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Topic · Language and Linguistics

Historical Linguistics and Language Studies

Historical Linguistics and Language Studies is a research topic within Language and Linguistics. Science Explorer counts 25k research works in it since 1950. 10.7% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the history and development of linguistics, language teaching, and related fields. It covers topics such as the influence of Saussure, missionary linguistics, applied linguistics, grammaticalization, language learning, the work of Humboldt, the role of Jesuits in linguistic studies, and the evolution of structuralism.

  • Linguistic Historiography
  • Language Teaching
  • Saussure
  • Missionary Linguistics
  • Applied Linguistics
  • Grammaticalization
  • Language Learning
  • Humboldt
  • Jesuits
  • Structuralism
Research works
25k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.7%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-14%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
33% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Historical Linguistics and Language Studies

Which countries lead Historical Linguistics and Language Studies research?

By volume, France and Spain publish the most (886 and 356 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 886 works
  2. 2 Spain 356 works
  3. 3 United States 334 works
  4. 4 Germany 208 works
  5. 5 Brazil 201 works
  6. 6 Italy 175 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 167 works
  8. 8 Russia 119 works
  9. 9 Switzerland 110 works
  10. 10 Poland 96 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

France: 33.4%Spain: 13.4%United States: 12.6%Germany: 7.8%6 others listed: 32.7%33%largest
France886 · 33.4%Spain356 · 13.4%United States334 · 12.6%Germany208 · 7.8%6 others listed869 · 32.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Historical Linguistics and Language Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Historical Linguistics and Language Studies research, followed by University of Lausanne and Université Sorbonne Nouvelle.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 251 works
  2. 2 University of LausanneSwitzerland 52 works
  3. 3 Université Sorbonne NouvelleFrance 46 works
  4. 4 Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 45 works
  5. 5 Université Paris CitéFrance 45 works
  6. 6 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 43 works
  7. 7 Université de LyonFrance 34 works
  8. 8 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 28 works
  9. 9 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 26 works
  10. 10 Université de LorraineFrance 25 works

Who are the leading researchers in Historical Linguistics and Language Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Historical Linguistics and Language Studies include Pierre Bourdıeu, Michel Foucault and Christopher D. Manning.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  3. 3 Christopher D. Manning United States 179k citations
  4. 4 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations
  5. 5 Michael Tomasello Germany 135k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Historical Linguistics and Language Studies?

The most cited paper in Historical Linguistics and Language Studies is "Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective" (Charles F. Meyer, Μ. Α. Κ. Halliday, Ruqaiya Hasan, 1987), with 4,157 citations. Next come "The meaning of ‘meaning’" (3,774) and "Rethinking Linguistic Relativity" (2,758).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective Charles F. Meyer, Μ. Α. Κ. Halliday, Ruqaiya Hasan · TESOL Quarterly Jun 1987 4,157
2 The meaning of ‘meaning’ Hilary Putnam · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter 12 Jan 2010 3,774
3 Rethinking Linguistic Relativity Celia Roberts · International Journal of Bilingualism Sep 1997 2,758
4 Discourse, Consciousness, and Time: The Flow and Displacement of Conscious Experience in Speaking and Writing Wallace Chafe 1994 2,114
5 The Sounds of the World's Languages Paul Foulkes · International Journal of Bilingualism Mar 1997 1,967
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Historical Linguistics and Language Studies research done?

The largest centres of Historical Linguistics and Language Studies research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Madrid (Spain), Moscow (Russia) and Lyon (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Cergy-Pontoise, Nanterre and Nancy.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 311 works
  2. 2 MadridSpain 96 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 58 works
  4. 4 LyonFrance 57 works
  5. 5 LausanneSwitzerland 56 works
  6. 6 ToulouseFrance 37 works
  7. 7 GrenobleFrance 31 works
  8. 8 São PauloBrazil 30 works
  9. 9 Buenos AiresArgentina 29 works
  10. 10 BrusselsBelgium 29 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Cergy-PontoiseFR · 20.2 works56×
  2. NanterreFR · 26.5 works26×
  3. NancyFR · 26.3 works19×
  4. GrenobleFR · 31.5 works17×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Historical Linguistics and Language Studies than the world average.

See Historical Linguistics and Language Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Historical Linguistics and Language Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Cambridge, Ghent University and University of Oxford score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 17.98%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Ghent UniversityUniversity of Cambri…University of OxfordUniversity of Lausanne
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 73.723.0%6.7×26 +91.2%
2Ghent UniversityBelgium 69.332.6%5.5×14 -3.4%
3University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 66.719.6%5.0×23 +17.3%
4University of LausanneSwitzerland 66.610.1%35.5×52 +136.9%
5Université Paris CitéFrance 60.38.0%18.2×45 +16.9%
6Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 59.411.5%14.9×43 +20.2%
7Leiden UniversityNetherlands 55.034.3%4.8×9 -44.7%
8Université Sorbonne NouvelleFrance 52.87.5%119.0×46 +6.8%
9Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 51.14.2%20.5×46 -2.6%
10University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 49.829.0%3.0×9 -4.1%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Historical Linguistics and Language Studies, country by country

Is Historical Linguistics and Language Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 14% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2018.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Historical Linguistics and Language Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.016% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Historical Linguistics and Language Studies0.013% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Historical Linguistics and Language Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Historical Linguistics and Language Studies10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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