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Otto Jespersen ( July 16, 1860- April 30, 1943) was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. He was born in Randers in northern Jutland and attended Copenhagen University, earning degrees in English, French, and Latin. He also studied linguistics at OxfordUniversity of Oxford Motto Dominus Illuminatio Mea ("The Lord is my Light") ( Psalm 27) Established c. 1096 School type Public Chancellor The Right Hon. Chris Patten Vice-Chancellor Dr. John Hood Location Oxford, United Kingdom Enrolment 17,000 total (5,6.
Jespersen was a professor of English at Copenhagen University from 1893Events January 1 Japan accepts the Gregorian calendar January 2 Introduction by Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America: Railroad chronometers January 13 The Independent Labour Party of the UK has its first meeting. Janua to 1925Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 See also 1925 in aviation 1925 in film 1925 in literature 1925 in mu. Along with Paul Passy , he was a founder of the International Phonetic AssociationThe International Phonetic Association (IPA) is an organization that promotes the scientific study of phonetics and the various practical applications of that science. The IPA's major contribution to the academic community is the International Phonetic Al. He was an vocal supporter and active developer of artificial international languages such as EsperantoEsperanto is a planned ( constructed) international auxiliary language. The name derives from the pseudonym (Dr. Esperanto) under which L. Zamenhof published the language in 1887. See Esperanto history. His intention was to create an easy-to-learn languag. He was also involved in the delegation that created the artificial language Ido and later developed the Novial languageNovial nov new + IAL, International Auxiliary Language is a constructed language devised by Otto Jespersen, a Danish linguist who had previously been involved in the Ido movement. He devised Novial to be an international auxiliary language, which would fa, which he considered an improvement.
He advanced the theories of Rank and Nexus in Danish in two papers: Sprogets logik (1913) and De to hovedarter af grammatiske forbindelser (1921). Jespersen in this theory of ranks removes the parts of speech from the syntax, and differentiates between primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries; e.g. in a well honed phrase, phrase is a primary, this being defined by a secondary, honed, which again is defined by a tertiary well. The term Nexus is applied to sentences, structures similar to sentences and sentences in formation, in which two concepts are expressed in one unit; e.g., it rained, he ran indoors. This term is qualified by a further concept called a junction which represents one idea, expressed by means of two or more elements, whereas a nexus combines two ideas. Junction and nexus proved valuable in bringing the concept of context to the forefront of the attention of the world of linguistics.
He was most widely recognized for some of his books. His Modern English Grammar concentrated on morphology and syntax. His Growth and Structure of the English Language is a comprehensive view of English by someone with another native language, and still in print, over 60 years after his death and nearly 100 years after publication.
More than once Otto Jespersen was invited to the U.S. as a guest lecturer, and he took occasion to study the country's educational system. His autobiography (see below) was published in English translation as recently as 1995.
Jespersen was a proponent of phonosemanticism and wrote: “Is there really much more logic in the opposite extreme which denies any kind of sound symbolism (apart from the small class of evident echoisms and ‘onomatopoeia’) and sees in our words only a collection of accidental and irrational associations of sound and meaning? ...There is no denying that there are words which we feel instinctively to be adequate to express the ideas they stand for.”