essay about prague school

Prague school

The Prague school , or Prague linguistic circle [Pražský linguistický kroužek], was an influential group of literary critics and linguists in Prague and Brno. Its proponents developed methods of structuralist literary analysis and a theory of the standard language and of language cultivation during the years 1926–1939.

• 1.1 1929 Theses
• 1.3 Journal
• 1.4 Anthologies
• 1.5 Monographs by individual members
• 2 Correspondence
• 3.1 General
• 3.2 On Prague school, aesthetics and avant-garde
• 3.3 On Prague school and phenomenology

In 1928 the Circle promulgated its theses in a paper presented to the First International Congress of Linguists in The Hague, the following year expanded for the First International Congress of Slavists. Also in 1929, the group launched a book series, Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague . The banner of 'L'école de Prague' has been adopted at the First International Congress of Phonetic Sciences in Amsterdam in 1932.

Among its major contributions to linguistics is the consistent emphasis on the complementarity of synchronic and diachronic methods in language analysis (cf. section 1b in Theses ), the establishment of phonology as an individual field (distinguished from phonetics; see Trubetzkoy 1939), and the theorization of poetic function as one of the key functions of language.

The members included Vilém Mathesius, Roman Jakobson , Nikolai Trubetzkoy, Sergey Karchevskiy, Bohumil Trnka, Bohuslav Havránek, Petr Bogatyrev, Jan Mukařovský, René Wellek, Vladimír Skalička, Eugen Pauliny, Pavel Trost, Bedřich Václavek, and others.

After a brief revival in the second half of the 1960s (see TCLP , 1964-71), the Circle has been restored in 1990 by Miroslav Červenka and Oldřich Leška.

Works [ edit ]

1929 theses [ edit ].

• "Problémy zkoumání literatury a jazyka", in Jakobson, Poetická funkce , ed. Miroslav Červenka, Jinočany: H&H, 1995, pp 34-36.
• "Thèses présentées au Premier Congrès des philologues slaves" , trans. Louis Bruno, Travaux du Cercle linguistique de Prague 1 (1929), pp 5-29; repr. in Prague School Reader in Linguistics , ed. Vachek, 1964, pp 33-58. (French)
• "Tezisy Pražskogo lingvističeskogo kružka", in Pražskij lingvističeskij kružok: Sbornik statej , ed. N. A. Kondrašov, Moscow: Progress, 1967, pp 17-41. Partial translation was published in Istorija jazykoznanija XIX i XX vekov , ed. V.A. Zvegincev, Moscow, 1964, pp 123-140. (Russian)
• Il circolo linguistico di Praga, Le tesi del' 29 , Milan: Silva, 1966. (Italian)
• El círculo lingüístico de Praga: Tesis de 1929 , trans. Maria Ines Chamorro, Madrid: Alberto Corazon, 1970. (Spanish)
• "Methodische Probleme, die aus der Konzeption der Sprache als System erwachsen, und die Wichtigkeit dieser Konzeption für die slawischen Sprachen", in Der modeme Strukturbegriff , ed. H. Naumann, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1973, pp 16-45. (German)
• "Manifesto Presented to the First Congress of Slavic Philologists in Prague", trans. Marta K. Johnson, in Recycling the Prague Linguistic Circle , ed. Marta K. Johnson, Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma, 1978, pp 1-31. (English)
• "Theses Presented to the First Congress of Slavic Philologists in Prague, 1929", trans. Josef Vachek, in Praguiana , eds. Vachek and Dušková, 1983, pp 77-120; repr. in The Prague School: Selected Writings, 1929—1946 , ed. Steiner, 1983, pp 3-31. [2] (English)

Series [ edit ]

• 1, Mélanges linguistiques dédiés au premier Congrès des philologues slaves , 1929; repr., Nendeln: Kraus, 1979.
• 2, Jakobson, Remarques sur l'évolution phonologique du russe comparée à celle des autres langues slaves , 1929, 118 pp. (French)
• 3, Trnka, On the syntax of the English verb from Caxton to Dryden , 1930. (English)
• 4, Réunion phonologique internationale tenue a Prague (18-21/XII 1930) , 1931, 326 pp. (German) / (French) / (English)
• 5, Description phonologique du russe moderne . II. Nikolaj Sergeevič Trubeckoj (Trubetzkoy): "Das morphonologische System der russischen Sprache", 1934. (German)
• 6, Études dédiées au quatrième Congrès de linguistes , 1936.
• 7, Trubetzkoy, Grundzüge der Phonologie , 1939, 271 pp, Gallica . (German)
• 8, Études phonologiques dédiées à la mémoire de M.le Prince N.S. Trubetzkoy , 1939.
• 1, L’École de Prague d’aujourd’hui , 1964. Review: Grepl (Naše řeč, CZ).
• 2, Les problèmes du centre et de la périphérie du système de la langue , 1966.

Journal [ edit ]

• Essays: Mathesius (22), Jakobson (13), Trubetzkoy (5), Havránek (77), Trnka (34).

Anthologies [ edit ]

• Masaryk a řeč , Prague: Pražský linguistický kroužek, 1931, 47 pp. Two essays, by Mukařovský and Jakobson. Review: Hodura (Naše řeč).
• Bohuslav Havránek, Miloš Weingart (eds.), Spisovná čeština a jazyková kultura , Prague: Melantrich, 1932, 257 pp. Essays by Mathesius, Havránek, Jakobson, Mukařovský and Weingart. Review: Haller (Naše řeč).
• Jan Mukařovský (ed.), Torso a tajemství Máchova díla. Sborník pojednání Pražského linguistického kroužku , Prague: Fr.Borový, 1938.
• Vilém Mathesius, "Řeč a sloh", 1942, pp 13-102; repr. in Mathesius, Jazyk, kultura a slovesnost , 1982, pp 92-146.
• Josef Vachek (ed.), A Prague School Reader in Linguistics , Indiana University Press, 1964, 485 pp. (English)
• Paul Garvin (ed.), A Prague School Reader on Esthetics, Literary Structure, and Style , Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 1964, 163 pp. Review: Wellek (Language). (English)
• Josef Vachek (ed.), U základů pražské jazykovědné školy , Prague: Academia, 1970.
• Ladislav Matejka, Irwin R. Titunik (eds.), Semiotics of Art: Prague School Contributions , MIT Press, 1976, 298 pp; 1984, 320 pp. Anthology of 21 essays published in 1933-73. Review: Pynsent (SEER). (English)
• Marta K. Johnson (ed.), Recycling the Prague Linguistic Circle , trans. & intro. Marta K. Johnson, Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma, 1978, 85 pp. (English)
• Peter Steiner (ed.), The Prague School: Selected Writings 1929-1946 , University of Texas Press, 1982, 219 pp; repr. , University of Texas Press, 2014. Review: Reeves (Poetics Today). (English)
• Josef Vachek, Libuše Dušková (eds.), Praguiana: Some Basic and Less Known Aspects of The Prague Linguistic School , Prague: Československá akademie věd, 1983, 321 pp. (English)
• Philip A. Luelsdorff, Jarmila Panevová, Petr Sgall (eds.), Praguiana 1945–1990 , John Benjamins, 1994, x+250 pp. Collection of more recent writings. Publisher . (English)
• Philip A. Luelsdorff (ed.), The Prague School of Structural and Functional Linguistics , John Benjamins, 1994, 385 pp. Collection of more recent writings. [3] (English)
• Eva Hajičová, et al. (eds.), Prague Linguistic Circle Papers , 4 vols., Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1995-2002, PDF/v.4 . Publisher . (English)

Monographs by individual members [ edit ]

• Vilém Mathesius, Dějiny literatury anglické , 2 vols., 1910-15.
• Vilém Mathesius, O potenciálnosti jevů jazykových , 1911.
• Vilém Mathesius, W. Shakespeare , 1916.
• Vilém Mathesius, English Literature and the Czecho-Slovaks , 1920. (English)
• Jan Mukařovský, Příspěvek k estetice českého verše , Prague: Charles University, 1923, 63 pp.
• Vilém Mathesius, Kulturní aktivismus: anglické paralely k českému životu , Gustav Voleský, 1925, 94 pp.
• Bohuslav Havránek, Genera verbi ve slovanských jazycích , 2 vols., Prague: Královská česká společnost nauk, 1928 and 1937.
• Vilém Mathesius, Charisteria G. Mathesio quinquagenario a et discipulis Circuli linguistici Pragensis sodalibus oblata , Prague, 1932; 1979, 147 pp.
• Jan Mukařovský, Máchův Máj. Estetická studie , Prague, 1928; repr. in Mukařovský, Kapitoly z české poetiky III , 1948, pp 9-202. First two chapters previously published in Sociální problémy 4 (1935). Review: Hodura (Naše řeč).
• Aesthetic Function, Norm and Value as Social Facts , trans. Mark E. Suino, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1970, 102 pp. (English)
• La funzione, la norma e il valore estetico come fatti sociali , ed. & trans. S. Corduas, Torino, 1971. (Italian)

• Vilém Mathesius, Nebojte se angličtiny! , 1936.
• Nikolaï Troubetzkoï, Principes de phonologie , trans. Jean Cantineau, intro. Andre Martinet, Paris: Klincksieck, 1949, 397 pp, IA . (French)
• Nikolai Trubetzkoy, Principles of Phonology , trans. Christiane A.M. Baltaxe, University of California Press, 1969. (English)
• Kapitel aus der Poetik , ed. & trans. W. Schamschula, Frankfurt am Main, 1967. (German)
• Jan Mukařovský, Dialektické rozpory v modernom umení , Bratislava, 1942. (Slovak)
• Vilém Mathesius, Možnosti, které čekají , 1945.
• Vilém Mathesius, Čeština a obecný jazykozpyt , Prague: Melantrich, 1947. Collected essays.
• Kapitel aus der Ästhetik , ed. & trans. W. Schamschula, Frankfurt am Main, 1970. (German)
• Studii de estetică , ed. & trans. C. Barboricã, Bucharest, 1974, 465 pp. (Romanian)
• Escritos de estética y semiótica del arte , ed. Jordi Llovet, trans. A. Anthony-Víšová, Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 1977. Selected essays. (Spanish)
• Estetske razprave , ed. & trans. F. Jerman, Ljubljana, 1978. (Slovenian)
• Escritos sobre Estética e Semiótica da Arte , trans. Manuel Ruas, Lisbon: Estampa, 1988, 341 pp. (Portuguese)
• Studien zur strukturalischen Ästhetik und Poetik , ed. & trans. H. Grönebaum and G. Riff, Munich, 1974. (German)
• Jan Mukařovský, Arte y semiología , ed. & intro. Simon Marchan Fiz, trans. I. P. Hloznik & Simon Marchan Fiz, Madrid: Alberto Corazon, 1971, 73 pp. (Spanish)
• Jan Mukařovský, The Word and Verbal Art , eds. & trans. John Burbank and Peter Steiner, forew. René Wellek, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1977. (English)
• Jan Mukařovský, Structure, Sign and Function: Selected Essays , eds. & trans. John Burbank and Peter Steiner, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1978. (English)
• Vilém Mathesius, Jazyk, kultura a slovesnost , ed. Josef Vachek, Prague: Odeon, 1982.
• Bohumil Trnka, Selected Papers in Structural Linguistics: Contributions to English and General Linguistics Written in the Years 1928-1978 , ed. V. Fried, Berlin, New York and Amsterdam: Mouton, 1982. (English)
• Bohumil Trnka, Kapitoly z funkční lingvistiky: Studies in functional linguistics , 1990.
• Jan Mukařovský, Signo, funcion y valor: estética y semiótica del arte , eds., intro. & trans. Jarmila Jandová and Emil Volek, Bogota: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 2000. (Spanish)
• Jan Mukařovský, Studie I. , eds. Miroslav Červenka and Milan Jankovič, Brno: Host, 2000/2001, 556 pp. Collected essays. Review: Pelikán (Aluze).
• Jan Mukařovský, Studie II. , eds. Miroslav Červenka and Milan Jankovič, Brno: Host, 2007, 600 pp. Collected essays. Review: Pelikán (Aluze).
• Jan Mukařovský, Umělecké dílo jako znak: Z univerzitních přednášek 1936–1939 , eds. Marie Havránková and Milan Jankovič, Prague: Ústav pro českou literaturu AV, 2008, 140 pp. Three previously unpublished lectures, and two unfinished essays.
• Vilém Mathesius, Paměti a jiné rukopisy , ed. Josef Hladký, Prague: Karolinum, 2009, 394 pp.
• Jan Mukařovský, Estetické přednášky I , eds. Marie Havránková and Milan Jankovič, Prague: Ústav pro českou literaturu AV, 2010. Two previously unpublished lectures, Estetické studie z moderní české lyriky [1928-29] and Sociologie básnictví [1934-35]. [4]
• Bibliography

Correspondence [ edit ]

• Letters and Other Materials from the Moscow and Prague Linguistic Circles, 1912-1945 , ed. Jindřich Toman, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1994, 259 pp. (English)
• Quadrilog. Korespondence Bohuslava Havránka a Romana Jakobsona , eds. Marie Havránková and Jindřich Toman, Prague: Karolinum, 2001.
• Pražský lingvistický kroužek v korespondenci: Bohuslav Havránek, Roman Jakobson, Vilém Mathesius, Jan Mukařovský, Bohumil Trnka, Miloš Weingart. Korespondence z let 1923-1974 , ed. Marie Havránková, Prague: Academia, 2008, 448 pp. [5] Review: Olšáková (2012).

Literature [ edit ]

General [ edit ].

• "Ten Years of the Prague Linguistic Circle", in Vachek, The Linguistics School of Prague , 1966, pp 137-151. (English)
• Jan Mukařovský, "Strukturalismus v estetice a ve vědě o literatuře", in Ottův slovník naučný nové doby 1:6 (1939-40), pp 452ff; repr. in Mukařovský, Kapitoly z české poetiky I , 2nd ed., 1948, pp 13-28, PDF ; repr., exp., in Mukařovský, Studie I , Brno: Host, 2000, pp 9-25.
• Russian trans., Moscow, 1964.
• Dictionary of the Prague School of Linguistics , ed. Libuše Dušková, trans. Aleš Klégr, et al., Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2003, PDF . [6] (English)
• Josef Vachek, The Linguistics School of Prague: An Introduction to Its Theory and Practice , Indiana University Press, 1966. Lectures given in 1964 in the US. (English) Review: Hlavsa (1966).
• Vilém Fried (ed.), The Prague School of Linguistics and Language Teaching , Oxford University Press, 1972, 242 pp. (English)
• Ladislav Matejka (ed.), Sound, Sign and Meaning: Quinquagenary of the Prague Linguistic Circle , Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Publications, 1976, 622 pp, Preface PDF . (English) Review: Garvin (1978).
• Miroslav Renský, "Roman Jakobson and the Prague School", in Roman Jakobson: Echoes of his Scholarship , eds. Daniel Armstrong and C.H. van Schooneveld, Lisse: Peter de Ridder, 1977, pp 379-389. (English)
• Květoslav Chvatík, Tschechoslowakischer Strukturalismus. Theorie und Geschichte , trans. Vlado Müller, Munich: Fink, 1981, JPG, PDF . (German)
• F.W. Galan, Historic Structures: The Prague School Project, 1928-1946 , 1985, 250 pp. (English) Review: Sprinker (1985).
• Michael Quinn, The Semiotic Stage: Prague School Theatre Theory , Stanford University, 1987, 164 pp; Peter Lang, 1995, 166 pp. (English)
• Yishai Tobin (ed.), The Prague School and Its Legacy: In Linguistics, Literature, Semiotics, Folklore, and the Arts , John Benjamins, 1988, 317 pp. (English)

• Jurij Striedter, Literary Structure, Evolution, and Value. Russian Formalism and Czech Structuralism Reconsidered , Harvard University Press, 1989. (English)
• Ján Bakoš, "Der tschecho-slowakischer Strukturalismus und Kunstgeschichtschreibung", Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft 36, 1991, pp 63-66. (German)
• Thomas G. Winner, "Prague Structuralism and Semiotics: Western Neglect and Resulting Fallacies", Opera Slavica 2:3 (1992), pp 6-16, PDF . (English)
• Cahiers de l'ILSL 5: "L'Ecole de Prague: l'apport épistémologique", eds. Mortéza Mahmoudian and Patrick Seriot, Lausanne: Universite de Lausanne, 1994, 286 pp, PDF . (French)
• Jacqueline Fontaine, "Le Cercle linguistique de Prague au carrefour des cultures", Revue germanique internationale 1 (1994), pp 183-192, HTML . (French)
• Jindřich Toman, "Rétorika modernismu: Pražský lingvistický kroužek v kontextu dobových ideálů vědy a společnosti", Kritický sborník 1 (1994), pp 25-31.
• Příběh jednoho moderního projektu. Pražský lingvistický kroužek, 1926-1948 , trans. Vladimír Petkevič, Prague: Karolinum, 2011, 348 pp. [7]
• Zdeněk Starý, Ve jménu funkce a intervence , Prague: Karolinum, 1995.
• Roman Jakobson: Prague School Linguistics , ed. Eva Hajičová, et al., Prague: Charles University, 1996. Proceedings from the conference to to 70 Years of Existence of the Prague Linguistic Circle and 100th Anniversary of Roman Jakobson's Birthday.
• Miloš Zelenka, "Roman Jakobson a literárněvědná slavistika v transformační etapě Pražského lingvistického kroužku", Slavia 66:3 (1997), pp 293-308.
• Josef Vachek, Prologomena k dějinám pražské školy jazykovědné , Jinočany, 1999.
• Vladimír Macura, Herta Schmid (eds.), Jan Mukařovský and the Prague School / Jan Mukařovský und die Prager Schule , Prague: Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, 1999, 331 pp. Proceedings from the conference Pražská strukturalistická škola, historie a perspektivy , Dobříš, 2.-4.9.1991. [8]
• Marek Nekula, "Vilém Mathesius", in Handbook of Pragmatics , Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1999, pp 1-14, PDF . (English)
• Milan Jankovič, "Oživená tradice pražského strukturalismu", in Zlatá šedesátá. Česká literatura, kultura a společnost v letech tání, kolotání a ...zklamání , ed. Radka Denemarková, Prague: Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, 2000, pp 72-81, PDF .
• Ján Bakoš, "Česko-slovenský štrukturalizmus a dejepis umenia. Pražský lingvistický krúžok a dejiny umenia", in Bakoš, Štyri trasy metodológie dejín umenia , Bratislava: SAV, 2000, pp 161-220. [9] (Slovak)
• Marek Nekula (ed.), Prager Strukturalismus: methodologische Grundlagen / Prague Structuralism: Methodological Fundamentals , Heidelberg: Winter, 2003, 224 pp. (German) / (English)
• Ondřej Sládek (ed.), Český strukturalismus po poststrukturalismu. Sborník z kolokvia pořádaného k připomenutí třicátého výročí úmrtí Jana Mukařovského (1891-1975) , Brno: Host, 2006, 244 pp.
• Eva Hajičová, "Prague School", 2006, pp 62-67, PDF . (English)
• Eva Hajičová, "Old Linguists Never Die, They Only Get Obligatorily Deleted", Computational Linguistics 32:4 (2006), pp 458-469, PDF .
• Tomáš Hoskovec, "Pražský lingvistický kroužek osmdesátiletý", Tvar 19 (2006), pp 12-13, PDF .
• Miloš Zelenka, "Prameny k literárněvědným dějinám polské emigrace a středoevropského strukturalismu", Kultúra a súčasnosť , UKF Nitra, 2007, pp 154-156.
• Bohumil Fořt, Teorie vyprávění v kontextu Pražské školy , Brno: Masaryk University, 2008, 135 pp, PDF .
• Martin Procházka, Markéta Malá, Pavlína Šaldová (eds.), The Prague School and Theories of Structure , Göttingen: V & R Unipress, 2010, 469 pp.
• Bohumil Fořt, "The Prague School From a Semiotic Point of View", Bohemica litteraria 14:1 (2011), pp 59-68, PDF . (English) [10]
• Ivona Bergmann, Sen a skutečnost v textech Pražského lingvistického kroužku a Skupiny surrealistů , Prague: Charles University, 2011, 187 pp. Dissertation. [11]
• Miloš Zelenka, "Mezi demokracií a totalitou: Pražský lingvistický kroužek v dějinách české literárněvědné slavistiky meziválečného období", Opera Slavica 21:1 (2011), pp 24-44, PDF . [12]
• Miloš Zelenka, "Pražský lingvistický kroužek: kapitola z dějin české meziválečné slavistiky", Novaya rusistika 5:Supplementum (2012), pp 55-64, PDF . [13]
• Patrick Sériot, Structure and the Whole: East, West and Non-Darwinian Biology in the Origins of Structural Linguistics , Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2014. (English)
• "The Prague Linguistic Circle", section in Roman Jakobson , ed. Margaret Thomas, Routledge, 2014, pp 213-280. Contains six essays. Contents . [14]

On Prague school, aesthetics and avant-garde [ edit ]

• René Wellek, The Literary Theory and Aesthetics of the Prague School , Ann Arbor, 1969, 37 pp. (English)
• Jindřich Toman, "The Linguist Remains a Futurist: Roman Jakobson and the Czech Avant-Garde", in Toman, The Magic of a Common Language: Jakobson, Mathesius, Trubetzkoy, and the Prague Linguistic Circle , MIT Press, 1995, pp 217-241, PDF . (English) Review: Pospíšil (1998, CZ).
• Frank Illing, Jan Mukařovský und die Avantgarde: Die strukturalistische Ästhetik im Kontext von Poetismus und Surrealismus , Bielefeld: Aisthesis, 2001, 464 pp. (German)
• Thomas G. Winner, "The Relation of the Prague Linguistic Circle to Poetism", in The Czech Avant-Garde Literary Movement Between the Two World Wars , c2010, pp 172-184, PDF . (English)
• Michaela Pašteková, Peter Brezňan (eds.), Umenie a estetično ako sociálne a autonómne fakty. Aktuálnosť diela Jana Mukařovského , Bratislava: Slovenská asociácia pre estetiku, 2017, 307 pp. Conference proceedings. [15] [16] (Slovak)

On Prague school and phenomenology [ edit ]

• Jakobson ou le structuralisme phénoménologique: présentation, biographie, bibliographie , Paris: Seghers, 1975, 244 pp. (French)
• Elmar Holenstein, "Prague Structuralism: A Branch of the Phenomenological Movement", in Language, Literature, and Meaning 1: Problems of Literary Theory , ed. John Odmark, Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1979, pp 71-97. (English) [17]
• Květoslav Chvatík, "Husserl und Carnap", Zeitschrift für Semiotik 4 (1984), pp 421-431. (German)
• Milan Jankovič, Nesamozřejmost smyslu , Prague: Československý spisovatel, 1991.
• Milan Jankovič, Dílo jako dění smyslu , Prague: Pražská imaginace – ÚČSL ČSAV, 1992.
• Barbara H. Partee, Petr Sgall (eds.), Discourse and Meaning: Papers in honor of Eva Hajičová , John Benjamins, 1996, PDF . (English)
• Miroslav Červenka, Obléhání zevnitř , Prague: Torst, 1996, pp 106-111.
• Jan Patočka, "Die Studie Roman Jakobsons phänomenologischer Strukturalismus, eine Rezension des gleichnamigen Buches von Elmar Holenstein", in Jan Patočka: Texte. Dokumente. Bibliographie , eds. L. Hagedorn and H. R. Sepp, Prague: Oikúmené, and Munich: Alber, 1999, pp 409-418. (German)
• Herta Schmid, "Gustav Špet: projekt germenevtičeskogo napisanija istorii literatury", in G. G. Špet, Comprehensio. Treťji Špetovskije čtenija , Tomsk: Universitet Tomsk, 1999, pp 146-157. (Russian)
• Zdeněk Mathauser, "Pražská škola – avantgarda – fenomenologie", in Otázky českého kánonu , ed. Stanislava Fedrová, Prague: Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, 2006, pp 257-264, PDF .
• Zdeněk Mathauser, "Ke vztahu fenomenologie a literární teorie: poznámky k vlastní knize", Svět literatury 17:35 (2007), pp 40-47, PDF .

See also [ edit ]

• Roman Jakobson
• Bratislava Linguistic Circle

Links [ edit ]

• Pražský lingvistický kroužek , Prague.
• Prague Linguistics - Linguistique de Prague (Archive.org)

• Structuralism
• Featured articles

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literary Terms and Techniques › Prague Linguistic Circle

Prague Linguistic Circle

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on October 17, 2020 • ( 0 )

Twentieth-century semiotics and structuralism emerged simultaneously from the same source: the postpositivistic paradigm initiated by Ferdinand de Saussure and Russian formalism . The first systematic formulation of semiotic structuralism came from scholars of the Prague Linguistic Circle (PLC), who are now known as the Prague school. The PLC was inaugurated in 1926 by Vilém Mathesius, director of the English seminar at Charles University, and his colleagues Roman Jakobson , Bohuslav Havrânek, Bohumil Trnka, and Jan Rypka. Mathesius gave the group an organized form and a clear theoretical direction. The PLC counted among its members such prominent scholars as Jan Mukafovskÿ, Nikolaj Trubeckoj, Sergej Karcevskij, Petr Bogatyrjov, and Dmitrij CyZevskyj. Russian scholars, former members of the formalist groups, represented a substantial contingent. In the 1930s younger scholars joined, especially René Wellek , Felix Vodiëka, Jiri Veltruskÿ, Jaroslav PrùSek, and Josef Vachek. Many visitors (Edmund Husserl, Rudolf Carnap, Boris Toma Sevskij, Émile Benveniste , and others) presented papers in the Circle.

Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague (TCLP) contains in eight volumes (1929-39) pivotal contributions by members and “fellow travelers” in English, French, and German. In 1928 the Prague participants of the First International Congress of Linguists in The Hague drafted a program for structural linguistics with the Geneva school scholars (not to be confused with the later Geneva School phenomenological critics). The Thèses du Cercle linguistique de Prague (vol. 1 of Travaux ) set out not only the principles of the new linguistics but also a theory of standard and poetic language. In 1929 Jakobson coined the term “structuralism.”

In the 1930s the PLC became a force in Czech culture. Its first `important Czech publication was a tribute to the philosopher president of the Czechoslovak republic, T. G. Masaryk. The volume Spisovná čeština a jazyková kultura [Standard Czech and language culture] (1932) resulted from a polemic with conservative purists; in alliance with avant-garde writers, the PLC formulated principles of language culture and planning that remain significant to the 1990s. In 1935 the PLC launched its Czech journal Slovo a slovesnost [The word and verbal art], exploiting in its title the etymological connection that in Slavic languages links the terms for “language” and “literature.” The PLC maintained its eminent cultural position in rapidly changing political conditions: a jubilee volume, Torso a tajemství Máchova díla [Torso and mystery of Mâcha’s work] (1938), a popularizing work, Čtení a jazyce a poesii [Readings on language and poetry] (1942), and a cycle of radio broadcasts, O bâsnickém jazyce [On poetic language] (1947), were widely known. As the PLC’s influence grew, so did the voices of the critics, coming from both the traditional academics and the Marxists. The polemic with Marxist publicists (1930-34) is probably the first confrontation between structuralism and Marxism in the twentieth century.

When Czech universities were closed by the Nazis in November 1939, the meetings of the PLC continued in private dwellings. Public activities were resumed in June 1945. A few leaders were lost to natural death (Trubeckoj, Mathesius) or to exile (Jakobson, Wellek). But the brief spell of democracy in postwar Czechoslovakia, from May 1945 to February 1948, was a very productive time for the Prague school. The standard, three-volume edition of Mukařovskýs selected works, Kapitoly z české poetiky [Chapters from Czech poetics], and the school’s last representative work, Vodička ‘s monograph Počátky krásné prózy novočeské [The beginnings of Czech artistic prose], were published in 1948. The last lecture in the Circle took place in December 1948. After more than forty years, the PLC resumed its activities in February 1990.

In 1946 Jan Mukafovsky presented a lecture on Prague school structuralism at the Institut d’Etudes Slaves in Paris. The lecture was never published in French and had no impact on the Parisian intellectual scene. This incident indicates a discontinuity in twentieth-century structuralism, reinforced by most of its Western historians, analysts, and critics. (This is especially true of structuralist poetics, aesthetics, and semiotics. Prague linguistics has fared better, but even its reception in the West has been hesitant.) Jonathan Culler’s well-known Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics, and the Study of Literature (1975) set the pattern: the “structuralist poetics” is exclusively French. The subtitle of Fredric Jameson’s The Prison-House of Language (1972) promised to give “a critical account of structuralism and Russian Formalism,” but from the Prague school only the concept of “foregrounding” is mentioned. Terence Hawkes’s Structuralism and Semiotics (1977) provides a brief account of the Prague theory of poetic language but ignores all other achievements. Jan Broekman’s Structuralism: Moscow—Prague—Paris (1971) and D. W. Fokkema and Elrud Kunne-Ibsch’s Theories of Literature in the Twentieth Century (1977) should be singled out as exceptions. J. G. Merquior acknowledges that “the foundations of structuralism in criticism and aesthetics were laid down in Eastern Europe” (19) but treats the Prague school as mere “strategic background” to the Parisian “story” (x). He knows that Mukafovsky’s ideas “had no discernible influence on structuralist literary theory of the 1960s” (27). 

Without the Prague school, the image of twentiethcentury structuralism is incomplete both historically and theoretically. Prague scholars took a broad view of the tasks and methods of aesthetics and poetics and developed an epistemology that preempts much of the poststructuralist critique:

1. Prague structuralism is functionalistic. All signs, including aesthetic signs, fulfill certain needs of their users. The functionalism inspired by Karl Buhler (Mukařovský, Jakobson) derived the functions from the factors of the speech act, Bohuslav Havránek’s from the social channels of communication. In functionalism the Prague theory receives a pragmatic underpinning without sacrificing to pragmatics the sign’s formal and semantic semantic dimensions. Prague epistemology’s most prominent feature—its synthesizing character, its preferring dialectic to reductionism—can be discerned here.

2. The Prague theory of structure is located within an interdisciplinary mereology. In 1929 Jakobson already recognized the interdisciplinarity of structuralism:

Were we to comprise the leading idea of present-day science in its most various manifestations, we could hardly find a more appropriate designation than structuralism. Any set of phenomena examined by contemporary science is treated not as a mechanical agglomeration but as a structural whole, and the basic task is to reveal the inner, whether static or developmental, laws of this system. (Selected 2:711)

For Mukafovsky, structuralism was “an epistemological stance,” the manner by which concepts are formed and put into operation: “The conceptual system of every particular discipline is a web of internal correlations. Every concept is determined by all the others and in turn determines them. Thus a concept is defined unequivocally by the place it occupies in its conceptual system rather than by the enumeration of its contents” ( Kapitoly 1:13). Interdisciplinarity requires that aesthetics and poetics keep in touch with the advancement of human and social sciences: Mukafovsky examined the links between structuralism and Jan Smuts’s “biological holism” ( Kapitoly 1:129); Trnka pointed to Russell’s relational logic as one of the inspirations of structuralism (159).

3. The Prague epistemology distinguished between the activities of ordinary readers and those of expert students of literature. In a late evaluation of the structuralist position, Jakobson maintained that the poem, like a musical composition, “affords the ordinary reader the possibility of an artistic perception, but produces neither the need nor the competence to effect a scientific analysis” ( Dialogues 116-17). He emphasized, however, that the student of human communication is not an engineer of signals but rather deals with cultural phenomena endowed with meaning, history, and value. Jakobson distinguished a “preliminary stage” of enquiry, where the researcher is “the most detached and external onlooker,” a “cryptanalyst,” and a stage of “internal approach,” when he or she becomes “a potential or actual partner in the exchange of verbal messages among the members of the speech community, a passive or even active fellow member of that community” ( Selected 3:574)· Such flexibility satisfies the diverse needs of the student of literature without confusing the practical literary activities of writing and reading with cognitive activities aimed at theoretical understanding.

4. Prague school epistemology reconciled Saussure’s opposition of synchrony and diachrony, of structural and historical study. Jakobson summed up the divergence from the father of structuralism: Saussure attempted

to suppress the tie between the system of a language and its modifications by considering the system as the exclusive domain of synchrony and assigning modifications to the sphere of diachrony alone. In actuality, as indicated in the different social sciences, the concepts of a system and its change are not only compatible but indissolubly tied. ( Dialogues 58)

The evolution of language is no less “systemic and goaloriented” than its synchronic functioning (64).

In Prague, a comprehensive theory of literary history was developed: “What most sharply distinguishes Czech structuralism from the other twentieth-century literary theories is its commitment to literary history” (Galan 2). The PLC scholars unanimously claimed that literary history has to be based on literary theory. Even so, Mukafovsky’s first formulation of the principles of structuralist literary history in 1934 led to a polemic with traditionalists (see Galan 56-77). In 1936, Wellek published the penetrating essay “The Theory of Literary History,” while perhaps the most significant contributions to literary history are Vodiëka’s 1942 paper “ Literární historie, její problémy a úkol ” (reprinted in Strucktura ) and his 1948 monograph. The PLC model of literary history was derived from the model of literary communication, with its three factors: writer, literary work, reader. Genetic history reconstructs the origins of literary works, structural history, and transformations in the “literary series”; and reception history, successive concretizations and interpretations ( Struktura 16). In accepting genetic and reception history, the Prague scholars transcended their original historical “immanentism,” recognizing that “literary works are made by people, they are facts of social culture and exist in numerous relationships to other phenomena of cultural life” (25).

5. The Prague epistemology is empirical: the problems, concepts, and metalanguage of theory are rooted in the praxis of literary analysis. “Today,” according to Cervenka,

there is much speculation about the relationship between Marxism and structuralism, existentialism and structuralism, etc., as if we were dealing with a confrontation of contradictory philosophical trends. However, structuralism as conceived by Mukafovskÿ, Jakobson, VodiCka and their disciples… is not a philosophy, but a methodological trend in certain sciences, especially those concerned with sign systems and their concrete uses. (331-32)

Thanks to its empirical character, Prague school epistemology was able to overcome the postpositivistic split between sciences of nature ( Naturwissenschaften ) and human sciences ( Geisteswissenschaften ). Because of the repeatability and regularity of the phenomena of nature, natural sciences are nomothetic; they aim at formulating universal laws. The Geisteswissenschaften , dealing with individualized and unrepeatable phenomena (historical events, human actions and personalities, works of art and of literature, etc.), are ideographic; they try to understand the uniqueness of form, meaning, relevance, and value (see Doležel). Some structuralists restricted literary theory (poetics) to the nomothetic study of categories and regularities, but the Prague epistemology is synthetic. It combines an abstract poetics of universal categories and general laws with an analytical poetics of individual literary works. Mukařovský’s 1928 monograph (reprinted in Kapitoly , vol. 3) already demonstrated this synthesis. A theoretical system is developed in the introduction and then used to describe a particular poem ( Mácha ‘s May ) in the uniqueness of its sound patterning, its semantic organization, and its thematic structure. Later Mukafovsky proposed and explored the concept of semantic gesture, a poet’s idiosyncratic “constructional principle,” “which is applied in every segment of the work, even the most minute, and which results in a unified and unifying systematization of all the constituents” (3:239). Both in its name and in its sense, semantic gesture ties the literary structure to the creative subject; the organizational principle of the work’s semantics has a pragmatic base.

In the same spirit, Jakobson’s well-known poetological studies explore the role of abstract grammatical categories in the patterning of particular poems. Diverse works, such as the Hussite battle song, Aleksandr Pushkin’s love poetry, and a political poem by Bertolt Brecht, are idiosyncratic in their use of personal pronouns. Even each of Pushkin’s poems is “unique and unrepeatable in its artistic choice and use of grammatical material” ( Language 136). Jakobson’s method, as Pomorska noted, “allows us both to generalize and individualize the phenomena under investigation” ( Dialogues 230).

The combination of nomothetic and ideographic poetics was perfected by VodiCka in his most significant work, Počátky krásné prózy novočeské (1948). The monograph adopted an appropriate compositional pattern alternating analytical segments with theoretical reflections, a pattern invented by Wilhelm von Humboldt in his 1799 monograph on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Hermann and Dorothea (see Doležel 66-68); Roland Barthes’s S/Z (1970) is a more recent, and more celebrated, example of this pattern. For instance, VodiCka reformulated the traditional system of narrative thematics by defining action, character, and setting in terms of elementary narrative units, motifs; then he demonstrated how in François-René de Chateaubriand’s Atala the motifs of setting (of nature, human habitats, social and cultural customs, etc.) become polyfunctional, taking part in the structuring of character or action. Overall, Vodička developed a systematic theory of narrative on both the thematic and the discourse levels and analyzed in its terms a unique historical event: the rise of modern Czech prose fiction.

Further Reading Roman Jakobson and Krystyna Pomorska, Dialogues (trans. Christian Hubert, 1983); Felix Vodiëka, Poéàtky krâsné prôzy novoceské [The beginnings of Czech artistic prose] (1948),Felix Vodiëka, “The Integrity of the Literary Process: Notes on the Development of Theoretical Thought in J. Mukafovskÿ’s Work,” Poetics 4 (1972) Source: Groden, Michael, and Martin Kreiswirth. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

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Categories: Literary Terms and Techniques

Tags: and Dmitrij CyZevskyj , Bohumil Trnka , Bohuslav Havrânek , Felix Vodiëka , Jan Mukafovskÿ , Jan Rypka , Jaroslav PrùSek , Jiri Veltruskÿ , Josef Vachek , Linguistics , Literary Criticism , Literary Theory , Members of Prague linguistic circle , Nikolaj Trubeckoj , Petr Bogatyrjov , PLC , Prague Linguistic Circle , Prague School , Prague School of Structuralism , Rene Wellek , Roman Jakobson , Sergej Karcevskij , Structuralism , Structuralist Linguistics , Vilém Mathesius

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11 The Prague School: Nikolai Trubetzkoy and Roman Jakobson

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The Prague School drew on the work of Baudouin de Courtenay and Ferdinand de Saussure to address the nature of phonological elements and the structure of phonological systems in long-lasting foundational ways. This chapter presents the theory of the phoneme and the methods of analysis developed by it two primary representatives, Nikolai Trubetzkoy and Roman Jakobson. This chapter describes the formation of the Prague Circle, its debut at the First International Congress of Linguists in 1928, and the evolution of the concept of the phoneme in the writings of Trubetzkoy and Jakobson. A particular focus is Trubetzkoy’s Grundzüge der Phonologie , the main theoretical synthesis, which considered phonological oppositions and their relation to both typology and logic. After Trubetzkoy’s death in 1938, the Grundzüge became the point of departure for much later work, and, with its extension and further interpretation by Jakobson, it was the lodestar for early generative phonology.

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The Prague School

Prague as a Unique Place That I Have Visited Essay

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Traveling is a perfect opportunity to learn the unique character, history, and culture of different countries and cities. Prague provides the ideal opportunity to make the traveling experience memorable. Visiting the heart of Europe will allow the traveler to learn more about the Czech culture and traditions and admire the astonishing architecture and city planning. Prague is famous for its unique architecture preserving the features of the different styles of buildings.

The essential factor making Prague a unique city is its architecture. The castles and churches which can be found in Prague have a magnificent designs. Rooting in the Gothic and Barocco styles, the buildings in this city stand out by the colors, material, and decorations used while creating these masterpieces of architectural art. The most exciting fact about Prague is that the traveler can find there all the existing architectural styles, from Gothic to Modern (Rahate, 2020). Such buildings as the Rotunda of St. Martin, the Church of Our Lady, and Wallenstein Palace will leave every visit a memorable and lasting impression. These gorgeous constructions are full of mysteries, like an ancient fairytale book with magnificent pictures. Prague also has much interesting sightseeing to offer for people who tend to the more contemporary building design. Compared to the other styles, the number of installations of modernism in this city is considerably small. One of the examples is the Dancing House, architectured by Frank Gehry, which is an impressive construction. This building is like the golden ratio is perfect but strives to surpass the physical laws.

Therefore, Prague is a city worth visiting because of its splendid architecture. The uniqueness of the town is in the combination of ancient and contemporary architecture styles. Such a mixture of themes in building tradition makes visiting Prague a memorable and satisfying traveling experience. This city is diverse and has a lot of various sightseeing for different architectural tastes. It is also essential to mention that visiting Prague has various advantages besides the architecture and sightseeing.

Rahate, O. (2020). Architectural styles that can be seen in Prague . Web.

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IvyPanda. (2022, November 11). Prague as a Unique Place That I Have Visited. https://ivypanda.com/essays/prague-as-a-unique-place-that-i-have-visited/

"Prague as a Unique Place That I Have Visited." IvyPanda , 11 Nov. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/prague-as-a-unique-place-that-i-have-visited/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Prague as a Unique Place That I Have Visited'. 11 November.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Prague as a Unique Place That I Have Visited." November 11, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/prague-as-a-unique-place-that-i-have-visited/.

1. IvyPanda . "Prague as a Unique Place That I Have Visited." November 11, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/prague-as-a-unique-place-that-i-have-visited/.

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IvyPanda . "Prague as a Unique Place That I Have Visited." November 11, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/prague-as-a-unique-place-that-i-have-visited/.

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Introducing the Prague School: efforts of Chinese linguists in the past half-century

Changliang Qu (b. 1980) is Professor of Linguistics at Dalian University of Foreign Languages. His research interests include linguistic historiography, phonology, and translation. His publications include Otto Jespersen on phonetics ( 叶斯柏森论语音 , 2021), Selected readings of early classics in phonetics and phonology (2019), and A study of Jakobsonian phonology: Opposition, distinctive features and sound shape ( 雅柯布森音系学理论研究——对立、区别特征与音形 , 2015).

The Prague School of Linguistics is one of the most important groups in the history of twentieth-century structuralism. Ever since Qixiang Cen wrote on it at the end of the 1950s in his book on the history of linguistics, it has continued to attract the interest of Chinese linguists. This essay explores the half-century in which the Prague School was introduced and studied in China and aims to identify the features of the three stages of these linguists’ efforts.

Funding source: National Social Science Fund of China

Award Identifier / Grant number: 22BYY003

About the author

Acknowledgment.

Part of the research project is sponsored by the National Social Science Fund of China (22BYY003).

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Secondary Medical School Application Essays: How to Shine

Emphasizing fit and showing authenticity help medical school secondary essays stand out, experts say.

Tips for Secondary Med School Essays

Getty Images | iStockphoto

One of best pieces of advice when writing an application essay is to be authentic.

Key Takeaways

• Secondary medical school essays should highlight why an applicant is a good fit.
• Applicants should submit the essays early without compromising quality.
• It's important to be authentic in essay responses.

After receiving primary applications, most medical schools ask applicants to complete a secondary application, which typically includes additional essay questions. While primary essay prompts ask why you're pursuing medicine, medical school secondary essays focus on you and how you fit with a specific school.

Secondary essay prompts vary by school, but they're generally designed to help med schools learn about you at a deeper level. They may ask you to reflect on what makes you who you are, a time when you worked with a population different than yourself, an occasion where you asked for help or a time when you worked in a team. They may ask how you spent a gap year before applying to medical school or what you did after your undergraduate degree.

"What we are trying to figure out is if this is a candidate that can fulfill the premedical competencies and whether they are mission-aligned," says Dr. Wendy Jackson, associate dean for admissions at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine . “Can they help fulfill the needs that our institution is trying to deliver?”

A lot rides on these essays, but keeping a few best practices in mind can make the process less daunting.

Emphasize Fit

The first thing medical schools look for is whether an applicant will be a good fit for the school’s mission, Jackson says.

“I would challenge someone who is completing a secondary application to understand the mission of the school and envision how they are going to contribute to that,” she says. “The vast majority of schools are going to ask why you chose their institution, so you need to be prepared to answer that.”

Some secondary essay questions are optional, but experts recommend answering them even though they're extra work. For example, the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Tennessee asks applicants what makes them interested in the school.

“We just want to see if they’re a good fit for us and that they’ve done a little bit of homework about Vanderbilt," says Jennifer Kimble, director of admissions at Vanderbilt's medical school. "We want to make sure that the students we admit are going to be happy with their Vanderbilt experience.”

Avoid focusing on what you’re going to gain from the school – schools are really asking how you'll be an asset to the program.

"It’s almost like if you’re trying to date someone and you tell them, ‘Here’s what I’m going to get from this relationship,’ without saying, ‘We’re better off together,’” says Shirag Shemmassian, founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting. “You have to sell the idea that you’re bettering one another and how you’re better together than apart. I think students often miss that latter component."

Don't Procrastinate

The medical school application process is often compared to a marathon, but the final steps may feel like a sprint. Applicants typically receive secondary application requests in late June, and in some cases schools want those back within a matter of weeks. Others set deadlines months down the road.

Either way, because of rolling admissions , it's best to send essays in as early as possible without compromising quality, Shemmassian says.

The earlier an applicant submits materials, the less competition they typically face, experts say. For example, Vanderbilt receives nearly 7,000 applications per year. Of those, roughly 600 applicants will be asked to interview and around 260 will be offered admission for 96 spots.

"At the beginning of the cycle, our calendar is wide open and we’re very open to who we bring in for an interview," Kimble says. "Down the road when we only have 30 seats left, it’s highly selective who those candidates are that get those coveted 30 interview spots that are left over."

Prewrite Essays

Applicants won't know the specific language of secondary essay prompts until schools send them, but in many cases, essay prompts are similar year to year and the previous year's prompts are often published on a school's admissions website, experts say. Some schools may change or tweak questions, but you can generally get a head start by prewriting essays based on previous prompts.

"As the new ones come out, you can modify as needed," Shemmassian says. "I would say that about 70% to 80% of prompts will remain the same or similar. If they change, you can usually adapt an essay you’ve written for another school."

Secondary essays vary in length and number. Vanderbilt requires applicants to submit an 800-word essay and two 600-word essays. Some schools may require close to 10 secondary essays. Shemmassian says this is significantly more writing than applicants are used to, so budgeting time is crucial.

But applicants should take care when prewriting essays and make sure each is tailored to the specific school with the correct school name, experts say. Jackson says she's read plenty of essays where applicants included the wrong school name and it cost them.

“You may think you can save time by cutting and pasting or taking half of a previously written essay response and making a modification,” Jackson says. “Be careful, because the questions vary from institution to institution.”

Experts say applicants often neglect to fully read prompts in their haste to complete answers. Though there's a time crunch, it's vital to thoroughly read the prompt and answer the question fully without grammatical or spelling errors.

“That seems kind of silly, but I think we can get going down a road when we’re writing and feel like we’ve completed and written something well but look back and never really have a response to the true question being asked," Jackson says.

Be Authentic

Medical school applicants tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves to write something that schools haven't read before, Kimble says. Given that med schools sift through thousands of applicants a year, "we’ve read all sorts of scenarios in life, so take that pressure and put it on the shelf," she says. "That’s not a concern for us. We aren’t looking for something that’s totally innovative."

Experts say schools are mostly looking for authenticity and an organic, genuine tone. The tone "can make or break an applicant," Jackson says.

It may be tempting, especially given time constraints, to rely on outside help – such as ChatGPT or other AI-powered software – to write essays. While some professors and admissions officers have embraced AI to help automate certain processes, Kimble says she strongly discourages med school applicants from using AI to help with secondary essays.

"We had an (application) that you could clearly see was not written by a human voice," she says. "It sounded very computer generated, so we ended up passing on the candidate just because we want to hear their story in their own words."

A Secondary Essay Example

Shemmassian compiles more than 1,000 sample secondary essays each year, using prompts from more than 150 medical schools in various states, and offers them to paying clients. The excerpted example below, created by Shemmassian's team and used with their permission, shows what he considers to be a successful diversity-themed essay in response to a Yale University School of Medicine prompt that asks applicants to reflect on how their background and experiences contribute to the school's focus on diversity and how it will inform their future role as a doctor.

As a child, one of my favorite times of the year was the summer, when I would travel to Yemen… at least until I turned twelve. Suddenly, the traditional and, in my Yemeni American view, restrictive laws for women, applied to me. Perhaps the most representative of these laws was having to cover my hair with a scarf-like garment. Staying true to my values, I decided against returning to Yemen, thereby losing a vital connection to my culture. However, this estrangement did not inhibit my growth.

The 500-word response continues with how the applicant met a Yemeni student who grew up in France and was barred from wearing a headscarf due to a school uniform policy. Where the applicant saw the headscarf as restrictive, the other student saw it as a connection to her roots. The applicant describes how although the same object held different meanings to two people from the same background, she used that to appreciate different perspectives and to advocate for a woman's right to express herself.

Later that year, I applied this lesson in perspective to my work as a clinical coordinator, when a patient walked into the office and handed me a piece of paper explaining she only spoke Arabic...By thinking critically while vernacularly translating the doctor’s advice, I was directly involved in the process of her medical care. Because of my experience in exploring the multi-cultural barriers I faced alongside the Yemeni French student who cherished her headscarf, I spent time talking to this Yemeni patient about the barriers she had faced in receiving care.

This experience motivated me to help overcome cultural healthcare barriers and disparities, showcasing my devotion to equitable treatment by creating a new protocol within the clinic where I work. Now, when scheduling patients over the phone, we ask if they have any language preferences, and we have a series of scripts we can use during each patient’s treatment.

The applicant then drives home why she believes she's a good fit for the school.

My background and experiences will contribute to Yale School of Medicine’s diversity and inform my future role as a physician by creating a student organization that holds informational workshops, utilizing my unique experiences to connect with Yale’s diverse patient population, and working to address healthcare disparities as a future physician. I envision these informational workshops would operate in the Haven Free Clinic patient waiting rooms to empower all patients, regardless of their background.

This essay is successful because it does more than tell essay readers about the applicant's background, Shemmassian says. It shows how the applicant grew "into a more compassionate and culturally humble future physician who will help patients overcome health care barriers."

"Strong diversity essays will always show admissions committees how a unique trait or life experience will help them become a better physician," he says. "This essay is especially successful because the applicant connects their experiences and what they’ve learned because of them to the Yale School of Medicine itself. This is an applicant who is already thinking deeply about not just what they can get out of medical school but how they can contribute to the values and mission of the school they attend."

Searching for a medical school? Get our  complete rankings  of Best Medical Schools.

Medical School Application Mistakes

Tags: medical school , doctors , graduate schools , education , students

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The Prague School of Linguistics and its Influence on New Testament Language Studies

2013, The Language of the New Testament. Context, History, and Development, Brill Academic Publishers

The period from 1910 to 1930 was a time when a number of theoretical systems saw the light of the day in Central Europe: psychoanalysis, neopositivism, phenomenology, the Warsaw School of logic, Gestalt-psychology and the structuralism of the Prague School of Linguistics. The Prague School arose in the liberal-minded Prague of the 1920s and came to have an enormous influence on multiple fields within world linguistics as well as other academic fields. The Prague School of linguistics, or the École de Prague, was established by Vilém Mathesius in the mid-1920s. The school had its most active time in the 1920s and 1930s, or more precisely, from 1926 to the outbreak of World War II. The instrumental role that the Prague School linguistics played for the development of structuralism and for integrating theoretical linguistics cannot be overrated. This article addresses the relevance of the development of structuralism and functionalism within Prague School linguistics in relation to its adoption within New Testament Greek language studies. It is the thesis of this article that a great deal of the research that has been done within the disci- pline of New Testament language studies in the last decades, and especially the last 20 years, draws on ideas and concepts of the Prague School of Linguistics.

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How Do You Respond to a Young Person Upset by Racist Jokes at School?

When you talk to students about social media radicalization, racism and bullying, you learn how desperate they are for some guidance.

By Dashka Slater

The sixth-grade boy who raised his hand was wiry and small. “People at my school make racist jokes,” he said, when I called on him. His voice had yet to change. “How do I get them to stop?”

I was sitting on a high school stage in Piedmont, Calif., where I had finished a conversation with two high school seniors about my new book, “Accountable,” which was adapted in The New York Times Magazine last August . Both the article and the book tell the story of the turmoil that befell a California high school and its community after some students created and shared racist material on an Instagram account. Since the article and book came out, I have spoken at schools around the country about the issues the story raises: social media radicalization, racism, humor, boy culture, the impacts of bullying and the vexing question of how to respond effectively.

This particular audience was made up mostly of adults, and they responded with applause, as if the boy’s mere desire to stop racist jokes was triumph enough. Perhaps it was. But this sixth grader wasn’t looking for approval. He wanted an actual answer , not the platitudes that adults fall back on when asked about the toxic social dynamics of middle and high school: “Be kind!” “Speak up!” “Be an upstander!” He wanted to know how to get people at his school to stop making racist jokes without becoming the butt of the jokes himself.

I talked about having a firm but nonconfrontational phrase ready, something like “Dude, that’s messed up.” I talked about how to identify which classmates had the social clout to influence their peers and how to approach those people. I talked about when to get an adult involved and how to choose the right one. But even as I spoke, I was thinking: “You know I’m just a journalist, right? I’m the one who asks the questions. What makes you think I have the answers ?”

This is both the joy and the terror of talking to young people about hot-button topics. I usually start by asking students to raise their hands if they’ve seen or heard hate speech online, whether it’s the use of slurs on gaming platforms; racist memes or videos on social media; or ugly remarks in the comment section of an article or video. They all have, of course. We all have.

If I’ve managed to engage their attention — tougher to do just before lunch or during first period, when they’re barely awake — students will respond to my presentation with questions that reveal both how pertinent the topic is to their lives and how eager they are for guidance.

Sometimes the questions are philosophical: “How do you know if someone is a good person or a bad person?” “You say that everyone has the capacity to transform, but what if it’s a mass murderer?”

Sometimes they are practical: “What should we do when we see something racist online?”

And often the questions are deeply personal. Usually, at the end of my presentation, there is a small group of students waiting to talk with me. With the sensitivity that is characteristic of their generation, they will keep some space between one another so that the person speaking with me won’t be overheard.

Within that small cocoon of privacy, I’ve had a young woman sob in my arms after saying: “Those girls you wrote about must have felt so heard. But nobody listened when it happened to me!” I’ve heard the stories of young people who were the targets of everything from racist remarks to violent bullying. I’ve fielded questions about free speech and the role anger plays in the emotional health of victims.

“I did not want to write about my experiences with racism,” Jeena Ann Kidambi, an eighth grader from Framingham, Mass., wrote in an essay about the girls, Ana and A., featured in the Times article because they were targeted by the racist Instagram account. Like A., she wrote, “I did not want to dwell on those memories. However, by writing this essay and embracing my emotions on the subject, I gained closure and released myself from anger’s chokehold.” (The essay won a contest in her school district sponsored by the Swiacki Children’s Literature Festival at Framingham State University.)

At one school, a girl spoke so softly that I had to lean close to hear her. Haltingly, with her eyes fixed on the ground, she asked how people could make amends for a harm they caused if the person harmed wouldn’t speak to them. She didn’t tell me what she had done, but I could see that it haunted her — both the guilt over the injury she had caused and the fear she would be punished in perpetuity.

I think about this girl often, wishing I had a better answer to give her. At every school I visit, I remind students that they are works in progress, that during their teenage years they will both be harmed and cause harm, and that they have the capacity to survive both. And each time, I walk away struck by how vulnerable they are to forces that they neither created nor control.

Dashka Slater is a writer in California with a focus on teenagers and criminal justice. Her book “The 57 Bus,” a New York Times best seller, was based on an article she wrote for the magazine in 2015 and went on to win a 2018 Stonewall Book Award from the American Library Association.

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Prep athletes of the week: jordyn marsh pitches new prague into softball state tournament.

JORDYN MARSH

New Prague • softball

Marsh has become nearly unhittable.

The senior righthanded pitcher threw a one-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory over Farmington, ranked first in Class 4A by the coaches association, in the Section 1 championship, getting the Trojans back to the state tournament for the first time since 2016. She gave up only eight hits in the Trojans' four shutout section victories.

"Jordyn is consistently surpassing expectations on the mound," New Prague coach Melissa Digatono said. "She has established herself as a formidable force."

Marsh struck out 53 in 26 innings in the section tournament, capping it with 15 against Farmington. She has fanned 214 this season and has a 0.45 ERA.

"I'm pitching at the highest level of my career right now," Marsh said. "The hard work all of us have put in the past three or four years led up to this. Our hard work has paid off."

Digatono has seen Marsh's development through the years from close range.

"Jordyn has grown and developed into the dominant pitcher she is today," Digatono said. "She is a cornerstone of our defense and lineup. Despite the immense pressure to consistently perform, Jordyn has continually risen to the occasion."

Marsh is also a tough out. She has five home runs and 18 RBI for the No. 9-ranked Trojans (19-3).

"Jordyn is a student of the game, absorbing information and applying it effectively," Digatono said. "Her leadership on and off the field are invaluable to this team. Her performances, both defensively and offensively, in high-pressure situations have been crucial to our success."

SAM UDOVICH

Cretin-Derham Hall • golf

Udovich, a junior, had been sliding down the Minnesota Golf Association's state rankings. He now appears primed to make a run at the Class 3A state tournament title. Udovich, ranked seventh, shot a 12-under-par 132 to win the Class 3A, Section 4 two-day tournament at Bunker Hills Golf Club in Coon Rapids. He had rounds of 65 and 67 on the same course where the state tournament will be held. "Sam played excellent, getting off to fast starts," Raiders coach Bob Kinne said. "He wanted to keep things going the second day."

SYDNEY RUCKETT

Minneapolis Washburn • track

Ruckett, a junior, won the 200- and 400-meter dashes and finished second in the 100 at the Class 3A, Section 6 meet. She won the 400 with a meet-record time of 55.55 seconds, the second-fastest time in the state this season. "Sydney made a short-term goal to return to the state meet after last season," Millers coach Tracy Byrd said. "The consistent manner in which she applies herself to her training, all season long, speaks to why she accomplished her short-term goal of returning to the state meet this year."

WILL PREIMESBERGER

East Ridge • baseball

Preimesberger picked a good time — the Class 4A, Section 4 tournament — to come to the forefront for the Raptors (17-6). He did so both at the plate and on the mound. A lefthanded pitcher and outfielder, he threw a complete-game four-hitter to beat top-seeded Stillwater 7-2 and advance East Ridge in the finals. "He attacked the strike zone, with rain coming down all game, against a great Stillwater team," Raptors coach Brian Sprout said. Preimesberger also delivered a run-scoring triple and a couple of key putouts in a 3-0 victory over Cretin-Derham Hall in the previous round.

SHAY SWANSON

Lakeville North • lacrosse

The junior midfielder is a big reason the Panthers are one game away from a state tournament berth. Swanson has scored 40 goals during the Panthers' seven-game winning streak, including six in a 16-7 victory over Southwest Christian in the Section 1 semifinals. She has at least five goals in nine games this season. Swanson leads the Panthers (11-4) with 71 goals and 22 assists. She had 39 goals her sophomore season.

CHARLIE PAUL

Mound Westonka • tennis

The senior captain didn't have any trouble switching from singles to doubles, teaming up with classmate Carter Reinbold to win the Class 1A, Section 2 championship and advance to the state tournament. Paul, ranked sixth by the coaches association, is 21-3 this season and is closing in on 70 career victories. "Charlie is a smart player who quickly figures out how best to attack opponents using a big kick serve, dominant forehand and a strong mental game," White Hawks coach Rob Paul said.

Edina • softball

Meyer is the catalyst for the Hornets (16-9) and played an integral part in a 6-4 victory over Armstrong in the Class 4A, Section 6 championship. The sophomore had a double and home run while picking up the win with four innings of relief pitching. She is hitting .407 with five home runs. "Ella has pitched in some tough and important games," Edina coach Keith Johnson said. "She has been a very important part of the team's success this year."

Nominate an athlete: Send an email with supporting information to [email protected] . Include a photo and a link, if available, to video.

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