Anna Granville Hatcher (1905–1978) was an American

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

. She started her career as a Romance linguist, and later conducted research in medieval literature as well as branching out from Late Latin and Old French to studies on Provençal, Spanish, Italian, English, and German. She was the first woman to hold the position of full professor at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

Early life and career

Born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, her parents were Anna Denson Hatcher and Eldridge Burwell Hatcher. Hatcher earned a BA from

Blue Mountain College Blue Mountain College (BMC) is a private Baptist college in Blue Mountain, Mississippi. Founded as a women's college in 1873, the college's board of trustees voted unanimously for the college to go fully coeducational in 2005. History By 1 ...

in 1925 and an MA from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

in 1927. In 1934, she earned a PhD in

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

. She served as a academic dean for four years at

Harcum College Harcum College is a private associate degree-granting college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1915 and was the first college in Pennsylvania authorized to grant associate degrees. History Edith Hatcher, daughter of prominent Vir ...

, before joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 1939. Hatcher's three books focus on issues of linguistics, while her journal articles cover two strands, one in linguistics, and one in medieval literary history, stylistics and criticism. Tributes and retrospectives of her work include

Jan Firbas Jan Firbas (25 March 1921, Brno – 5 May 2000, Brno), was a Czechs, Czech linguistics, linguist and a prominent representative of the Prague School of linguistics. Biography Born in Brno, in then Czechoslovakia, he studied English, German and ph ...

’s 1962 review “Notes on the function of the sentence in the act of communication: marginalia on two important studies in syntax by Anna Granville Hatcher” and Karen Hermann’s “A Retrospective Critique of Anna Granville Hatcher's" Reflexive Verbs": Latin, Old French, Modern French (1942).”

Awards and distinctions

Hatcher was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1953.John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/anna-g-hatcher/ In 1956, she became the first woman to hold the position of full professor at

. Hatcher was also the first woman to receive the title of Distinguished Professor (French and Italian and Spanish and Portuguese) from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

Selected works

* Hatcher. A.G. An introduction to the analysis of English noun compounds. ''Word,'' 1960 * Hatcher, A.G. Theme and Underlying Question. Two studies of Spanish word-order, ''Word.'' New York 1956 * Hatcher, A.G. ''Modern English Word-Formation and Neo-Latin. A Study of the Origins of English (French, Italian, German) copulative compounds,'' Baltimore 1951 * Hatcher, A.G. The use of the progressive form in English: A new approach. ''Language'', 1951 * Hatcher, A.G. ''Reflexive verbs: Latin, Old French, Modern French, Johns Hopkins Press.'' Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1942

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatcher, Anna Granville 1905 births 1978 deaths Linguists from the United States Women linguists Johns Hopkins University faculty Indiana University faculty 20th-century linguists University of Virginia alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni