Linguistics Encyclopedia.pdf

Port-Royal grammar
THE EDITIONS OF THE TEXT
The real title of what has become popularly known as Port-Royal grammar is A general
and reasoned Grammar containing the foundations of the art of speaking explained in a
clear and natural way, the reasons for what is common to all languages and the main
differences that can he found between them etc.
After its first publication in Paris in 1660, it was published again with successive
additions in 1664, 1676, 1679, and 1709. In 1754, the French grammarian Duclos added
to the text of 1676 ‘Remarks’ that were regularly reprinted in later editions (1768, 1783
etc). Moreover, the 1803 edition is preceded by an ‘Essay on the origin and progress of
the French language’ by Petitot. In the editions of 1830 (Delalain, Paris) and 1845
(Loquin, Paris), the Logic or the Art of Thinking by Arnauld and Nicole (1662) is
published together with the grammar. The grammar also represents volume 41 of the
Works of Antoine Arnaud gent (Paris, 1780). More recently, H.E. Brekle has published a
critical edition (Stuttgart, 1966); the edition of 1845 has been reprinted with an historical
introduction by A.Bailly (Slatkine, Geneva, 1968) and the 1830 edition with an
introduction by M.Foucault (Paulet, Paris, 1969).
THE AUTHORS
The authors, Antoine Arnauld (1612–94) and Claude Lancelot (1628–95) are both linked
to the Jansenist movement whose devotees lived at the Abbey of Port-Royal des Champs,
near Paris. Antoine Arnauld, a theologian and logician, was one of the leaders of the
movement, and, with Nicole, wrote the logic. Lancelot, a scholar and teacher, master of
several languages, and author of handbooks for learners of Latin (1644), Greek (1655),
Italian and Spanish (1660), was the chief architect of the transformations in teaching
carried out over a twenty-year period in Port-Royal’s renowned ‘Petites Ecoles’.
Although it is impossible to determine exactly the contribution of each author, it seems
reasonable to assume that the knowledge of former doctrines and grammatical studies and
mastery of languages came from Lancelot, and that Arnauld contributed his powerful
intellect and his capacity for marshalling a mass of data.
THE GRAMMAR AND THE LOGIC
The grammar belongs to the rationalist current of thought already visible in the works of
Scaliger (De Causis linguae latinae, 1540), Ramus (about 1560), Sanctius (Minerva,