A paradoxical eulogy

the review to Leonard Bloomfield’s “Cours” (February 1924)

Abstract

This article offers an exploration of Bloomfield’s linguistic perspective by making reference to his first English review of Saussure’s Cours de linguistique générale (Bloomfield 1924, never before translated into Italian), some other works of his (mainly Language, 1933), and what Giorgio Graffi has written about him in the last few decades. Graffi’s historiographical work comes across as being a sort of magnifying glass through which it is possible to better understand the role played by Bloomfield in the development of American linguistics during the first half of the 20^th century.