Jan Niecisław Baudouin De Courtenay
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Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de Courtenay, also Ivan Alexandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay (; 13 March 1845 – 3 November 1929), was a Polish linguist and
Slavist Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was ...
, best known for his theory of the
phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...
and phonetic alternations. For most of his life Baudouin de Courtenay worked at
Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...
n universities:
Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
(1874–1883),
Dorpat Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...
(now
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) (1883–1893),
Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
(1893–1899) in
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
, and St. Petersburg (1900–1918).Бодуэн де Куртенэ, Иван Александрович // Новая иллюстрированная энциклопедия. Кн. 3. Би-Ве. — М.: Большая Российская энциклопедия, 2003. — 256 с.: ил. — С. 27 — 28. — (кн. 3), . In 1919–1929 he was a professor at the re-established
University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...
in an again independent
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
.


Biography

He was born in Radzymin, in the Warsaw Governorate of Congress Poland (a state in personal union with the Russian Empire), to a family of distant French extraction. One of his ancestors had been a French aristocrat who immigrated to Poland during the reign of Polish King
Augustus II the Strong Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the H ...
. In 1862 Baudouin de Courtenay entered the " Main School," a predecessor of the
University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...
. In 1866 he graduated from its historical and philological faculty and won a scholarship of the Russian Imperial Ministry of Education. After leaving Poland, he studied at various foreign universities, including those of
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
,
Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...
and
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. In 1870 he received a
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
from the
University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
for his work on analogy and a master's degree from St. Petersburg for his Polish-language dissertation ''On the Old Polish Language Prior to the 14th Century''. Baudouin de Courtenay established the Kazan School of linguistics in the mid-1870s and served as professor at the local university from 1875. Later he was chosen as the head of linguistics faculty at the University of Dorpat (1883–1893). In 1882 he married historian and journalist Romualda Bagnicka. Between 1894 and 1898 he occupied the same post at the
Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...
in
Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
only to be appointed to St. Petersburg, where he continued to refine his theory of phonetic alternations. After
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
regained independence in 1918, he returned to
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
, where he formed the core of the linguistics faculty of the University of Warsaw. From 1887 he held a permanent seat in the Polish Academy of Skills and from 1897 he was a member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Baudouin de Courtenay was the editor of the 3rd (1903–1909) and 4th (1912–1914) editions of the '' Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language'' compiled by Russian
lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...
Vladimir Dahl (1801–1872). Apart from his scientific work, Baudouin de Courtenay was also a strong supporter of the national revival of various national minority and ethnic groups. In 1915 he was arrested by the
Okhrana The Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order (), usually called the Guard Department () and commonly abbreviated in modern English sources as the Okhrana ( rus , Охрана, p=ɐˈxranə, a=Ru-охрана.ogg, t= The Guard) w ...
, the Russian
secret service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...
, for publishing a brochure on the autonomy of peoples under Russian rule. He spent three months in prison, but was released. In 1922, without his knowledge, he was proposed by the national minorities of Poland as a presidential candidate, but was defeated in the third round of voting in the Polish parliament and eventually
Gabriel Narutowicz Gabriel Józef Narutowicz (; 29 March 1865 – 16 December 1922) was a Polish people, Polish professor of hydroelectric engineering and politician who served as the first president of Poland from 11 December 1922 until Assassination of Gabriel Na ...
was chosen. He was also an active
Esperantist An Esperantist () is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperanto and uses it for ...
and president of the Polish Esperanto Association. In 1925, he was one of the co-founders of the Polish Linguistic Society. In 1927, he formally withdrew from the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
without joining any other religious denomination. He died in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
. He is buried at the Protestant Reformed Cemetery in Warsaw with the epitaph "He sought truth and justice".


Contribution to linguistics

His work had a major influence on 20th-century linguistic theory, and it served as a foundation for several schools of phonology. He was an early champion of synchronic linguistics, the study of contemporary spoken languages, which he developed contemporaneously with the structuralist linguistic theory of
Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...
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 ...
Ferdinand de Saussure Ferdinand Mongin de Saussure (; ; 26 November 185722 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 wi ...
. Among the most notable of his achievements is the distinction between statics and dynamics of languages and between a ''language'' (an abstract group of elements) and ''speech'' (its implementation by individuals) – compare Saussure's concepts of ''langue'' and ''parole''. Together with his students, Mikołaj Kruszewski and
Lev Shcherba Lev Vladimirovich Shcherba (commonly Scherba) (; ; – December 26, 1944) was a Russian and Soviet linguist and lexicographer specializing in phonetics and phonology. Early life and education Born in Igumen (Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire,In ...
, Baudouin de Courtenay also shaped the modern usage of the term "
phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...
" (Baudouin de Courtenay 1876–77 and Baudouin de Courtenay 1894), which had been coined in 1873 by the French linguist Antoni Dufriche-Desgenettes who proposed it as a one-word equivalent for the German ''Sprachlaut''. His work on the theory of phonetic alternations may have had an influence on the work of
Ferdinand de Saussure Ferdinand Mongin de Saussure (; ; 26 November 185722 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 wi ...
according to Ernst F. K. Koerner. Three major schools of 20th-century
phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...
arose directly from his distinction between ''physiophonetic'' (
phonological Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often prefer ...
) and ''psychophonetic'' (
morphophonological Morphophonology (also morphophonemics or morphonology) is the branch of linguistics that studies the interaction between morphological and phonological or phonetic processes. Its chief focus is the sound changes that take place in morphemes (m ...
) alternations: the Leningrad school of phonology, the Moscow school of phonology, and the Prague school of phonology. All three schools developed different positions on the nature of Baudouin's alternational dichotomy. The Prague School was best known outside the field of Slavic linguistics. Throughout his life he published hundreds of scientific works in Polish, Russian,
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, Slovenian,
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, French and German.


Views

According to historian
Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a British and Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Profes ...
, Baudouin de Courtenay was one of the most extraordinary Polish thinkers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Davies writes:
"He was a pacifist, an advocate of the fight for environmental protection, a feminist, a fighter for progress in the field of education, and a free thinker, and he was against most of the social and intellectual conventions of his day."
Baudouin de Courtenay was an
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
and did not consider himself a member of the Catholic Church for most of his life. He was Chairman of the Polish Association of Freethinkers. Baudouin de Courtenay was in favor of introducing Polish science to all Jewish schools in the Second Polish Republic, and Yiddish to all Polish schools. In his public appearances, he openly criticized
anti-semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
and manifestations of organized
xenophobia Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...
, for which he was repeatedly attacked.Grzegorz Krzywiec, Przeciw antysemityzmowi i narodowym iluzjom. Przypadki Jana Baudouina de Courtenay. 2006


Legacy

His daughter, Cezaria Baudouin de Courtenay Ehrenkreutz Jędrzejewiczowa was one of the founders of the Polish school of ethnology and anthropology as well as a professor at the universities of
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
and Warsaw. He had four other children: Zofia, a painter and sculptor; Świętosław, a lawyer and diplomat; Ewelina, a historian; and Maria, a lawyer. He appears as a character in Joseph Skibell's 2010 novel, ''A Curable Romantic''.


See also

* History of linguistics


Notes


References

* Arleta Adamska-Sałaciak. "Jan Baudouin de Courtenay's contribution to linguistic theory", ''Historiographia Linguistica'' 25 (1998): 25–60; reprint in ''Towards a History of Linguistics in Poland: From the Early Beginnings to the End of the Twentieth Century'', eds. E.F.K. Koerner & Aleksander Szwedek. Amsterdam–Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2001, pp. 175–208. * Maria di Salvo. ''Il pensiero linguistico di J. Baudouin de Courtenay''. Venice & Padua: Marsilio, 1975. * Frank Häusler. ''Das Problem Phonetik und Phonologie bei Baudouin de Courtenay und in seiner Nachfolge''. Leipzig: Niemeyer, 1968 (2nd edn., Halle/Saale: Max Niemeyer, 1976). *
Roman Jakobson Roman Osipovich Jakobson (, ; 18 July 1982) was a Russian linguist and literary theorist. A pioneer of structural linguistics, Jakobson was one of the most celebrated and influential linguists of the twentieth century. With Nikolai Trubetzk ...
. "The Kazan school of Polish linguistics and its place in the international development of phonology", ''Roman Jakobson: Selected Writings'', vol. II: ''Word and Language''. The Hague: Mouton, 1972. * E. F. K. Koerner. ''Essays in the History of Linguistics''. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2004: ch. 7. * E. F. K. Koerner. "Jan Baudouin de Courtenay: His place in the history of linguistic science", ''Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des Slavistes'' 14, no. 4 (1972): 663–682 (repr. in ''Toward a Historiography of Linguistics: Selected Essays'', 1978, pp. 107–126). * R. A. Rothstein. "The linguist as dissenter: Jan Baudouin de Courtenay", ''For Wiktor Weintraub: Essays in Polish Literature, Language, and History Presented on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday'', ed. V. Erlich. The Hague: Mouton, 1975. * W. R. Schmalstieg, "Baudouin de Courtenay contribution to Lithuanian linguistics", ''Lituanus'' 41, no. 1 (1995): 5-25. * Edward Stankiewicz ed. & trans. ''A Baudouin de Courtenay Anthology: The Beginnings of Structural Linguistics''. Bloomington & London: Indiana University Press, 1972. * Edward Stankiewicz. ''Baudouin de Courtenay and the Foundations of Structural Linguistics''. Lisse: Peter de Ridder Press, 1976. * Philipp Strazny, ed. "Baudouin de Courtenay, Jan Ignacy Niecisław", ''Encyclopedia of Linguistics'', vol. 1: ''A–L''. NY–Oxon: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2005, pp. 128–130. * Margaret Thomas, "Jan Baudouin de Courtenay (1845-1929)", ''Fifty Key Thinkers on Language and Linguistics''. London–NY: Routledge, 2011, pp. 135–140. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baudouin de Courtenay, Jan Balticists 1845 births 1929 deaths People from Radzymin 19th-century Polish scholars Polish people of French descent Jan Niecislaw Baudouin de Courtenay Academic staff of Jagiellonian University Phonologists Linguists from Poland Candidates for President of Poland University of Warsaw alumni Academic staff of the University of Warsaw Charles University alumni University of Jena alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Leipzig University alumni Academic staff of the University of Tartu Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the Lwów Scientific Society Linguists of Lithuanian Russian scientists