Isidore Dyen
Encyclopedia
Isidore Dyen was an American
linguist, Professor Emeritus of Malayo-Polynesian and Comparative Linguistics at Yale University
. He was one of the foremost scholars in the field of Austronesian linguistics
, publishing extensively on the reconstruction
of Proto-Austronesian phonology
and on subgrouping
within the language family
, the latter principally by means of lexicostatistics
.
The youngest son of a rabbi
and his wife who had immigrated from Kiev, Ukraine, "Iz" (as he was known to friends) grew up speaking Yiddish at home and studying Hebrew at Gratz College
in preparation for rabbinical training. However, during the course of earning a B.A.
in 1933, an M.A.
in 1934, and a Ph.D.
in 1939 at the University of Pennsylvania
, his interests shifted to comparative linguistics
. After completing a dissertation on "The Sanskrit indeclinables of the Hindu grammarians and lexicographers" he planned to specialize in Slavic languages
, but the needs of the U.S. Army during World War II
drew him into languages in the Pacific Theater of Operations
.
He learned Malay
well enough to teach it to troops headed for the Southwest Pacific and to produce a 2-volume pedagogical text, Spoken Malay (1943). After the war, he did fieldwork on two more genetically and typologically disparate Austronesian languages, Chuukese
(rendered as "Trukese" at that time) and Yapese
, as a member of the Tri-Institutional Coordinated Investigation of Micronesia
n Anthropology
sponsored by Yale University, the University of Hawaii
, and the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Out of this came his A Sketch of Trukese grammar (1965).
At the same time, he began applying his comparative method
to revise and elaborate phonological reconstructions that had earlier been published by Otto Dempwolff
(1934–38). A series of articles such as "The Malayo-Polynesian word for ‘two’" (1947), "The Tagalog reflexes of Malayo-Polynesian D" (1947), "Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *Z" (1951), and "Dempwolff’s *R" (1953), eventually culminated in a monograph, The Proto-Malayo-Polynesian laryngeals (1953). His application of the same methods to his own new data from Chuukese led to a monograph On the history of the Trukese vowels (1949), which brilliantly demonstrated how the nine vowels of Chuukese had derived quite regularly from the four-vowel system Dempwolff had reconstructed for Proto-Austronesian.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
linguist, Professor Emeritus of Malayo-Polynesian and Comparative Linguistics at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. He was one of the foremost scholars in the field of Austronesian linguistics
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
, publishing extensively on the reconstruction
Linguistic reconstruction
Linguistic reconstruction is the practice of establishing the features of the unattested ancestor of one or more given languages. There are two kinds of reconstruction. Internal reconstruction uses irregularities in a single language to make inferences about an earlier stage of that language...
of Proto-Austronesian 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 on subgrouping
Subgrouping (linguistics)
Subgrouping in linguistics is the division of a language family into its constituent branches.-References:Greenberg, Joseph H. 1957. "The problem of linguistic subgroupings", in Essays in Linguistics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press....
within the language family
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
, the latter principally by means of lexicostatistics
Lexicostatistics
Lexicostatistics is an approach to comparative linguistics that involves quantitative comparison of lexical cognates. Lexicostatistics is related to the comparative method but does not reconstruct a proto-language...
.
The youngest son of a rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and his wife who had immigrated from Kiev, Ukraine, "Iz" (as he was known to friends) grew up speaking Yiddish at home and studying Hebrew at Gratz College
Gratz College
Gratz College is a general college of Jewish studies founded in 1895 offering a broad array of credentials and programs in virtually every area of higher Judaic learning to aspiring Jewish educators, communal professionals, lay people and others seeking to become more knowledgeable of...
in preparation for rabbinical training. However, during the course of earning a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1933, an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in 1934, and a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1939 at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, his interests shifted to comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness....
. After completing a dissertation on "The Sanskrit indeclinables of the Hindu grammarians and lexicographers" he planned to specialize in Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
, but the needs of the U.S. Army 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...
drew him into languages in the Pacific Theater of Operations
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
.
He learned Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
well enough to teach it to troops headed for the Southwest Pacific and to produce a 2-volume pedagogical text, Spoken Malay (1943). After the war, he did fieldwork on two more genetically and typologically disparate Austronesian languages, Chuukese
Chuukese language
Chuukese is a Trukic language of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily on the islands of Chuuk in the Caroline Islands in Micronesia. There are some speakers on Pohnpei and Guam as well...
(rendered as "Trukese" at that time) and Yapese
Yapese language
Yapese is a language spoken by the people on the island of Yap .It belongs to the Austronesian languages, more specifically to the Oceanic languages...
, as a member of the Tri-Institutional Coordinated Investigation of Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
n Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
sponsored by Yale University, the University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii
The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
, and the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Out of this came his A Sketch of Trukese grammar (1965).
At the same time, he began applying his comparative method
Comparative method
In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent from a shared ancestor, as opposed to the method of internal reconstruction, which analyzes the internal...
to revise and elaborate phonological reconstructions that had earlier been published by Otto Dempwolff
Otto Dempwolff
Otto Dempwolff was a German linguist and anthropologist who became famous for his research into Austronesian languages...
(1934–38). A series of articles such as "The Malayo-Polynesian word for ‘two’" (1947), "The Tagalog reflexes of Malayo-Polynesian D" (1947), "Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *Z" (1951), and "Dempwolff’s *R" (1953), eventually culminated in a monograph, The Proto-Malayo-Polynesian laryngeals (1953). His application of the same methods to his own new data from Chuukese led to a monograph On the history of the Trukese vowels (1949), which brilliantly demonstrated how the nine vowels of Chuukese had derived quite regularly from the four-vowel system Dempwolff had reconstructed for Proto-Austronesian.