Thomas Givon
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| 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:
- The Travels of Benjamins Adam, (a novel; 1966)
- Studies in Chi-Bemba and Bantu Grammar, (1973)
- On Understanding Grammar, (1979) review in American Scientist vol 68, Sep-Oct 1980 [1]
- Ute Dictionary, (1979)
- Ute Reference Grammar, (1980)
- Topic Continuity in Discourse, (1983; editor)
- Syntax: A Functional-Typological Introduction, (vol. I, 1984; vol. II 1990; revised edition published in 2001 as Syntax: An Introduction)
- Ute Traditional Narratives, (1985)
- Mind, Code, and Context: Essays in Pragmatics, (1989)
- English Grammar, (2 vols; 1993)
- Functionalism and Grammar, (1995) review in doi:10.1515/thli.1996.22.1-2.125
- Running Through the Tall Grass, (a fiction novel; 1997) review in Publishers Weekly
- Syntax: An Introduction, (2 vols, 2001) review in JSTOR 4176888
- Bio-Linguistics, (2002) reviewed in doi:10.1353/lan.2005.0030
and [2]
- Context as Other Minds, (2005) review in [3] and doi:10.1353/lan.0.0046
- The Genesis of Syntactic Complexity, (2009) review in doi:10.1353/lan.0.0157
- Ute Reference Grammar, (2011)
References
- ^ http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-039200-0
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c E. K. Brown; R. E. Asher; J. M. Y. Simpson (2006). Encyclopedia of language & linguistics. Elsevier. pp. 86–87. ISBN 9780080442990.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ JSTOR 415547
- ^ http://journalseek.net/cgi-bin/journalseek/journalsearch.cgi?field=issn&query=0378-4177
