Frederick J. (Fritz) Newmeyer (born January 30, 1944) is an American linguist who is Professor Emeritus of
Linguistics
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 ...
at the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
and adjunct professor in the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
Department of Linguistics and the
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...
Department of Linguistics. He has published widely in theoretical and English syntax and is best known for his work on the history of
generative syntax
Generative grammar, or generativism , is a linguistic theory that regards linguistics as the study of a hypothesised innate grammatical structure. It is a biological or biologistic modification of earlier structuralist theories of linguistic ...
and for his arguments that linguistic formalism (i.e. generative grammar) and linguistic functionalism are not incompatible, but rather complementary. In the early 1990s he was one of the linguists who helped to renew interest in the evolutionary
origin of language
The origin of language (spoken and signed, as well as language-related technological systems such as writing), its relationship with human evolution, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study th ...
. More recently, Newmeyer argued that facts about
linguistic typology
Linguistic typology (or language typology) is a field of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features to allow their comparison. Its aim is to describe and explain the structural diversity and the co ...
are better explained by
parsing
Parsing, syntax analysis, or syntactic analysis is the process of analyzing a string of symbols, either in natural language, computer languages or data structures, conforming to the rules of a formal grammar. The term ''parsing'' comes from Lati ...
constraints than by the
principles and parameters
Principles and parameters is a framework within generative linguistics in which the syntax of a natural language is described in accordance with general ''principles'' (i.e. abstract rules or grammars) and specific ''parameters'' (i.e. markers, sw ...
model of grammar. Nevertheless, he has continued to defend the basic principles of generative grammar, arguing that
Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure (; ; 26 November 1857 – 22 February 1913) was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century. He is widel ...
's
langue/parole distinction as well
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 is ...
's distinction between
linguistic competence
In linguistics, linguistic competence is the system of unconscious knowledge that one knows when they know a language. It is distinguished from linguistic performance, which includes all other factors that allow one to use one's language in practi ...
and
linguistic performance
The term linguistic performance was used by Noam Chomsky in 1960 to describe "the actual use of language in concrete situations". It is used to describe both the Language production, production, sometimes called '' parole'', as well as the comp ...
are essentially correct.
[Newmeyer, Frederick J. (2003). "Grammar is Grammar and Usage is Usage," ''Language'' 79, 682-707.]
Biography
Newmeyer was born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, but grew up in
Port Washington, New York
Port Washington is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on the Cow Neck Peninsula in the North Hempstead, New York, Town of North Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), No ...
. He received his BA in geology from the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.
The University of Roc ...
in 1965 and his MA in linguistics from that same institution two years later. Newmeyer was awarded a PhD in linguistics from the University of Illinois in 1969, writing a dissertation entitled ''English Aspectual Verbs'' under the direction of Robert B. Lees. His only permanent position has been in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Washington (from 1969 until his retirement in 2006), but he has held visiting positions at a variety of universities around the world, including the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
,
Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
,
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
,
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
,
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
,
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
,
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...
,
Universidade de São Paulo
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".
The Universiade is referred t ...
,
Universidad Nacional del Comahue
The National University of Comahue ( es, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, UNCNavarro, Fernando A. ''. Tremédica, Asociación Internacional de Traductores y Redactores de Medicina y Ciencias Afines/UNCoPortal de Prensa de la Uncoma, Universidad ...
,
Universiteit van Tilburg
Tilburg University is a public university, public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands.
Tilb ...
,
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf,
École Normale Supérieure
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
, Institut des Science Cognitives,
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (german: Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie, shortened to MPI EVA) is a research institute based in Leipzig, Germany, that was founded in 1997. It is part of the Max Plan ...
, and
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students.
History Beginnings
Although certain ...
. In 2002, Newmeyer was President of the
Linguistic Society of America
The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a learned society for the field of linguistics. Founded in New York City in 1924, the LSA works to promote the scientific study of language. The society publishes three scholarly journals: ''Language'', ...
, from 2003-2006 Howard and Frances Nostrand Professor of Linguistics at Washington, and in 2006 he was elected
and
Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America
Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is an honor accorded by the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) to distinguished members of the society. LSA Fellows are "members of the Society who have made distinguished contributions to the dis ...
. In his 20s and 30s Newmeyer was heavily involved in left politics, being an active member of
Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...
in the late 1960s and of the
International Socialists from 1971 to 1977. He was married to Carolyn Platt between 1968 and 1973 and in 1993 he married Marilyn Goebel, who managed the internal web pages for
Group Health Cooperative
Group Health Cooperative, (formerly known as Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound), later more commonly known as Group Health, was a Seattle, Washington based nonprofit healthcare organization.
Business model
Established in , Group Health prov ...
in Seattle before her retirement in 2003. In 2006, he and Goebel moved to
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
.
Publications
Books written
*2005. ''Possible and Probable Languages: A Generative Perspective on Linguistic Typology''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*1998. ''Language Form and Language Function''. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
*1996. ''Generative Linguistics: A Historical Perspective''. London: Routledge.
*1986. ''The Politics of Linguistics''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Japanese translation 1994, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten Publishers. Arabic translation 1997, Abha (Saudi Arabia): The Literary Club. Persian translation 2002, Ney (Iran).
*1983. ''Grammatical Theory: Its Limits and Its Possibilities''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Malay translation 1996, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
*1980. ''Linguistic Theory in America: The First Quarter Century of Transformational Generative Grammar''. New York: Academic Press. Second edition 1986. First edition translated into Spanish 1982, Madrid: Alianza Editorial. Translations of second edition: Korean 1995, Seoul: Kul Press. Chinese 1998, Taipei: Crane Publishing Co, Ltd.; Japanese translation under contract.
*1975. ''English Aspectual Verbs''. The Hague: Mouton and Company.
Books edited
*1998. ''Functionalism and Formalism in Linguistics'' (with Michael Darnell, Edith Moravcsik, Michael Noonan, and Kathleen Wheatley). Studies in Language Companion Series, Volume 41. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
**Volume I: ''General Papers''.
**Volume II: ''Case Studies''.
*1988. ''Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Spanish translation published 1990-1992 as Panorama de la LingüÃstica Moderna, Madrid:Visor Distribuciones.
**Volume I: ''Linguistic Theory: Foundations''.
**Volume II: ''Linguistic Theory: Extensions and Implications''.
**Volume III: ''Language: Psychological and Biological Aspects''.
**Volume IV: Language: ''The Socio-Cultural Context''.
*1986. ''A Festschrift for Sol Saporta'' (with
Michael Brame
Michael K. Brame (January 27, 1944 — August 16, 2010) was an American linguist and professor at the University of Washington, and founding editor of the peer-reviewed research journal, ''Linguistic Analysis''. He was known for his theory of recur ...
and Heles Contreras). Linguistic Research Monograph Series Publication. Seattle: Noit Amrofer Press.
References
External links
Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newmeyer, Frederick
1944 births
Living people
Linguists from the United States
Generative linguistics
Syntacticians
University of Washington faculty
Wayne State University faculty
University of British Columbia faculty
Simon Fraser University faculty
People from Port Washington, New York
Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Fellows of the Linguistic Society of America
Linguistic Society of America presidents