Samuel Jay Keyser (born 7 July 1935) is an American theoretical

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 ...

who is an authority on the history and structure of the English language and on linguistic approaches to literary criticism.

Biography

Keyser received a BA degree in English from

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

in 1956, a BA in 1958 ( MA 1962) in English from Merton College, Oxford University, another MA, in linguistics, from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1960, and a PhD in linguistics from Yale in 1962. He is Peter de Florez Emeritus Professor, an emeritus member of the Linguistics and Philosophy faculty, and former Associate Provost at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

. He has authored numerous books and scientific publications, and is Editor-in-chief of the journal '' Linguistic Inquiry''. In addition to his contributions in many fields of linguistics, including

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

, generative metrics, and lexical structure, he is well known to jazz fans throughout the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

area as an accomplished trombonist and bandleader. Keyser married Margaret Horridge in 1959. Divorced in 1993, he married Nancy Dean Kelly in 2001.

References

External links

Samuel Jay Keyser's personal webpage
* Linguists from the United States Phonologists 1935 births Living people Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Linguistics journal editors {{US-linguist-stub