas formed the basis of the Copenhagen School of linguistics. Born into an academic family (his father was the mathematician Johannes Hjelmslev), Hjelmslev studied comparative linguistics in Copenhagen, Prague and Paris (with Antoine Meillet and Joseph Vendryes, among others). In 1931, he founded the Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague. Together with Hans Jørgen Uldall he developed a structuralist theory of language which he called glossematics, which further developed the semiotic theory of Ferdinand de Saussure. Glossematics as a theory of language is characterized by a high degree of formalism. It is interested in describing the formal and semantic characteristics of language in separation from sociology, psychology or neurobiology, and has a high degree of logical rigour. Hjelmslev regarded linguistics – or glossematics – as a formal science. He was a pioneer of formal linguistics. Hjelmslev's theory became widely influential in structural and functional grammar, and in semiotics.

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