Jørgen Rischel
Encyclopedia
Jørgen Rischel was a Danish
linguist
who worked extensively with different subjects in linguistics, especially phonetics
, phonology
, lexicography
and documentation of endangered languages.
pastor
Ejner Rischel, Rischel's early interest in other cultures was stimulated by a gifted primary school teacher in the Kullerup Public School on Fyn
. From the age of 11 he attended the Nyborg
Realskole
(a private school
with partial state funding), where he developed interests in chemistry
, biochemistry
and ornithology
. In the garden of the Kullerup rectory he carefully recorded in musical notation
the characteristic song and variations of over 20 different songbird
s.
Having assembled a crystal radio receiver and transmitter, he once transmitted his mother Gunnild playing Schumann
on her grand piano. Rischel's transmission accidentally interfered with a national Radio Denmark
(Statsradiofonien) broadcast. His biographers suggest that this may have been "an early manifestation of what later became a serious research activity, namely the construction of the analog parallel synthesizer at the Institute of Phonetics in the late sixties
."
Rischel's interest in linguistics developed whilst still at the Realskole in Nyborg. Aware of how the local Fyn
dialect of Danish
differed from the normative Copenhagen
dialect, he also became interested in Norwegian
after his school took a field trip to Norway
. Having read Bernhard Karlgren
’s introductory textbook on Chinese
and a grammar of Old Norse
, Rischel raised rabbits and sold them to earn the money to purchase a copy of Danmarks Runeinskrifter, a scholarly three-volume work on Danish runes
edited by Lis Jacobsen and Erik Moltke
and published during World War II
.
at the University of Copenhagen
, specializing in West Nordic, obtaining two one-year government scholarships to continue his studies in Reykjavik
and Oslo
. He took classes in Danish dialectology
with Poul Andersen
and in phonetics
with Eli Fischer-Jørgensen
. At Oslo he met linguist Einar Haugen
, who was to be a great influence on Rischel's life.
, Faroese
and Greenlandic, particularly phonetics and phonology.
From 1978 he was a professor of linguistics at the University of Copenhagen
; from 1981 he was chair in phonetics; on his retirement in 1998 he became professor emeritus
there.
In retirement he focused on Mon–Khmer languages; as a guest researcher at Mahidol University
he did extensive fieldwork in Thailand
and Laos
, particularly on the Mlabri
tribal language, an endangered and previously undescribed dialect
of a Khmuic language. His 1995 book described Mlabri phonology, morphology and syntax whilst supplying a lexicon with illustrative examples.
. In November 1991 Rischel was knighted into the Order of the Dannebrog
by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
. He had served as a co-editor of the International Journal of American Linguistics
(a journal begun by Franz Boas
in 1917).
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
who worked extensively with different subjects in linguistics, especially phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
, phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
, lexicography
Lexicography
Lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....
and documentation of endangered languages.
Childhood
As the third of four sons of LutheranChurch of Denmark
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, Church of Denmark or Danish National Church, is the state church and largest denomination in Denmark and Greenland...
pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
Ejner Rischel, Rischel's early interest in other cultures was stimulated by a gifted primary school teacher in the Kullerup Public School on Fyn
Funen
Funen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...
. From the age of 11 he attended the Nyborg
Nyborg
Nyborg is a city in central Denmark, located in Nyborg Municipality on the island of Funen and with a population of 16,492 . Nyborg is one of the 14 large municipalities created on 1 January 2007...
Realskole
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
(a private school
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
with partial state funding), where he developed interests in chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
and ornithology
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
. In the garden of the Kullerup rectory he carefully recorded in musical notation
Musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
the characteristic song and variations of over 20 different songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
s.
Having assembled a crystal radio receiver and transmitter, he once transmitted his mother Gunnild playing Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
on her grand piano. Rischel's transmission accidentally interfered with a national Radio Denmark
Danmarks Radio
DR – officially rendered into English as the Danish Broadcasting Corporation – is Denmark's national broadcasting corporation. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is today Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterprise...
(Statsradiofonien) broadcast. His biographers suggest that this may have been "an early manifestation of what later became a serious research activity, namely the construction of the analog parallel synthesizer at the Institute of Phonetics in the late sixties
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
."
Rischel's interest in linguistics developed whilst still at the Realskole in Nyborg. Aware of how the local Fyn
Funen
Funen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...
dialect of Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
differed from the normative Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
dialect, he also became interested in Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
after his school took a field trip to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. Having read Bernhard Karlgren
Bernhard Karlgren
Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods...
’s introductory textbook on Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
and a grammar of Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
, Rischel raised rabbits and sold them to earn the money to purchase a copy of Danmarks Runeinskrifter, a scholarly three-volume work on Danish runes
Runic alphabet
The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...
edited by Lis Jacobsen and Erik Moltke
Erik Moltke
Erik Moltke was a runologist, writer, editor. Through his leadership the Runologist Section of the National Museum of Denmark became a world centre for the scientific study of runology c.1942 CE....
and published during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
University studies
From 1952 to 1956 he studied Nordic philologyGermanic philology
Germanic philology is the philological study of the Germanic languages particularly from a comparative or historical perspective.The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary texts in the earlier phases of the languages. Early...
at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
, specializing in West Nordic, obtaining two one-year government scholarships to continue his studies in Reykjavik
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
and Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. He took classes in Danish dialectology
Dialectology
Dialectology is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their associated features...
with Poul Andersen
Poul Andersen
Poul Dalby Andersen was a printer who served in the Danish resistance movement during World War II and later published one of the remaining two Danish-language newspapers in the United States-Background:...
and in phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
with Eli Fischer-Jørgensen
Eli Fischer-Jørgensen
Eli Fischer-Jørgensen was professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Copenhagen, she was a member of the Danish resistance movement fighting against the German occupation of Denmark....
. At Oslo he met linguist Einar Haugen
Einar Haugen
Einar Ingvald Haugen was an American linguist, author and Professor at University of Wisconsin–Madison and Harvard University.-Biography:Haugen was born in Sioux City, Iowa to Norwegians from the town of Oppdal in Norway. When he was a young child, the family moved back to Oppdal for a few years,...
, who was to be a great influence on Rischel's life.
Career
In 1974 Rischel earned a doctorate in linguistics. He was a specialist in the Greenlandic language (Kalaallisut); his 1974 thesis was the most comprehensive phonological study of that language to date. He published extensively on topics in DanishDanish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, Faroese
Faroese language
Faroese , is an Insular Nordic language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 Faroese people in Denmark and elsewhere...
and Greenlandic, particularly phonetics and phonology.
From 1978 he was a professor of linguistics at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
; from 1981 he was chair in phonetics; on his retirement in 1998 he became professor emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
there.
In retirement he focused on Mon–Khmer languages; as a guest researcher at Mahidol University
Mahidol University
Mahidol University is a public research university in Bangkok, Thailand. Established back in 1888 as School of Medical Practitioners, Siriraj Hospital and reorganized in 1943 as University of Medical Sciences . The university originally focused on Health Sciences but also expanded to other...
he did extensive fieldwork in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, particularly on the Mlabri
Mlabri
The Mlabri or Mrabri are an ethnic group of Thailand and Laos, and have been called "the most interesting and least understood people in Southeast Asia". Only about 300 or fewer Mlabris remain in the world today, with some estimates as low as 100. A hill tribe in northern Thailand along the border...
tribal language, an endangered and previously undescribed dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of a Khmuic language. His 1995 book described Mlabri phonology, morphology and syntax whilst supplying a lexicon with illustrative examples.
Honours and organizations
In 1978 he was elected a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and LettersRoyal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters is a Danish non-governmental science Academy, founded 13 November 1742 by permission of the King Christian VI, as a historical Collegium Antiquitatum...
. In November 1991 Rischel was knighted into the Order of the Dannebrog
Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog is an Order of Denmark, instituted in 1671 by Christian V. It resulted from a move in 1660 to break the absolutism of the nobility. The Order was only to comprise 50 noble Knights in one class plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons...
by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
Margrethe II of Denmark
Margrethe II is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of Denmark. In 1972 she became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margaret I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375-1412 during the Kalmar Union.-Early life:...
. He had served as a co-editor of the International Journal of American Linguistics
International Journal of American Linguistics
The International Journal of American Linguistics is an academic journal published by the University of Chicago devoted to the study of the indigenous languages of the Americas. It was established in 1917 by anthropologist Franz Boas...
(a journal begun by Franz Boas
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
in 1917).
Co-author or contributor
- 1972, Jørgen Rischel, "Consonant Reduction in Faroese Noncompound Wordforms", in Firchow, E. S., Grimstad, K. Hasselmo, N. & W. A. O’Neil (eds.), Studies for Einar Haugen, presented by Friends and Colleagues, pp. 482–497.
- 1992, Jørgen Rischel, "A diachronic-typological view of the Faroese language" in The Nordic Languages and Modern Linguistics 7, Vol. I pp. 93–118. Jonna Louis-Jensen and J. H. W. Poulsen (eds.). Føroya Fródskaparfelag, Tórshavn.
- 1992, Jørgen Rischel, "Isolation, contact, and lexical variation in a tribal setting" in Language Contact, pp. 149–177. Ernst Håkon Jahr (ed.). Mounton-de Gruyter, Berlin - New York.
- 1995, Jørgen Rischel, Introduction to Aspects of Danish Prosody, pp. 3–20. Jørgen Rischel and Hans Basbøll (eds.). Odense University Press, OdenseOdenseThe city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...
. - 1995, Jørgen Rischel, "Sprog og begrebsdannelse" in Sprog og tanke - Fire essays, pp. 17–62. Poul Lindegård Hjorth (ed.)., Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and LettersRoyal Danish Academy of Sciences and LettersRoyal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters is a Danish non-governmental science Academy, founded 13 November 1742 by permission of the King Christian VI, as a historical Collegium Antiquitatum...
, Copenhagen. (in Danish) - 1998, I. Kleivan, C. Berthelsen, R. Petersen, Jørgen Rischel, B. Jacobsen: "Oqaatsinut Tapiliussaq / Oqaatsit Supplementsbind", Atuakkiorfik-Ilinniusiorfik, NuukNuukNuuk, is the capital of Greenland, the northernmost capital in North America and the largest city in Greenland. Located in the Nuup Kangerlua fjord, the city lies on the eastern shore of the Labrador Sea and on the west coast of Sermersooq. Nuuk is the largest cultural and economic center in...
, 184 pp. (in Greenlandic and Danish)
Books
- 1974, Topics in West Greenlandic Phonology. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag (Ph.D. thesis).
- 1995, Minor Mlabri: A Hunter-Gatherer Language of Northern Indochina. Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen, 367 pp. ISBN 87-7289-294-3
Journals and symposia
- 1985, "Was There a Fourth Vowel in Old Greenlandic?" in International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 51, Issue 4, Oct. 1985, pp. 553–554.
- 1990, "Fieldwork among spirits" in Journal of Pragmatics 13, pp. 861–869.
- 1990, "What is phonetic representation?" in Journal of Phonetics 18, pp. 395–410.
- 1991, "The relevance of phonetics for phonology: A commentary" in Phonetica 48, pp. 233–262.
- 1991, "Invariance in the linguistic expression, with digressions into music" (pp. 68–77), "Comments on the symposium" (pp. 434–440), and "Summary and discussion of speech and music combined" (pp. 429–433), all in Music, Language, Speech and Brain (Wenner-Gren International Symposium Series vol. 59). J. Sundberg, L. Nord and R. Carlson (eds.). Macmillan Press, London.
- 1992, "Acharn Kraisri and phonetic notation" in Thai-Yunnan Project Newsletter 18 (Sept. 1992), pp. 16–18 (a discussion of the contributions of Acharn Krisri to comparative linguisticsComparative linguisticsComparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness....
and the difficulty of devising a standard romanization systemISO 11940ISO 11940 is an ISO standard for the romanization of the Thai alphabet, published in 1998 and updated in September 2003.-Consonants:The transliteration of the pure consonants is derived from their usual pronunciation as an initial consonant. An unmarked h is used to form digraphs denoting...
for transliterationTransliterationTransliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
of ThaiThai languageThai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
). - 1992, "Formal linguistics and real speech" in Speech Communication 11, pp. 379–392.
- 1993, "Lexical variation in two 'Kammuic' languages" in Pan-Asiatic Linguistics, Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Language and Linguistics vol. III pp. 1451–1462. Amara Prasithathsint et al. (eds.). Chulalongkorn UniversityChulalongkorn UniversityChulalongkorn University is the oldest university in Thailand and is the country's highest ranked university. It now has nineteen faculties and institutes. Regarded as the best and most selective university in Thailand, it consistently attracts top students from around the country...
, BangkokBangkokBangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
. - 2000. "The Dialect of BernatzikHugo BernatzikHugo Adolf Bernatzik , was an Austrian anthropologist and photographer.Bernatzik was the founder of the concept of alternative anthropology.-Biography:...
’s (1938) 'Yumbri' refound?" in Mon–Khmer Studies Journal, 30:115-122. - 2004, Pan-dialectal databases: Mlabri, an oral Mon–Khmer language, LexicographyLexicographyLexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....
conference, Payap UniversityPayap UniversityPayap University established in 1974, is a private institution founded by the Church of Christ in Thailand. Payap is a founding member of the Association of Private Higher Education Institutions in Thailand, and an active member of the Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia, as...
, Chiangmai. - 2004, In what sense is Mlabri a West Khmuic language?, abstract of presentation to 37th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and LinguisticsSino-Tibetan languagesThe Sino-Tibetan languages are a language family comprising, at least, the Chinese and the Tibeto-Burman languages, including some 250 languages of East Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. They are second only to the Indo-European languages in terms of the number of native speakers...
, Mon–Khmer workshop, Lund UniversityLund UniversityLund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...
, October 2, 2004.