B.P. Hasdeu and the Possibility of Founding Phraseology as a Science

Abstract

In a concise study from 1882, B.P. Hasdeu presented his own classification of the linguistic
sciences (seen as subdivisions of glottics, i.e., the science of language) and justified the distinctions
made according to mainly formal and semantic criteria. At the same time, Hasdeu also took into
consideration two physical-psychical aspects of linguistic units, namely their “fluid” and “condensed”
features. As a result of combining these criteria and aspects, a series of sub-sciences were
individualized (whether their object was either the word or the sentence). I aimed at demonstrating
that the respective criteria also allow the individualization of phraseology (or the delimitation of its
object). However, it seems that the time of phraseology had not come yet, since Hasdeu left a “blank
space” in his classification – the very place of phraseology.