Jan Firbas
Encyclopedia
Jan Firbas was a Czech linguist
and a prominent proponent of the Prague School of linguistics. Born in Brno
, in the Czech Republic
, he studied English and Linguistics at local Masaryk University
. After obtaining his PhD, he would stay at Masaryk as a member of the Department of English and American studies until his death in 2000. He became a member of the influential Prague Linguistics Circle, which was outlawed by the communist government. This reason, and the fact he came from an old Protestant family and refused to renounce his belief, was the cause of systematic government persecution. Despite his international renown, it took him ten years to have his habilitation
officially approved and he was only made Professor in 1990. In the 1980s, he was awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of Leuven and Leeds and was invited to give lecture series at universities across the globe. Jan Firbas passed a way on the 5 May 2000 in Brno
, the city where he had stayed for most of his life.
Firbas developed a theory of Information Structure called Functional Sentence Perspective, inspired by the work of Vilém Mathesius
. He wrote over 140 papers on the subject and finally published his theory in its entirety as a monograph in 1992.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and a prominent proponent of the Prague School of linguistics. Born in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
, in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, he studied English and Linguistics at local Masaryk University
Masaryk University
Masaryk University is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the third Czech university , it now consists of nine faculties and 42,182 students...
. After obtaining his PhD, he would stay at Masaryk as a member of the Department of English and American studies until his death in 2000. He became a member of the influential Prague Linguistics Circle, which was outlawed by the communist government. This reason, and the fact he came from an old Protestant family and refused to renounce his belief, was the cause of systematic government persecution. Despite his international renown, it took him ten years to have his habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
officially approved and he was only made Professor in 1990. In the 1980s, he was awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of Leuven and Leeds and was invited to give lecture series at universities across the globe. Jan Firbas passed a way on the 5 May 2000 in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
, the city where he had stayed for most of his life.
Firbas developed a theory of Information Structure called Functional Sentence Perspective, inspired by the work of Vilém Mathesius
Vilém Mathesius
Vilém Mathesius was a Czech linguist and literary historian, a scholar of English and Czech literature. His cousin was Bohumil Mathesius....
. He wrote over 140 papers on the subject and finally published his theory in its entirety as a monograph in 1992.