Pragmatics reacted to the structuralist linguistics outlined by Ferdinand de Saussure. In many cases, it expanded upon his idea that language has a structure to be analyzed, made up of parts that can be defined in relation to others. It engages in synchronic study, as opposed to examining the historical development of language. However, it rejected the notion that all meaning comes from signs existing purely in the abstract space of langue.
While Chomskyan linguistics famously repudiated Bloomfieldian anthropological linguistics, pragmatics carries on its tradition. Also influential were Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, and Benjamin Whorf.
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