Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Hans Kurath AI simulator
(@Hans Kurath_simulator)
Hub AI
Hans Kurath AI simulator
(@Hans Kurath_simulator)
Hans Kurath
Hans Kurath (13 December 1891 – 2 January 1992) was an Austrian-American linguist. He was full professor for English and Linguistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The many varieties of regional English that he encountered during his trips convinced him of the necessity of completing a systematic study of American English.
In 1926, he convinced the Modern Language Association to begin planning for the project, and in 1931, a pilot study of the New England region was initiated under his direction, eventually producing the Linguistic Atlas of New England. It soon became clear, however, that the undertaking was too complex to be completed by a single team of linguists. The project was thus expanded to eight additional regional operations.
Kurath guided the vision and goals of the regional projects for three decades and oversaw the publication of a series of volumes that are known collectively as the Linguistic Atlas of the United States, the first linguistic atlas of the US. For that work, he received the Loubat Prize. His most influential contribution was his 1949 three-part division of American English dialects into North, Midland, and South, which identified 18 distinct speech areas in the Eastern United States and remains foundational to American dialectology.
He was also the first main editor of the Middle English Dictionary. Together with Raven I. McDavid, Jr., he published a linguistic atlas of the Eastern United States, The Pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States.
Kurath was born in Villach, Austria-Hungary. He emigrated to the United States in 1907 and became a US citizen in 1912. He studied at the Universities of Texas and Chicago. He did his Ph.D. in 1920. Afterwards, he became professor in German at Northwestern University (1920–1927) and then professor for German and Linguistics at the Ohio State University (1927–1931) and Brown University (1931–1946).
In 1946, he became full professor for English and Linguistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1946–1962). In 1941, he was president of the Linguistic Society of America. In 1959, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Chicago.
He died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the age of 100. His wife was the dance ethnologist Gertrude Prokosch Kurath, daughter of Eduard Prokosch, a historical linguist.
Kurath's chief research interest was historical linguistics and his primary goal was to use the Linguistic Atlas to reconstruct the evolution of American English from the relatively "pure" forms of English brought to the United States by the early settlers to the regional dialects that existed in the contemporary United States. Kurath was convinced that language held a living record of events like the growth of trade and transport systems, urbanization, and population movements. By plotting regional differences in vocabulary and pronunciation on maps, Kurath and other researchers assembled what they hoped was a visual record of the social processes that had transformed American English over the past 200 years.
Hans Kurath
Hans Kurath (13 December 1891 – 2 January 1992) was an Austrian-American linguist. He was full professor for English and Linguistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The many varieties of regional English that he encountered during his trips convinced him of the necessity of completing a systematic study of American English.
In 1926, he convinced the Modern Language Association to begin planning for the project, and in 1931, a pilot study of the New England region was initiated under his direction, eventually producing the Linguistic Atlas of New England. It soon became clear, however, that the undertaking was too complex to be completed by a single team of linguists. The project was thus expanded to eight additional regional operations.
Kurath guided the vision and goals of the regional projects for three decades and oversaw the publication of a series of volumes that are known collectively as the Linguistic Atlas of the United States, the first linguistic atlas of the US. For that work, he received the Loubat Prize. His most influential contribution was his 1949 three-part division of American English dialects into North, Midland, and South, which identified 18 distinct speech areas in the Eastern United States and remains foundational to American dialectology.
He was also the first main editor of the Middle English Dictionary. Together with Raven I. McDavid, Jr., he published a linguistic atlas of the Eastern United States, The Pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States.
Kurath was born in Villach, Austria-Hungary. He emigrated to the United States in 1907 and became a US citizen in 1912. He studied at the Universities of Texas and Chicago. He did his Ph.D. in 1920. Afterwards, he became professor in German at Northwestern University (1920–1927) and then professor for German and Linguistics at the Ohio State University (1927–1931) and Brown University (1931–1946).
In 1946, he became full professor for English and Linguistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1946–1962). In 1941, he was president of the Linguistic Society of America. In 1959, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Chicago.
He died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the age of 100. His wife was the dance ethnologist Gertrude Prokosch Kurath, daughter of Eduard Prokosch, a historical linguist.
Kurath's chief research interest was historical linguistics and his primary goal was to use the Linguistic Atlas to reconstruct the evolution of American English from the relatively "pure" forms of English brought to the United States by the early settlers to the regional dialects that existed in the contemporary United States. Kurath was convinced that language held a living record of events like the growth of trade and transport systems, urbanization, and population movements. By plotting regional differences in vocabulary and pronunciation on maps, Kurath and other researchers assembled what they hoped was a visual record of the social processes that had transformed American English over the past 200 years.