Vilem mathesius biography for kids

In addition to his work in linguistics, in he founded the department of English philology at Charles Universitywhich was the first such department in Czech lands. The department now exists as a branch of the Faculty of Arts, but it is called the "Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures. His father was a wealthy tanner in a long line of tanners of Saxon origin, claiming Martin Luther 's biographer Johannes Mathesius as an ancestor.

There he attended a classic gymnasium and took particular interest in the study of language, taking classes in LatinGreekGermanand Frenchin addition to his native language of Czech. He spent the next 3 years working at Charles University as a privatdozentthen in he was appointed the university's first professor of Anglistics English philologyeffectively founding the department.

Soon after, Mathesius married her sister, Antonia. Mathesius suffered a number of health problems during his lifetime. In he contracted an eye disease that eventually left him completely blind. Mathesius first met Roman Jakobsonan influential Russian linguist and co-founder of the Moscow Linguistic Circlesoon after Jakobson's arrival in Prague in For a year and a half March — OctoberMathesius hosted the sporadic and informal gatherings of young linguists that eventually became the Prague Linguistic Circle at his own house.

The Circle achieved international notice at two linguistic conferences: the First International Congress of Linguists at the Hague inthen the First International Congress of Slavists in Prague in Mathesius's scholarly work is typically divided into three periods based on his academic and intellectual focus and his increasing interest in linguistic concerns.

During the early stage of his career, Mathesius's interests were split between literary history and linguistics. He started to assemble a compendium of the history of English literature and managed to publish two volumes — before the loss of his eyesight cut his work short. These works, which cover the Anglo-Saxon vilem mathesius biography for kids through the late Middle Ageswere foundational in establishing the Anglistics department at the university.

Alongside his work with literature, he began exploring linguistic theory and questioning the Neogrammarian emphasis on diachronic, or historical, linguistics that defined the study of language at his time. In he presented one of his more famous lectures to the Royal Learned Society, "On the potentiality of the phenomena of language", which anticipates Ferdinand de Saussure 's critical distinction between langue and parole and emphasizes the importance of the synchronic in his words, "static" study of language.

During the s and s, Prague and Czechoslovakia were the isles of freedom and democracy in Central Europe. Czech, GermanJewishand Russian influences all came to be mingled there. On one side, there would be Franz Kafka and on the other there might be Pitrim Sorokin, the sociologist who later became known for his Crisis of Our Age Prague became a conglomerate of numerous traditionscultural influences, and scientific aspirations.

To many intellectuals at that time, it provided a refuge, a place where they could live and work without state interference. The traditions of Ernst MachAlbert Einsteinand Phillip Frank were still very much alive there, and many Czech intellectuals commonly spoke Czech as well as German. Thus, Prague provided a home to many leading intellectuals of various branches of learning, from fields as diverse as theoretical linguistics and electrochemistry.

InMathesius met Roman Jakobson and came into contact with a different tradition. Soon, other Russian linguists came to Prague: P. Bogatyrev, S. Kartsevsky, and Nikolai Trubetzkoy. Kartsevsky, who was a professor of Russian at Geneva University, introduced and brought knowledge of the work of Ferdinand de Saussure to Prague. Contacts were also established with German linguists H.

Becker and F. These linguists were joined by B. Trnka, B. Havranek, and Jan Mukarovsky. They wanted to establish a discussion club or a group, and this came about following the lecture by Henrik Becker entitled " Der europaische Sprachgeist " on October 26,when the Prague Linguistic Circle was born.

Vilem mathesius biography for kids: Vilém Mathesius was a Czech linguist,

He was a leading proponent of this school of thought, although he credits the followers of the Polish linguist Jan Baudouin de Courtenay and the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen with having sowed the seeds of the movement. Functionalism remedied these problems, and it also preferred synchronic study over diachronic and favored an analytic approach over a genealogical one.

During this time period, Mathesius also became more concerned with issues of stylisticssuch as rhythm and intonationin both Czech and English. The total loss of his eyesight caused him to focus his attention on these aspects of spoken language, because spoken language was now more easily accessible to him.

Vilem mathesius biography for kids: (3 August , Pardubice

Throughout his scholarly career and particularly after the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia inMathesius advocated for cultural activism, as defined by the first president of Czechoslovakia, T. In Mathesius's mind, cultural activism entailed the revitalization of the Czech national spirit and reform of national holidays, among other things. Mathesius's ideas on linguistic functionalism remained central to the work of the Prague Linguistic Circle and have been expanded upon by modern linguists in many directions.

Mathesius's ideas also influenced Michael Halliday 's development of systemic functional grammar. Critics maintain that Mathesius lacked refined methodology, and that his observations of data could not amount to much because of his reluctance to propose unified theories to account for them. His work never achieved the international renown of that of his colleagues, possibly because he wrote almost exclusively in Czech.

Mathesius's brainchild, the Prague Circle, did much to elevate and improve Prague's reputation in the academic world and bring it to international attention.

Vilem mathesius biography for kids: Mathesius was founder of

Reflecting on the first ten years of the Circle, Mathesius summed up their contributions: "In foreign linguistics we fought for and won for our group the respectful title of the 'Prague School,' while at home, nobody can, without ill will, deny us the merit of having given many fresh impulses to Czech linguistic and literary research by our new standpoint and our new methods of work.

Quick facts for kids. PardubiceAustria-Hungary. The reverse word order, referred to as the "subjective" order, gives special emphasis to the nucleus of the utterance. During his comparative analysis of English and Czech languages, Mathesius found that English expresses actual division through voice. Thus, the English subject functions as an indicator of the starting point themewhereas in Slavic languages, its function is different, usually expressing the agent.

Mathesius' ideas on functional language approach, study of actual division, and contrastive linguistics have had a direct impact on the development of linguistic theories in the Prague School as well as in other linguistic traditions. Wilhelm Mathesius presented his views in response to representatives of other linguistic schools. He acknowledged his predecessors who had previously approached the issue of actual division, such as H.

Shakhmatov, influenced the Russian linguistic tradition. However, Mathesius criticized the prevailing psychological approach in this field, which hindered the development of an accurate research method. In the history of linguistics, Mathesius identified two lines of thought: the "comparative-historical" and the "Humboldtian," which included the psychological direction.

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