Peter Stephen DuPonceau
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| Pierre-Etienne (Peter Stephen) Du Ponceau | |
 DuPonceau, circa 1790
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| Born | June 3, 1760 St-Martin de Ré, France |
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| Died | April 1, 1844 Philadelphia, United States |
| Occupation | Philosopher, linguist, jurist |
Peter Stephen DuPonceau, born Pierre-Etienne Du Ponceau, (June 3, 1760, St-Martin de Ré, France - April 1, 1844, Philadelphia) was a French linguist, philosopher, and jurist. He spent the majority of his life in the United States.
[edit] Early life and war career
DuPonceau's education took place at a Benedictine college, where he gained an interest in linguistics. However, he abruptly ended his education after only 18 months over a dissatisfaction with the scholarly philosophy taught at the college. He emigrated to America in 1777, at age 17, with Baron von Steuben. Once there, he served as a secretary for Steuben in the Revolutionary Army. After the American Revolution, he moved to Philadelphia, where he would spend the rest of his life.
[edit] Work in philosophy and linguistics
DuPonceau joined the American Philosophical Society in 1791 and served as president of it from 1827 until his death. He became famous in the field of linguistics for his analysis of Indigenous languages of the Americas—as a member of Society's Historical and Literary Committee, he helped build a collection of texts detailing the native languages of the Americas. His book concerning their grammatical systems (Mémoire sur le systeme grammatical des langues de quelques nations Indiennes de l'Amérique du Nord) won the Volney Prize of the French Institute in 1835.
DuPonceau was also one of the first western linguists to hold the view that Chinese writing was based on spoken words, and not ideas and concepts. He used the example of Vietnamese using chu Nom at the time to show that the Vietnamese employed Chinese characters primarily for sound and not for meaning. It would be over 100 years before this idea would become accepted in linguistic circles.[1]
[edit] References
- Mooney, James (1909). "Peter Stephen Duponceau". The Catholic Encyclopedia Volume V. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved on April 11 2007.
- Pierre-Etienne Du Ponceau. Biography and Concluding Remarks to "A Brief View of the Constitution of the United States". University of North Carolina at Asheville. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.
- American Philosophical Society. Peter Stephen DuPonceau. Background Information [on DuPonceau]. University of North Carolina at Asheville. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.
