Karl Luick (1865–1935) was the de facto founder of the Vienna School of English

historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: # to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages # ...

, which was continued by Herbert Koziol and has been expanded, most notably and most recently, by Herbert Schendl and Nikolaus Ritt as the most recent holders of the "Luick Chair" in English historical linguistics.

Biography

Luick was born on 27 January 1865 in Floridsdorf, which is now part of Vienna. He died on 20 September 1935 in Vienna. Luick studied English and other languages at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, where he passed the examinations to be a high school teacher in 1888, received his doctorate in 1889 and his habilitation ("second book") in 1890, all from the University of Vienna. Before completing his doctorate, he spent some time in England and France, then became a

privatdocent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

at the University of Vienna.''Ein zweiter Lehrstuhl für Anglistik'' (mit einer kurzen Biografie von Luick)
In: ''

Vossische Zeitung The (''Voss's Newspaper'') was a nationally-known Berlin newspaper that represented the interests of the liberal middle class. It was also generally regarded as Germany's national newspaper of record. In the Berlin press it held a special role d ...

'', 3. Juli 1925, Abendausgabe, S. 2-3, Link to page: http://zefys.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/index.php?id=dfg-viewer&set%5Bimage%5D=2&set%5Bzoom%5D=default&set%5Bdebug%5D=0&set%5Bdouble%5D=0&set%5Bmets%5D=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de%2Fzefys%2FSNP27112366-19250703-1-0-0-0.xml In 1891, Luick had his habilitation transferred to the University of Graz, where he founded the Department of English, in 1893 a.o. Professor in Graz, the year he turned down a call to the University of Heidelberg. In 1898 he became Full Professor at the University of Graz, in 1900/01 Dean at that university. In 1908, he responded to a call from the University of Vienna as Full Professor. In 1915, he became a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and on 3 July 1925, he received a call to a newly created second chair of English Philology at the Berlin Friedrich-Wilhelms University, which he turned down. In 1926, he became rector of the

. Luick was also a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

Academic work

His most important publication is his ''Historische Grammatik der englischen Sprache'' in two volumes originally published in 1914 and 1921. In its 1964 edition by Blackwell Publishers, the work is still a key text in the field of historical phonology. Luick also published on English literate and German dialectology, above all the Austrian German dialects and the emerging Austrian standard variety of German.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luick, Karl 1865 births 1935 deaths Linguists from Austria Historical linguists of English Academic staff of the University of Graz Academic staff of the University of Vienna Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin University of Vienna alumni Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Linguists from Austria-Hungary