This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Maunus (talk | contribs) at 03:13, 6 March 2011 (→Personal life: not notable or cited). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 03:13, 6 March 2011 by Maunus (talk | contribs) (→Personal life: not notable or cited)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
 | This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Thomas Givon" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| The topic of this article may not meet Misplaced Pages's general notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "Thomas Givon" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Thomas Givon | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 22, 1936 Afula, British Mandate of Palestine (Now Israel) |
| Occupation | Linguist |
Thomas Givon (also known as Talmy Givón) (born June 22, 1936) is a linguist, rancher, musician and writer and one of the founders of functionalism in linguistics. 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.
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 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1959. 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 Assistant in Plant Biochemistry (UCLA 1960-1963); Research Assistant in Mathematical Linguistics (UCLA 1965-1966); 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". In fact, that aphorism merely recapitulate ideas of the 19th Century linguists Franz Bopp and Hermann Paul concerning the diachronic foundation of grammatical typology.
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)
- Ute Dictionary, (1979)
- Ute Reference Grammar, (1980)
- Topic Continuity in Discourse, (1983)
- Syntax: A Functional-Typological Introduction, (vol. I, 1984; vol. II 1990)
- Ute Traditional Narratives, (1985)
- Mind, Code, and Context: Essays in Pragmatics, (1989)
- English Grammar, (2 vols; 1993)
- Functionalism and Grammar, (1995)
- Running Through the Tall Grass, (a novel; 1997)
- Syntax: An Introduction, (2 vols, 2001)
- Bio-Linguistics, (2002)
- Context as Other Minds, (2005)
- The Genesis of Syntactic Complexity, (2009)
- Ute Reference Grammar, (2011)
References
- Van Sterkenburg, Piet (2008). Unity and diversity of languages. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 177. ISBN 9027232482.