Thomas Givon
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Thomas Givon | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 22, 1936 |
| 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 "West Coast Functionalism"[4], today classified as a usage-based model of language, and of the linguistics department at the University of Oregon. Givón advocates an evolutionary approach to language and communication.
Contents
Education
Givón earned his bachelor of science degree 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 degree in linguistics in 1966, and a PhD in linguistics in 1969, as well as an TESL certificate in 1965.
Career
 | This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. (April 2015) |
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.
Work in linguistics
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 and creoles, discourse and text linguistics, methodology and philosophy of science, philosophy of language, typology and language universals, grammaticalization and historical syntax, cognitive science, language 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]
Other writings
Givon has written a series of novels and historical translations through his publishing house, White Cloud Publishing, and is a google blogger.
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 [8]
- 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 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 [9]
- Context as Other Minds, (2005) review in [10] 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)
- "Seadock: The Boz Trilogy #1", (a novel; 2011)[11]
- "Sasquatch: The Boz Trilogy #2", (a novel; 2011)
- "Blood: The Boz Trilogy #3", (a novel; 2012)
- "Tao Teh Ching", (a historical translation; 2012)
References
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: Running Through the Tall Grass by Talmy Givon". Publishersweekly.com. 1997-06-30. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
- ^ a b Michael C. Corballis (2011). The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Thought, Language, and Civilization. Princeton University Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-691-14547-1.
- ^ a b c E. K. Brown; R. E. Asher; J. M. Y. Simpson (2006). Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics. Elsevier. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-0-08-044299-0.
- ^ Christopher Butler (2003). Structure and Function: Approaches to the simplex clause. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-58811-357-3.
- ^ Van Sterkenburg, Piet (2008). Unity and diversity of languages. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 177. ISBN 90-272-3248-2.
- ^ JSTOR 415547
- ^ "Studies in Language". Journalseek.net. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
- ^ "Behavioual Sciences" (PDF). Stanford.edu. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
- ^ "Talmy Givon: Bio-Linguistics; the Santa Barbara Lectures. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
- ^ [1] Archived November 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Durango Herald 04/22/2011 | Givon relives wild '60s in 'Seadock'". Durangoherald.com. 2011-04-21. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
