Ranko Matasović (born 14 May 1968) is a Croatian

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. Lingui ...

Indo-Europeanist 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 ...

and

Celticist Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art histo ...

Biography

Matasović was born and raised in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slove ...

, where he attended primary and secondary school. In the

Faculty of philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

he graduated in

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 ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some s ...

, receiving an M.A. in linguistics in 1992 and a Ph.D. in 1995 under the supervision of

Radoslav Katičić Radoslav Katičić (; 3 July 1930 – 10 August 2019) was a Croatian linguist, classical philologist, Indo-Europeanist, Slavist and Indologist, one of the most prominent Croatian scholars in the humanities. Biography Radoslav Katičić was bor ...

with the thesis ''A Theory of Textual Reconstruction in Indo-European Linguistics''. He has received research fellowships 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 histo ...

(1993) and the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

(1995), a post-doctoral

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

during 1997/1998 (with

Andrew Sihler Andrew Littleton Sihler (born 25 February 1941 in Seattle) is an American linguist and comparative Indo-Europeanist. Biography Sihler received his Bachelor of Arts ''cum laude'' in 1962 from Harvard College, where he studied Germanic languages, li ...

as an advisor), and also an

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Resea ...

fellowship at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

in 2002/2003. He currently holds a chair in the Department of Linguistics in the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, where he teaches courses on comparative

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

grammar,

Celtic studies Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art histo ...

, and language typology. His research interests include comparative Indo-European grammar (especially of Celtic and

Balto-Slavic The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits not found in any other Indo-European bra ...

languages), language typology and syntax, and Latin, Celtic, and Hittite

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as the ...

. He has contributed to the

Indo-European Etymological Dictionary The ''Indo-European Etymological Dictionary'' (commonly abbreviated ''IEED'') is a research project of the Department of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics at Leiden University, initiated in 1991 by Peter Schrijver and others. It is financially ...

project organized by

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of L ...

with hi
''Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic''
He has also published works on

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

and Albanian, including the Arbanasi speech of the Albanian diaspora near

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar se ...

. In 2002 he received an award from the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, hr, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under patronage of the Croatian bishop J ...

for a lasting contribution to philology. In 2006 he became an associate member of the same institution and was promoted into a full member in 2012.

Works

* ''Harfa sa sjevera. Iz irske književnosti'' (Zagreb: Antibarbarus, 1995) * ''A Theory of Textual Reconstruction in Indo-European Linguistics'' (Frankfurt a/M & New York: Peter Lang, 1996) * ''Kratka poredbenopovijesna gramatika latinskoga jezika'' (Zagreb:

Matica hrvatska Matica hrvatska ( la, Matrix Croatica) is the oldest independent, non-profit and non-governmental Croatian national institution. It was founded on February 2, 1842 by the Croatian Count Janko Drašković and other prominent members of the Illyri ...

, 1997) * ''Kultura i književnost Hetita'' (Zagreb; Matica hrvatska, 2000) * ''Uvod u poredbenu lingvistiku'' (Zagreb: Matica hrvatska, 2001) * ''Kamen kraljeva. Srednjovjekovne irske sage'' (Zagreb: Ex Libris, 2004) * ''Gender in Indo-European'' (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 2004) * ''Jezična raznolikost svijeta'' (Zagreb: Algoritam, 2005) * ''Poredbenopovijesna gramatika hrvatskoga jezika'' (Zagreb: Matica hrvatska, 2008.) * ''Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic'' (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2009) ** �
Addenda et corrigenda to Ranko Matasović’s ''Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic'' (Brill, Leiden 2009)
�� (Zagreb, 2011). * ''A Reader in Comparative Indo-European Religion'' (Zagreb: Univ of Zagreb, 2010) * ''Slavic Nominal Word-Formation: Proto-Indo-European Origins and Historical Development'' (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 2014) He has published more than 100 papers in Croatian and foreign-language journals and translated various works from Latin, Ancient Greek, Lithuanian, Hittite, Old and modern Irish, Welsh, and English.

References

External links

Personal web page of Ranko Matasović
*
A Conversation with R. Matasović

Vijenac ''Vijenac'' (English: '' The Wreath'') is a biweekly magazine for literature, art and science, established in December 1993 and published by ''Matica hrvatska'', the central national cultural institution in Croatia. Historical background The ...

, November 6, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Matasovic, Ranko Linguists from Croatia Slavists Scientists from Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts University of Zagreb faculty 1968 births Living people Etymologists Indo-Europeanists Linguists of Indo-European languages