Firthian (adj.)

Characteristic of, or a follower of, the LINGUISTIC principles of J(ames) R(upert) Firth (1890–1960), Professor of General Linguistics in the University of London (1944–56), and the formative influence on the development of linguistics in Great Britain (the ‘London School’ of linguistics). A central notion is POLYSYSTEMICISM, an approach to linguistic analysis based on the view that LANGUAGE patterns cannot be accounted for in terms of a single system of analytic principles and categories (monosystemic linguistics), but that different SYSTEMS may need to be set up at different places within a given LEVEL of DESCRIPTION. Other central Firthian notions include his CONTEXTUAL theory of MEANING, with its strong emphasis on the social CONTEXT OF SITUATION; PROSODIC (as opposed to PHONEMIC) PHONOLOGY, and COLLOCATION. Relatively little of Firth’s teaching was published, but many of his ideas have been developed by a neo-Firthian group of scholars, whose main theoretician is M. A. K. Halliday, Professor of General Linguistics in the University of London from 1965 to 1970.