Hans Basbøll (; born 12 July 1943) is a Danish

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and professor of

Nordic languages The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...

at the

University of Southern Denmark The University of Southern Denmark (, SDU) has campuses located in Southern Denmark and on Zealand. It offers a number of joint programmes in co-operation with the University of Flensburg and the University of Kiel. Contacts with regional indu ...

since 1975, member of '' Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab'' since 1991 and member of ''

Dansk Sprognævn Dansk Sprognævn ( "Danish Language Council") is the official regulatory body of the Danish language as a part of the Danish Ministry of Culture and is located in Bogense. It was established in 1955. The committee has three main objectives: * to f ...

'', the official regulatory body of Danish, in 1991–97. Basbøll has written much on various aspects of Danish, which includes ''The Phonology of Danish'' (2005), one of the most complete and authoritative sources on modern

Danish phonology The phonology of Danish is similar to that of the other closely related Scandinavian languages, Swedish and Norwegian, but it also has distinct features setting it apart. For example, Danish has a suprasegmental feature known as stød which ...

, and is currently working at the Center for Child Language (''Center for Børnesprog'') at the

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...

. A ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' honouring Basbøll was published in 2003.

References

1943 births 20th-century Danish linguists Living people Academic staff of the University of Southern Denmark 21st-century Danish linguists {{Denmark-linguist-stub