SOURCE: "Hugh Blair's Theory of the Origin and the Basic Functions of Language," Papers from the 5th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics, Cambridge, 6-9 April 1987, edited by Sylvia Adamson, Vivien Law, Nigel Vincent and Susan Wright, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1990, pp. 165-87.

In the following essay, Frank examines Blair's ideas on the nature, history, structure, and development of language.

In the history of English studies, the figure of Hugh Blair, the Scottish divine and prominent member of the Edinburgh literati of the second half of the 18th century is of particular interest. When he was appointed Regius Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the University of Edinburgh in 1762, the institutional study of what later became the English Language and Literature course can, in a very real sense, be said to have been initiated. It should perhaps be pointed out that, provided this interpretation of Blair's role...