Thomas Givon

Thomas Givon
Born June 22, 1936
Afula, British Mandate of Palestine (Now Israel)
Occupation Linguist

Thomas Givon (also known as Talmy Givón[1][2][3]) (born June 22, 1936) is a linguist and writer. He is one of the founders of functionalism in linguistics.[4] He is one of the founders of the linguistics department at the University of Oregon based on his functional-adaptive approach to language and communication.

Contents

Biography

His work covers many language areas (Semitic, African, Amerindian, Austronesian, Papuan, Sino-Tibetan, Indo-European), as well as many areas of theoretical linguistics: (syntax, semantics, pragmatics, second language acquisition, pidgins & creoles, discourse & text linguistics, methodology & philosophy of science, philosophy of language, typology & language universals, grammaticalization & historical syntax, cognitive science, language evolution).

Education

Givón earned his bachelor of science cum laude in agriculture from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1959.[3] Attending UCLA, he received a master of science degree in horticulture in 1962, a C.Phil in Plant Biochemistry, a master of arts in linguistics in 1966, and a PhD in in linguistics in 1969, as well as an TESL certificate in 1965.

Career

Research Associate in Lexicography (Systems Development Corporation, 1966–1967); Research Associate in Bantu Linguistics (University of Zambia 1967-1968); Assistant Professor of Linguistics and African Languages (UCLA 1969-1974); Associate Professor of Linguistics (UCLA 1974-1979); Professor of Linguistics (UCLA 1969-1981); Professor of Linguistics (University of Oregon 1981-2002); Distinguished Professor (emeritus) of Linguistics and Cognitive Science (University of Oregon; 2002- ). Givón's last general linguistic project was The Genesis of Complex Syntax: Diachrony, Ontogeny, Cognition, Evolution.

Givón is said to have coined the aphorism that "today's morphology is yesterday's syntax",[2][3] in a development of Antoine Meillet's work on grammaticalisation.[5]

He was the editor of the book series Typological Studies in Language published by John Benjamins Publishing Company.[6][7]

Bibliography

Givón's published books include:

References

  1. ^ http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-039200-0
  2. ^ a b Michael C. Corballis (2011). The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Thought, Language, and Civilization. Princeton University Press. p. 33. ISBN 9780691145471. http://books.google.com/books?id=z3HtEZjQ96wC&pg=PA33. 
  3. ^ a b c E. K. Brown; R. E. Asher; J. M. Y. Simpson (2006). Encyclopedia of language & linguistics. Elsevier. pp. 86–87. ISBN 9780080442990. 
  4. ^ Christopher Butler (2003). Structure and Function: Approaches to the simplex clause. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 61. ISBN 9781588113573. http://books.google.com/books?id=fxzPs31VDHIC&pg=PA61. 
  5. ^ Van Sterkenburg, Piet (2008). Unity and diversity of languages. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 177. ISBN 9027232482. http://books.google.com/books?id=6eQqbSX8x_kC&pg=PA177. 
  6. ^ JSTOR 415547
  7. ^ http://journalseek.net/cgi-bin/journalseek/journalsearch.cgi?field=issn&query=0378-4177

External links