All Topics  
Charles A. Ferguson

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Charles A. Ferguson
 
 
  Topics Charles A. Ferguson Topic Home

Charles A. Ferguson (6 July 1921 – 2 September 1998) was a U.S. linguist who taught at Stanford University
Stanford University

Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private university research university located in Stanford, California, California, United States....
. He was one the founders of sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used....
 and is best known for his work on diglossia
Diglossia

In linguistics, diglossia is a situation where a given language community uses not just one dialect, but two: the first being the community's present day vernacular and the second being either an ancestral version of the same vernacular from centuries earlier or a distinct yet closely related present day dialect ....
. The TOEFL
TOEFL

The Test of English as a Foreign Language evaluates the potential success of an individual to use and understand academic English at a college level....
 test was created under his leadership at the Center for Applied Linguistics
Center for Applied Linguistics

The Center for Applied Linguistics is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to research and distribute information regarding language and culture....
 in Washington, DC. Ferguson was also the leader of a team of linguists in Ethiopia under the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
's Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching. One of the many publications that came out of this was his article proposing the Ethiopian Language Area
Ethiopian Language Area

Charles Ferguson first proposed the Ethiopian Language Area . He posited a number of phonological and morpho-syntactic features that were found widely across Ethiopia , including the Ethiopian Semitic languages, Cushitic languages, and Omotic languages languages, ....
 (Ferguson 1976), an article that has become widely cited and an important milestone in the study of contact linguistics.

Ferguson is also widely noted for his seminal article on diglossia
Diglossia

In linguistics, diglossia is a situation where a given language community uses not just one dialect, but two: the first being the community's present day vernacular and the second being either an ancestral version of the same vernacular from centuries earlier or a distinct yet closely related present day dialect ....
, published in 1959 and (reprinted since then in other publications).






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Charles A. Ferguson'
Start a new discussion about 'Charles A. Ferguson'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Charles A. Ferguson (6 July 1921 – 2 September 1998) was a U.S. linguist who taught at Stanford University
Stanford University

Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private university research university located in Stanford, California, California, United States....
. He was one the founders of sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used....
 and is best known for his work on diglossia
Diglossia

In linguistics, diglossia is a situation where a given language community uses not just one dialect, but two: the first being the community's present day vernacular and the second being either an ancestral version of the same vernacular from centuries earlier or a distinct yet closely related present day dialect ....
. The TOEFL
TOEFL

The Test of English as a Foreign Language evaluates the potential success of an individual to use and understand academic English at a college level....
 test was created under his leadership at the Center for Applied Linguistics
Center for Applied Linguistics

The Center for Applied Linguistics is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to research and distribute information regarding language and culture....
 in Washington, DC. Ferguson was also the leader of a team of linguists in Ethiopia under the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
's Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching. One of the many publications that came out of this was his article proposing the Ethiopian Language Area
Ethiopian Language Area

Charles Ferguson first proposed the Ethiopian Language Area . He posited a number of phonological and morpho-syntactic features that were found widely across Ethiopia , including the Ethiopian Semitic languages, Cushitic languages, and Omotic languages languages, ....
 (Ferguson 1976), an article that has become widely cited and an important milestone in the study of contact linguistics.

Ferguson is also widely noted for his seminal article on diglossia
Diglossia

In linguistics, diglossia is a situation where a given language community uses not just one dialect, but two: the first being the community's present day vernacular and the second being either an ancestral version of the same vernacular from centuries earlier or a distinct yet closely related present day dialect ....
, published in 1959 and (reprinted since then in other publications). The original article has been cited in print over 900 times according to the statistics on Google Scholar.

He was honored with a two-volume collection of papers in a 1986 festschrift
Festschrift

In academia, a wikt:festschrift is a book honoring a respected academic and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German language, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing....
, edited by Joshua A. Fishman
Joshua Fishman

Joshua Aaron Fishman is internationally renowned for his groundbreaking work in the sociology of language, language planning, bilingual education, and language and ethnicity....
 and others.

External links