Paul Diderichsen

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Paul Henrik Krag Diderichsen (born August 16, 1905 in Copenhagen ; † October 9, 1964 there ) was a Danish linguist .

Life

Diderichsen studied Nordic philology, was a follower of the Prague School, together with Viggo Brøndal and Louis Hjelmslev, a member of the linguistic group at the University of Copenhagen and received his doctorate in 1941 with a treatise on sentence structure in Scena law (Sætningsbygningen i Skaanske Lov) . 1930-41 he was editor of the multi-volume Ordbog over det danske Sprog . From 1937 lecturer for New Danish grammar at the University of Copenhagen, he was appointed associate professor for Danish language there in 1949. His main field of activity was Danish linguistics - first historical, then contemporary language - and in later years also the history of science (e.g. about Rasmus Rask ) as well as the history of Danish prose and style.

Diderichsen was a co-founder of the Nordic Summer University in 1949 and its director 1950–52 and 1955–59, became President of the Danish Language Council ( Dansk Sprognævn ) in 1961 , a member of the Society of Sciences (Videnskabernes Selskab) in 1959 and a member of the Danish Academy (Det Danske Akademi) in 1962 . Diderichsen was founded by the Danish King Frederik IX. appointed Knight of the Order of Dannebrog .

Diderichsen was married twice, from 1931 to Anna Louise Gløersen Johnsen (1907–1932) and from 1934 to Grete Malling (1908–1972). His brother was the theologian and politician Børge Diderichsen (1906–1989).

Sentence scheme or field scheme

Diderichsen's most important contribution to linguistics was his sentence or field scheme ( sætningsskema or feltskema ), with which the syntax of both medieval and modern Scandinavian languages ​​can be described and which is used in Scandinavia and beyond until today (for the first time in Elementær dansk grammar by 1946, later refined several times). Diderichsen was even able to show that the field scheme can also be used for literary purposes.

According to this field scheme, a main clause can be divided into an apron, a middle field and a final field. The middle and the end field each know the subdivision verb - noun - adverb (ial), whereby the verb in the middle field is finite and in the end field infinite and the noun in the middle field is the subject and in the end field the object:

Vorfeld || finites Verb | Subjekt | Adverb A || Infinites Verb | Objekt | Adverb B

A subordinate clause has the following sequence:

Satzeinleiter || Subjekt | Adverb A | Finites Verb || Infinites Verb | Objekt | Adverb B

The individual fields can, but do not have to be, occupied. The field schema allows great flexibility in the description of the sentence structure in that short sentences can be described as variants of long sentences. For examples, see the articles that concern Scandinavian languages, such as Danish language # sentence structure (syntax) , Swedish language # syntax and Norwegian language # sentence order .

Publications

  • Prolegomena til en metodisk dansk Syntax (1935)
  • Fragmenter af gammeldanske Haandskrifter (1937)
  • Problems of Old Danish Orthography (1938)
  • Om Pronominerne sig og sin (1939)
  • Sætningsbygningen i Skaanske Lov (1941)
  • Elementær dansk Grammar (1946), numerous new editions, English translation under the title Essentials of Danish Grammar
  • Humanistisk Videnskab (1947)
  • Europæisk Universitet i Alperne (1948)
  • Videnskab and livssyn (1952)
  • Semantic problems in logic and lingvistics (1954)
  • The Importance of Distribution versus Other Criteria in Linguistic Analysis (1957)
  • Rasmus Rask og den grammatiske tradition (1960), German translation under the title Rasmus Rask and the grammatical tradition: A study of the turning point in the history of language
  • Modersmål and grammar (1962)
  • Sproget? Virkeligheden? Fantasies? (1964)
  • Det danske sprogs udforskning i det 20th århundrede (1965)
  • Helhed and structure. Udvalgte sprogvidenskabelige afhandlinger (1966), German translation under the title Wholeness and Structure: Selected Linguistic Treatises
  • Sprogsyn (1968)
  • Dansk prose history (unfinished)
  • numerous verbal articles in the Ordbog over det danske Sprog (1930–1949)

See also

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Diderichsen, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Diderichsen, Paul Henrik Krag
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish linguist
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 1964
Place of death Copenhagen