Books

Monographs

• McElvenny, James. 2024. A History of Modern Linguistics: From the beginnings to World War II. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Publisher's website   👉Errata👈
Translations:
• McElvenny, James. 2025. Entstehung und Entwicklung der modernen Linguistik, übersetzt von Erwin Fink. Berlin: De Gruyter. Publisher's website
• Greek, Portuguese and Chinese translations forthcoming.
Reviews for all editions:
• Gerda Haßler in Historiographia Linguistica (2024): DOI: 10.1075/hl.00146.has
• Margaret Thomas in History of Humanities (2024): 9:2, pp. 506–508. DOI: 10.1086/731896
• Andrew Garrett in Language (2025): 101:1, pp. 195–199. DOI: 10.1353/lan.2025.a954233
• Friedrich Markwitz in Zeitschrift für Angewandte Linguistik (2026): 84, 185–191. DOI: 10.1515/zfal-2026-2009
• McElvenny, James. 2018. Language and Meaning in the Age of Modernism: C. K. Ogden and his contemporaries. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. DOI: 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474425032.001.0001
  Publisher's website     Preview on Google Books
  Reviews:
  • W. Terrence Gordon in Historiographia Linguistica (2018): 45:1-2, pp. 255-262. DOI: 10.1075/hl.00026.gor
    Green open access
  • Clemens Knobloch in Das Argument (2018): 327, pp. 413-415.
    Publisher's website
  • James Pearson in HOPOS (2019). DOI: 10.1086/701858
  • Adam Tamas Tuboly in History of Philosophy and Logical Analysis (2019).
  • Sébastien Moret in Histoire Épistémologie Langage (2020): 42.2, pp. 179–183.
    DOI: 10.1051/hel/2020023
  • Marc Pierce in Language & History (2023).
    DOI: 10.1080/17597536.2022.2162330

Edited books and special issues of journals

• Benetka, Gerhard, Janette Friedrich, Clemens Knobloch & James McElvenny, hrsg. Im Erscheinen. Neue Debatten zu Karl Bühlers Sprachtheorie. Basel: Schwabe.
• McElvenny, James, ed. Forthcoming. Milestones in Linguistic Thought. London: Routledge.
• McElvenny, James, ed. 2024. 'The indexicality of skills and the skill of deixis', special issue of Language Sciences.
• McElvenny, James, ed. 2023. The Limits of Structuralism: Forgotten texts in the history of modern linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  Publisher's website     Preview on Google Books
  Reviews:
  • Geoffrey Sampson in Linguist List (2023):
    https://linguistlist.org/issues/34-3235/
    WARNING: Pretty grumpy review
  • Clemens Knobloch in Historiographia Linguistica (2024):
    DOI: 10.1075/hl.00135.kno
  • Bart Karstens in History of Humanities (2024): 9:2, pp. 508–511.
    DOI: 10.1086/731897
• McElvenny, James, ed. 2022. Interviews in the History of Linguistics, vol. I. Berlin: Language Science Press. (Open access) Publisher's website
• Ploder, Andrea & James McElvenny, eds. 2022. Special issue of Gesprächsforschung on "Sequence Analysis in Linguistics and Social Theory" 23. Open access
• McElvenny, James & Andrea Ploder, eds. 2021. Holisms of communication: The early history of audio-visual sequence analysis. Berlin: Language Science Press.
  DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5142265 (Open access)
• McElvenny, James, ed. 2019. Gabelentz and the Science of Language. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
  Publisher's website     Preview on Google Books
  Reviews:
  • Didier Samain in Histoire Épistémologie Langage (2020): 42.2, pp. 175–179.
    DOI: 10.1051/hel/2020023
  • Jacques François in Historiographia Linguistica (2020): 47.2/3, pp. 340–346.
    DOI: 10.1075/hl.00071.fra
• McElvenny, James, ed. 2019. Form and Formalism in Linguistics. Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.2654375 (Open access)
  Publisher's website
  Reviews:
  • Christopher Hutton in Historiographia Linguistica (2019): 46:3, pp. 405–410. DOI: 10.1075/hl.00059.hut
  • Randy Allen Harris in Language and History (2020): DOI: 10.1080/17597536.2020.1744267
  • Margaret Thomas in Language (2021): DOI: 10.1353/lan.2021.0052
• Gabelentz, Georg von der. 2016 [1891]. Die Sprachwissenschaft, ihre Aufgaben, Methoden und bisherigen Ergebnisse, hrsg. von Manfred Ringmacher und James McElvenny. Berlin: Language Science Press.
  DOI: 10.17169/langsci.b97.143 (Open access)

Podcast

• McElvenny, James. 2020– . History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences Podcast.
  Spotify | Apple Podcasts

Media and Online

• Piller, Ingrid & James McElvenny. 2024. Interview on A History of Modern Linguistics. Language on the Move Podcast.
• McElvenny, James. 2024. Our language, our world. Aeon.
• Greenwood, Samara & James McElvenny. 2023. Interview on language and science. The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science.
• McElvenny, James. 2022. E. F. K. Koerner (1939–2022). History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences.
• McElvenny, James. 2021. Typology and the history of linguistics. Abralin ao Vivo.
• McElvenny, James. 2020. Why the linguist needs the historian. Language on the Move.
• McElvenny, James. 2019. How the language of ‘fake news’ echoes 20th-century propaganda. British Academy Blog.
• McElvenny, James. 2019. Introducing the book Form and formalism in linguistics.
• McElvenny, James, trans. 2018. Typology – a new task of linguistics. History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences.
• McElvenny, James. 2016. The secret history of grammaticalization. History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences.
• McElvenny, James. 2013. Otto Neurath's Isotype and his philosophy of language. History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences.
• McElvenny, James. 2013. Otto Jespersen and progress in international language. History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences.
• McElvenny, James. 2011. Between Adelaide and Altenburg. Endangered Languages and Cultures.
• McElvenny, James. 2011. Culturomics and Google Books. Fully (sic).
• McElvenny, James. 2009. Producing pidgins. Lingua Franca, ABC Radio National.

Articles

• McElvenny, James & Clemens Knobloch. 2026. ‘Psychology and the 20th-century Galileo cult: Kurt Lewin vs. Karl Bühler’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2026.102130 (Open access)
• McElvenny, James. 2025. ‘Language, skills, deixis and indexicality – their roles and interactions’, Language Sciences. DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101775
• McElvenny, James and Gerhard Rüdiger. 2025. ‘Linguistic description between Kleinstaaterei and the Word of God: a case study of the 1838 Lutheran mission to South Australia’, Historiographia Linguistica. DOI: 10.1075/hl.00185.mce (manuscript)
• McElvenny, James. 2025. ‘The Aesthetic Dimension of Grammaticalization: Georg von der Gabelentz and Antoine Meillet in Context’, Histoire Épistémologie Langage. DOI: 10.4000/14jyz (Open access)
• McElvenny, James & Clemens Knobloch. 2023. ‘From Sprachtheorie to semantics and cybernetics: Karl Bühler’s “Pocketbook on Practical Semantics”’, Semiotica. DOI: 10.1515/sem-2022-0046 (Open access)
• Ploder, Andrea & James McElvenny. 2022. ‘Sequence Analysis in Linguistics and Social Theory’, Gesprächsforschung. Open access
• McElvenny, James. 2021. ‘Language complexity in historical perspective: the enduring tropes of natural growth and abnormal contact’, Frontiers in Communication. DOI: 10.3389/fcomm.2021.621712 (Open access)
• McElvenny, James. 2018. ‘August Schleicher and materialism in nineteenth-century linguistics’, Historiographia Linguistica 45.1, 133-152. DOI: 10.1075/hl.00018.mce
  Green open access
• McElvenny, James. 2017. ‘Georg von der Gabelentz’, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.379
  Green open access
• McElvenny, James. 2017. ‘Linguistic aesthetics from the nineteenth to the twentieth century: the case of Otto Jespersen’s “progress in language”’, History of Humanities 2.2, 417-442. DOI: 10.1086/693322
  Green open access
• McElvenny, James. 2017. ‘Grammar, typology and the Humboldtian tradition in the work of Georg von der Gabelentz’, Language and History 60.1, 1-20. DOI: 10.1080/17597536.2016.1212580
  Green open access
• McElvenny, James. 2016. ‘The fate of form in the Humboldtian tradition: the Formungstrieb of Georg von der Gabelentz’, Language and Communication 47, 30-42. DOI: 10.1016/j.langcom.2015.12.004
  Green open access
• McElvenny, James. 2015. ‘The application of C.K. Ogden’s semiotics in Basic English’, Language Problems and Language Planning 39:2, 187-204. DOI: 10.1075/lplp.39.2.05mce
  Green open access
• McElvenny, James. 2014. ‘Ogden and Richards’ The Meaning of Meaning and early analytic philosophy’, Language Sciences 41, 212-221. DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2013.10.001
  Green open access
• McElvenny, James. 2013. ‘International Language and the Everyday: contact and collaboration between C.K. Ogden, Rudolf Carnap and Otto Neurath’, British Journal for the History of Philosophy 21:6, 1194-1218. DOI: 10.1080/09608788.2013.825761
  Green open access

Chapters

• McElvenny, James. Forthcoming. 'Constructed languages and linguistic theory: the parallel trajectories of Basic and Minimal English', Constructed Languages and the Sociolinguistics of World Making, ed. David Karlander and Monica Heller. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• McElvenny, James. 2024. ‘The Meaning of Meaning d'Ogden et Richards dans le contexte de la première philosophie analytique’, Le contexte en question, ed. Gerda Haßler, 207–228. London: ISTE Science Publishing.
  Publisher's website
• McElvenny, James. 2023. ‘Gabelentz' typology: Humboldtian linguistics on the threshold of structuralism’, The Limits of Structuralism: Forgotten texts in the history of modern linguistics, ed. James McElvenny, 81–108. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• McElvenny, James. 2023. ‘Scouting the limits of structuralism’, The Limits of Structuralism: Forgotten texts in the history of modern linguistics, ed. James McElvenny, 1–10. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• McElvenny, James & Andrea Ploder. 2021. ‘Capturing the whole’, Holisms of communication: The early history of audio-visual sequence analysis, ed. James McElvenny &am; Andrea Ploder, vii–xix. Berlin: Language Science Press.
  DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5142265 (Open access)
• McElvenny, James. 2020. ‘Nach Humboldt´schem Vorbild: Sprachbeschreibung und Typologie bei Georg von der Gabelentz’, Von Lindenblättern und verderbten Dialekten: Neue Studien zu Georg von der Gabelentz (1840 –1893), ed. Henning Klöter & Xuetao Li, 77–98. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
• McElvenny, James. 2020. ‘La grammaticalisation et la circulation internationale des idées linguistiques’, Les linguistes allemands du XIXème siècle et leurs interlocuteurs étrangers, ed. Jacques François, 201–212. Paris: Éditions de la Société de Linguistique de Paris.
  Open access
• McElvenny, James. 2019. ‘Alternating sounds and the formal franchise in phonology’, Form and Formalism in Linguistics, ed. James McElvenny, 35–58. Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.2654351
• McElvenny, James. 2019. Introduction to Form and Formalism in Linguistics, ed. James McElvenny, iii–viii. Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.2654351
• McElvenny, James and Manfred Ringmacher. 2019. ‘Content and form of speech’, Gabelentz and the Science of Language, ed. James McElvenny, 131–313. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
• Vogel, Annemete von & James McElvenny. 2019. ‘The Gabelentz family in their own words’, Gabelentz and the Science of Language, ed. James McElvenny, 13–26. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
• McElvenny, James. 2010. ‘The diachronic evolution of the direction particle lái in Mandarin’, Grammatical Change: theory and description, ed. Rachel Hendery and Jennifer Hendriks, 185-201. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  Green open access

Software

• McElvenny, James. 2023. Australian language map visualisation.
• Mark Donohue, Rebecca Hetherington, James McElvenny (programmer) & Virginia Dawson. 2013. World Phonotactics Database.
• McElvenny, James. 2010. Wunderkammer.

Reviews and other

• McElvenny, James. 2026. Review of The People that never were by Christopher M. Hutton. Language in Society. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404526102000
• McElvenny, James. 2025. Review of The Unnaming of Kroeber Hall by Andrew Garrett. History of Humanities 10:1, 281–284. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/734373
• McElvenny, James. 2022. Ernst Frideryk Konrad Koerner, ein Nachruf. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft 32:1, 127–129.
• McElvenny, James. 2016. Rezension von Sebastian Fink, Benjamin Whorf, die Sumerer, und der Einfluss der Sprache auf das Denken. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft 26:2, 324-326.
  Green open access
• McElvenny, James. 2016. Review of The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics, ed. Keith Allan. Histoire Epistémologie Langage 38:1, 177-179. DOI: 10.1051/hel/2016380109 (Open access)
• McElvenny, James. 2015. Review of Evaluating Cartesian Linguistics by Christina Brehme. Historiographia Linguistica 42.1, 169-172. DOI: 10.1075/hl.42.1.10mce
  Green open access
• McElvenny, James. 2008. Review of Kirrkirr. Language Documentation and Conservation 2.1, 160-165. DOI: 10125/1796 (Open access)