Robert Lawrence "Larry" Trask (10 November 1944 – 27 March 2004) was an American-British professor of linguistics at the University of Sussex, and an authority on the Basque language and the field of historical linguistics.
R. L. Trask | |
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| Born | Robert Lawrence Trask 10 November 1944 Olean, New York, U.S. |
| Died | 27 March 2004 (aged 59) Brighton, England |
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| Academic background | |
| Education |
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| Thesis | Synchronic and Diachronic Studies in the Grammar of Basque (1984) |
| Doctoral advisor | Charles Ernest Bazell |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Linguist |
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| Main interests | |
| Website | The Larry Trask Archive |
Biography
editTrask was born on 10 November 1944 in Olean, New York. He studied chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the United States, and received his first degree. He got a master's degree from Brandeis University before joining the Peace Corps.[1] In the Peace Corps, he taught at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara before leaving the country in 1970. He later received his doctorate in linguistics from the University of London, and afterwards taught at various universities in the United Kingdom. He became a professor of linguistics at the University of Sussex.[2]
He was considered an authority on the Basque language. His book The History of Basque (1997) is considered an essential reference on diachronic Basque linguistics and a standard introduction to Basque linguistics. At the time of his death, he was attempting to compile an etymological dictionary of the Basque language; the unfinished work was posthumously published on the Internet by Max W. Wheeler.[3]
Trask was also an authority on historical linguistics, and had written about the problem of the origin of language. He published two introductory books to linguistics: Language: The basics (1995)[4] and Introducing Linguistics (coauthored with Bill Mayblin) (2000), and several dictionaries on different topics of this science: A dictionary of grammatical terms in linguistics (1993), A dictionary of phonetics and phonology (1996), A student's dictionary of language and linguistics (1997), Key concepts in language and linguistics (1999), The dictionary of historical and comparative linguistics (2000)[2] and The Penguin dictionary of English grammar (2000).[5]
Trask died on 27 March 2004 as a result of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).[6] At the time of his death, a festschrift to honor him was in preparation.[7]
Publication
edit- Language Change (1994)
- Language: The Basics (1995)
- Historical Linguistics (1996), ISBN 0-340-60758-0
- The Penguin Guide to Punctuation (1997)
- The History of Basque (1997), ISBN 0415131162
- The Dictionary of Historical and Comparative Linguistics (2000), ISBN 0-7486-1001-4
- The Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar (2000), ISBN 0-14-051464-3
- Time Depth in Historical Linguistics (co-editor) (2000), ISBN 1-902937-06-6
- Mind the Gaffe (2001), ISBN 0-14-051476-7
- How to Write Effective Emails (2005), ISBN 0-14-101719-8
References
edit- ^ "Professor Larry Trask". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 November 2009.
- ^ a b "Turkey RPCV Larry Trask dies in England".
- ^ Trask, R. Larry (2008), Wheeler, Max W. (ed.), Etymological Dictionary of Basque (PDF), Falmer, UK: University of Sussex, retrieved 2 March 2020
- ^ "A Way With Words". The Guardian.
- ^ "Message 1: Obituary for Larry Trask".
- ^ Coates, Richard (8 April 2004). "Obituary: Larry Trask". the Guardian. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
- ^ "Bulletin: Obituaries". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011.