Petr Sgall (27 May 1926 – 28 May 2019) was a Czech

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 ...

. He specialized in dependency grammar, topic–focus articulation and

Common Czech Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak languages, Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin alphabet, Latin script. Spoken by over 10 mi ...

Biography

Sgall was born on 27 May 1926 in

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is t ...

. His father was an attorney and a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

from

Litomyšl Litomyšl (; german: Leitomischl) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,900 inhabitants. It is former bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see. Litomyšl is known for the château-type castle ...

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish descent. Sgall studied at

Česká Třebová Česká Třebová (; german: Böhmisch Trübau) is a town in Ústí nad Orlicí District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument ...

high school; however he was expelled in the 1942/43 academic year because of his Jewish father. Most of Sgall's closest relatives were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He studied

Indo-European studies Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. The goal of those engaged in these studies is to amass information about the hypothetical pro ...

, comparative linguistics,

general linguistics Theoretical linguistics is a term in linguistics which, like the related term general linguistics, can be understood in different ways. Both can be taken as a reference to theory of language, or the branch of linguistics which inquires into the n ...

and

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

at Charles University in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

External links

Charles University home page

Linguists from the Czech Republic Charles University faculty Charles University alumni Writers from České Budějovice 1926 births 2019 deaths Czech Jews {{Czech-linguist-stub