Jan Goossens

Jan Goossens (born February 19, 1930 in Genk , Belgium ) is a Belgian linguist who taught Dutch and Low German philology at the University of Münster .

Goossens was born in 1930 to Michel and Maria Goossens (née Lenaerts). From 1951 he studied German and Dutch philology at the University of Leuven , graduated in 1955 and then worked as a teacher in Hasselt until 1961 . In 1960 he received his doctorate in Leuven. From 1961 he taught as a lecturer at the University of Marburg , and in 1965 he moved to the University of Leuven as a professor. In 1969 he was appointed professor of Dutch and Low German philology at the University of Münster , where he taught until he retired in 1995.

From 1971 to 1999 Goossens was chairman of the Westphalian dialect and name research committee based in Münster, and from 1975 to 1984 he was president of the Association for Low German Language Research based in Hamburg. For many years he was the editor of the magazine Niederdeutsches Wort in Münster. Goossens is a member of the Royal Academy for Dutch Language and Literature Studies (Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde, abbreviated to KANTL). In 1986 he received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, in 1988 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Leuven. Goossens has been married to Magda Vanmaele since 1956 and has four children.

Works (selection)

• The Dutch structural geography and the Reeks Nederlandse dialect class. Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1965
• Structural language geography. Winter, 1969
• Low German - Language and Literature. Wachholtz, Niemünster 1973
• German dialectology. Gruyter, 1977, ISBN 3110072033
• Reynke, Reynaert and the European animal pos. Collected Essays. Waxmann, 1998, ISBN 3893256571
• Historical phonology of Dutch. Niemeyer, ISBN 3484600357

Web links

• Literature by and about Jan Goossens in the catalog of the German National Library