Structural and Theoretical Linguistics

Scholars whose primary contribution is a general theory of how a language's grammar or sound system is organized, independent of its history. Belongs here: Ferdinand de Saussure, founder of structural linguistics; Nikolai Trubetzkoy, founder of phonology; Roman Jakobson, distinctive feature theory; Andre Martinet, functional linguistics; Emile Benveniste, structural and semiotic theory; Leonard Bloomfield, American structural linguistics; Noam Chomsky, generative grammar; and Wilhelm von Humboldt, an early theorist of language's inner form. Does not belong here: a scholar whose main legacy is reconstructing a specific family's history, grouped under Historical and Comparative Linguistics instead.