Simon Cornelis Dik (September 6, 1940 in
Delden
Delden is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel and, since 2001, in the municipality of Hof van Twente. It received city rights in 1333. Twickel Castle is a famous landmark near Delden.
Before it became a part of Hof van Twente in 2001, Del ...
– March 1, 1995 in
Holysloot
Holysloot is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Amsterdam, and lies about 9 km northeast of the city centre. The name ''Holysloot'' probably derives from an expression for a "low-lying area a ...
) was a Dutch
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 ...
, most famous for developing the theory of
functional grammar. He occupied the chair of General Linguistics at
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
between 1969 and 1994. During these 25 years he developed the theory of functional grammar, the foundations for which had been laid in his 1968 dissertation on coordination.
Two years before his death, Dik fell ill. As much as his illness allowed, he worked on developing his theory until his death. The second part of his work, ''The Theory of Functional Grammar'', was published posthumously in 1997.
Career
Simon Dik took a degree in classical language. His PhD dissertation was done under the supervision of Anton Reichling, and after it he became chair of general linguistics in Amsterdam at only 28 years old, which was a point of discussion. During the 70s and 80s he worked on formulating his theory of functional grammar, including various discussions with proponents of
generative grammar
Generative grammar, or generativism , is a linguistic theory that regards linguistics as the study of a hypothesised innate grammatical structure. It is a biological or biologistic modification of earlier structuralist theories of linguistic ...
which formed a big part of linguistics departments in the Netherlands. He was the supervisor of
Kees Hengeveld Kees or KEES may refer to:
* Kees (given name)
* Kees (surname)
* KEES Kees or KEES may refer to:
* Kees (given name)
* Kees (surname) Kees is a surname. Notable persons with that name include:
* Duane Kees (born 1975), American attorney
* Freder ...
who then became his closest collaborator, and helped part II of ''The theory of functional grammar'' materialize as Dik fell ill in 1992.
Selected publications
* ''The Theory of Functional Grammar (Part I: The Structure of the clause)'', 1989
* ''The Theory of Functional Grammar (Part II: Complex and Derived Constructions)'', 1997 (pt. I); (pt. I paperback); (pt. II); (pt. II paperback)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dik, Simon C.
1940 births
1995 deaths
People from Hof van Twente
Linguists from the Netherlands
University of Amsterdam faculty
20th-century linguists