Continu et Discontinu : Antoine Meillet’s sociolinguistic theory of change between philosophy and physics

Lin Chalozin-Dovrat
Tel Aviv University

Antoine Meillet’s theory of sociolinguistic change finds one of its most accomplished expressions in his article “Le développement des langues.” Included in the posthumous volume Linguistique historique et linguistique générale (1936), it is often read out of its original context (cf. Swiggers 2015). In fact, Meillet wrote this essay for philosopher Jacques Chevalier’s 1929 special issue on the concepts “continuous” and “discontinuous” in science (Chevalier 1929a). Titled Continu et Discontinu, Chevalier’s volume brought together papers of researchers from various fields spanning epistemology, evolution, philosophy, history of science, physics, mathematics, chemistry, law, and Indo-European linguistics. The present article discusses Chevalier’s philosophical program and examines how each of the volume’s papers interacts with it. I argue that re-reading Meillet’s essay within the context of Chevalier’s epistemological project not only reveals its function in Chevalier’s editorial strategy, but also shows how this strategy compelled Meillet to articulate his theory more systematically while allowing us to reassess the role of the conceptual pair “continuous” and “discontinuous” in his work.

Publication history

Date received: 8 January 2025

Date accepted: 20 July 2025

Published online: 19 September 2025

Table of contents

While Antoine Meillet (1866–1936) was primarily known to his contemporaries as an acclaimed specialist in comparative Indo European linguistics, in recent decades his work in general linguistics has drawn considerable scholarly attention (Moreschini 1987; Auroux 1988a, 1988b; Bergounioux & Lamberterie 2006; Swiggers 1988, 2010; Bat-Zeev Shyldkrot & Moret 2024a, 2024b). This renewed interest in Meillet’s work reflects the efforts of historians and linguists to retrieve his name from the obscurity of diachronic grammar’s annals and secure a place for him among the prominent thinkers and theorists of general linguistics.

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