Petr Sgall
Encyclopedia
Petr Sgall is a Czech linguist. He specializes in dependency grammar
, topic–focus articulation and Common Czech
.
. His father was an attorney
and translator from Litomyšl
of Jewish descent. Sgall studied at Česká Třebová
high school, however he was expelled in the 1942/43 academic year because of his Jewish father. Most of Sgall's closest relatives were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp
.
He studied Indo-European studies
, Comparative linguistics
, General linguistics and Czech
at Charles University in Prague
.
Dependency grammar
Dependency grammar is a class of modern syntactic theories that are all based on the dependency relation and that can be traced back primarily to the work of Lucien Tesnière. Dependency grammars are distinct from phrase structure grammars , since they lack phrasal nodes. Structure is determined by...
, topic–focus articulation and Common Czech
Common Czech
Common Czech is a colloquial variant of the Czech language. It is usually defined as an interdialect used in common speech in Bohemia and western parts of Moravia . Common Czech is not codified, but some of its elements can get into the standard language...
.
Biography
Petr Sgall was born 27 May 1926 in České BudějoviceCeské Budejovice
České Budějovice is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the largest city in the South Bohemian Region and is the political and commercial capital of the region and centre of the Roman Catholic Diocese of České Budějovice and of the University of South Bohemia and the Academy of Sciences...
. His father was an attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and translator from Litomyšl
Litomyšl
Litomyšl is a town and municipality in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. The chateau complex in the town centre is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.-History:...
of Jewish descent. Sgall studied at Česká Třebová
Ceská Trebová
Česká Třebová is city in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic.-External links:* *...
high school, however he was expelled in the 1942/43 academic year because of his Jewish father. Most of Sgall's closest relatives were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
.
He studied Indo-European studies
Indo-European studies
Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. Its goal is to amass information about the hypothetical proto-language from which all of these languages are descended, a language dubbed Proto-Indo-European , and its speakers, the...
, Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness....
, General linguistics and Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
at Charles University in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.