Theoretical and methodological guidelines for conducting research in the historiography of grammaticography

Abstract

The article develops theoretical and methodological guidelines that can conceptually and analytically underpin various research involving grammaticography, the metalinguistic, descriptive, and normative domain of grammarians. The work aligns with reflections on the historiography of grammaticography, that is, on the writing of the history of the technique of composing grammars. The nature of the article is essentially meta-historiographical, aiming to promote a critical and systematic reflection on research practices in the Historiography of Linguistics, with an emphasis on its theoretical or methodological aspects (SWIGGERS, 2009b). The systematizations presented address, among other points: i) objectives, objects, and interests of research in the historiography of grammaticography; ii) historiographical sources and how they can impact the nature of these researches; iii) forms of organization and analytical possibilities of the historiography of grammaticography; iv) epistemological characteristics that run through traditional grammars, privileged sources of this line of investigation; v) and categories of analysis outlined in an example of research. It is understood that grammatical knowledge is historical products resulting from processes of elaboration, selection, reception, and obliteration of ideas. It is argued, therefore, that studies in the field of historiography of grammaticography are relevant for tracing narratives that reconstruct relations of (dis)continuities between different approaches to grammatical issues, which can help researchers and language teachers to have a critical and historically situated understanding of the constitution of these knowledges as objects of investigation and teaching.