Edward S. Klima (June 21, 1931 – September 25, 2008) was an American eminent
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 ...
who specialized in the study of
sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
s. Klima's work was heavily influenced by
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...
's then-revolutionary theory of the biological basis of linguistics, and applied that analysis to
sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
s.
Klima, much of whose work was in collaboration with his wife,
Ursula Bellugi, was among the first to prove that sign languages are complete languages and have complex grammars that have all the features of grammars of oral languages.
[ Widespread recognition of this fact was one of the catalysts of the cultural changes in and towards the deaf community in favor of encouraging the use of sign language, which had often been discouraged in favor of lip reading in the past.
]
Education and career
Klima graduated from James Ford Rhodes High School in Cleveland, Ohio in 1949. He studied linguistics at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
, earning his bachelor's degree in 1953. Two years later, he received a master's degree in the same subject from Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. Starting in 1957, Klima worked as an Instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
under Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...
. After earning his Ph.D in linguistics from Harvard University in 1965, he joined the linguistics department at the University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
. Later he also became an adjunct professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where his wife, Ursula Bellugi, was a professor, and director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience (of which Klima acted as associate director).
While at MIT, he supervised Jeffrey S. Gruber.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klima, Edward
1931 births
2008 deaths
People from Cleveland
Dartmouth College alumni
Harvard University alumni
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty
Linguists from the United States
University of California, San Diego faculty
Developmental psycholinguists
20th-century linguists
Linguists of sign languages