Bloomfield, Leonard (1887-1949), was a leading American linguist who developed scientific methods for the study of language. He helped establish the school of linguistics called structuralism (see Linguistics (Structuralism) ). Structuralists study language forms and patterns without reference to meaning or content.
Bloomfield worked mainly with Germanic, Polynesian, and American Indian languages and devised a system for describing language structures. His book Language (1933) became the major text of the American structural school of linguistics and a classic in its field. Bloomfield also contributed to the practical teaching of reading and foreign languages.
Bloomfield was born on April 1, 1887, in Chicago. He graduated from Harvard University and received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He taught linguistics at the University of Chicago and Yale University. Bloomfield helped found the Linguistic Society of America in 1924 and later served as its president. He died on April 18, 1949.
