Winfred P. Lehmann
Encyclopedia
Winfred P. Lehmann was an American
linguist noted for his work in historical linguistics
, particularly Proto-Indo-European
and Proto-Germanic
, as well as for pioneering work in machine translation
.
in Humanities at the Northwestern College
in Watertown in 1936, he went on to receive his M.A.
from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
in 1938 and a Ph.D.
in 1941, both in Germanic philology
at the University of Wisconsin.
Early in his career, during World War II
, he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as Officer-in-Charge of the Japanese
Language School and Japanese instructor. After the war he became Assistant Professor in the Department of German
at Washington University, and was recruited in 1949 to the University of Texas at Austin
as an Associate Professor of Germanic Linguistics. He was promoted to a Full Professor in 1951, and chaired that department from 1953 to 1964. He was largely responsible for developing that program into the Department of Linguistics at the University of Texas, and served as its first Chair, in the period 1964–1972.
to Norway
in 1950–51, and a Guggenheim Fellowship
in 1972–73. He served as Director of the Georgetown English Language Program in Ankara
, Turkey
in 1955–56, as Chairman of the Linguistics Delegation to the People's Republic of China
in 1974, and as Co-Chairman of the Commission on Humanities and Social Sciences to the People's Republic of China in 1981. He was elected President of the Association for Computational Linguistics in 1964. He is the only person to have served as both the President of the Linguistic Society of America
, in 1973, and the Modern Language Association
of America, in 1987.
Upon his retirement in 1986, scholars from Western Europe
, the Soviet Union
and the U.S. gathered at the University of Texas to honor him at an IREX Conference on Linguistic Reconstruction. The volume which grew from this conference, Reconstructing Languages and Cultures (1992, edited by Edgar Charles Polomé
and Werner Winter), points to the worldwide impact of Lehmann's work on Indo-European and historical linguistics.
Lehmann was also honored by two other Festschrift
s, in 1977 and in 1999.
His well-known books on Proto-Indo-European and historical linguistics include:
An important contribution was his Proto-Indo-European Syntax, the first and one of the few existing treatments of Proto-Indo-European syntax in a generative
framework.
In his last book (2002), he assembled extensive data from the nominal and verbal systems, from the lexicon, phonology
, and syntax
of the ancient IE languages, to argue that Pre-Indo-European
was active/stative in alignment, rather than nominative/accusative. With Gamkrelidze and Ivanov
, Lehmann accounted for the similarity of the IE middle and perfect paradigms to the Hittite
hi-conjugation by postulating an ancient stative ancestor for all three.
He authored over 50 books and special issues of journals as well as 250 scholarly articles. In the period 1951–1986 he directed approximately fifty doctoral dissertations. Since 1986 he was Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor Emeritus in the Humanities at the UT-Austin.
His wife, Ruth Preston Miller Lehmann (died in 2000), was also a distinguished historical linguist.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
linguist noted for his work in historical linguistics
Historical linguistics
Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...
, particularly Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
and Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic language
Proto-Germanic , or Common Germanic, as it is sometimes known, is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all the Germanic languages, such as modern English, Frisian, Dutch, Afrikaans, German, Luxembourgish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, and Swedish.The Proto-Germanic language is...
, as well as for pioneering work in machine translation
Machine translation
Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.On a basic...
.
Biography
After receiving B.A.Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in Humanities at the Northwestern College
Martin Luther College
This article deals with the WELS-affiliated tertiary institution in Minnesota. See Luther College for the ELCA institution in Iowa.Martin Luther College is the college of ministry operated by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod...
in Watertown in 1936, he went on to receive his M.A.
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
in 1938 and a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in 1941, both in Germanic philology
Germanic 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 Wisconsin.
Early in his career, 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...
, he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as Officer-in-Charge of the Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
Language School and Japanese instructor. After the war he became Assistant Professor in the Department of German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
at Washington University, and was recruited in 1949 to the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
as an Associate Professor of Germanic Linguistics. He was promoted to a Full Professor in 1951, and chaired that department from 1953 to 1964. He was largely responsible for developing that program into the Department of Linguistics at the University of Texas, and served as its first Chair, in the period 1964–1972.
Awards and honors
He received Fulbright Research FellowshipFulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
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...
in 1950–51, and a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
in 1972–73. He served as Director of the Georgetown English Language Program in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
in 1955–56, as Chairman of the Linguistics Delegation to the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in 1974, and as Co-Chairman of the Commission on Humanities and Social Sciences to the People's Republic of China in 1981. He was elected President of the Association for Computational Linguistics in 1964. He is the only person to have served as both the President of the Linguistic Society of America
Linguistic Society of America
The Linguistic Society of America is a professional society for linguists. It was founded in 1924 to advance linguistics, the scientific study of human language. The LSA has over 5,000 individual members and welcomes linguists of all kinds. It works to advance the discipline and to communicate...
, in 1973, and the Modern Language Association
Modern Language Association
The Modern Language Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature...
of America, in 1987.
Upon his retirement in 1986, scholars from Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the U.S. gathered at the University of Texas to honor him at an IREX Conference on Linguistic Reconstruction. The volume which grew from this conference, Reconstructing Languages and Cultures (1992, edited by Edgar Charles Polomé
Edgar Charles Polomé
Edgar Charles Polomé was a Belgian Indo-Europeanist, and professor of comparative religions and languages at the University of Texas. He studied at the Free University of Brussels from 1938, specializing in Germanic philology....
and Werner Winter), points to the worldwide impact of Lehmann's work on Indo-European and historical linguistics.
Lehmann was also honored by two other Festschrift
Festschrift
In academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...
s, in 1977 and in 1999.
Work and legacy
Beside being responsible for launching two extremely successful departments at the University of Texas, he is also credited for the establishment of the Linguistics Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, where he served as the Director from 1961 until his death.His well-known books on Proto-Indo-European and historical linguistics include:
- 1952 Proto-Indo-European Phonology. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press and Linguistic Society of America. ISBN 0-292-73341-0. (2005-07. Online version.)
- 1962 Historical Linguistics. (3rd ed. 1992) London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-07243-3.
- 1967 A Reader in Nineteenth Century Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34840-4. (2005-07. Online version.)
- 1974 Proto-Indo-European Syntax. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-76419-7. (2005-07. Online version.)
- 1986 A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-94-08176-3
- 1993 Theoretical Bases of Indo-European Linguistics. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-08201-3.
- 2002 Pre-Indo-European. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man. ISBN 0-941694-82-8.
An important contribution was his Proto-Indo-European Syntax, the first and one of the few existing treatments of Proto-Indo-European syntax in a generative
Generative grammar
In theoretical linguistics, generative grammar refers to a particular approach to the study of syntax. A generative grammar of a language attempts to give a set of rules that will correctly predict which combinations of words will form grammatical sentences...
framework.
In his last book (2002), he assembled extensive data from the nominal and verbal systems, from the lexicon, 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...
, and syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
of the ancient IE languages, to argue that Pre-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
was active/stative in alignment, rather than nominative/accusative. With Gamkrelidze and Ivanov
Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov
Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov is a prominent Soviet/Russian philologist and Indo-Europeanist probably best known for his glottalic theory of Indo-European consonantism and for placing the Indo-European urheimat in the area of the Armenian Highlands and Lake Urmia.-Early life:Vyacheslav Ivanov's...
, Lehmann accounted for the similarity of the IE middle and perfect paradigms to the Hittite
Hittite language
Hittite is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia...
hi-conjugation by postulating an ancient stative ancestor for all three.
He authored over 50 books and special issues of journals as well as 250 scholarly articles. In the period 1951–1986 he directed approximately fifty doctoral dissertations. Since 1986 he was Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor Emeritus in the Humanities at the UT-Austin.
His wife, Ruth Preston Miller Lehmann (died in 2000), was also a distinguished historical linguist.
External links
- Publications of Winfred P. Lehmann grouped by category
- Winfred P. Lehmann, obituary in the Austin American-Statesman
- Notice of death on LINGUIST ListLinguist ListThe LINGUIST List is a major online resource for the academic field of linguistics. It was founded by Anthony Aristar in early 1990 at the University of Western Australia, and is used as a reference by the National Science Foundation in the United States...