Alf Sommerfelt
Encyclopedia
Alf Sommerfelt was a Norwegian
linguist
and the first professor of linguistics
in Norway, working at the University of Oslo
from 1931 to 1962.
in Norway. He had studied in Paris
, and held lectures on Saussure
, glossematics
, the Prague school and American structuralism. People at the Nordic institutes, on the other hand, didn't subscribe to Sommerfelt's methods, and there was little contact between them and the structuralists until the 1960s.
Together with the Slavicist Olaf Broch, Sommerfelt founded the Norwegian association for linguistics in 1924, an association that would play an important part in the introduction of new linguistic theories to Norway.
Sommerfelt wrote several popular introductions to linguistics. He also wrote an introductory book on general linguistics (1947), a book read by all the linguistics students at the university of Oslo, and reprinted ten years later. Sommerfelt was also one of the editors of Norsk riksmålsordbog (the Norwegian Riksmål dictionary).
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...
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....
and the first professor of linguistics
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....
in Norway, working at the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
from 1931 to 1962.
Linguistics work
Sommerfelt was a central figure in the introduction of structuralismStructuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
in Norway. He had studied in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and held lectures on Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...
, glossematics
Glossematics
Glossematics is a structuralist linguistic theory of the twentieth century proposed by Danish linguist Louis Hjelmslev. It defines the glosseme as the most basic unit or component of language...
, the Prague school and American structuralism. People at the Nordic institutes, on the other hand, didn't subscribe to Sommerfelt's methods, and there was little contact between them and the structuralists until the 1960s.
Together with the Slavicist Olaf Broch, Sommerfelt founded the Norwegian association for linguistics in 1924, an association that would play an important part in the introduction of new linguistic theories to Norway.
Sommerfelt wrote several popular introductions to linguistics. He also wrote an introductory book on general linguistics (1947), a book read by all the linguistics students at the university of Oslo, and reprinted ten years later. Sommerfelt was also one of the editors of Norsk riksmålsordbog (the Norwegian Riksmål dictionary).
Selected bibliography
- Sommerfelt, Alf 1921: Le Breton parlé a Saint-Pol-de-Leon : Phonétique et morphologie
- Sommerfelt, Alf 1922: The dialect of Torr Co. Donegal. Videnskapsselskapets skrifter II. Hist.-filos. kl. 1-2
- Sommerfelt, Alf Hvordan sproget blir til : en oversikt over sprogets rolle i samfundene Oslo : Cappelens forlag.
- Sommerfelt, Alf 1947: Almen språkvitenskap : (det propedeutiske kursus).