William Diver (July 20, 1921 – August 31, 1995) was an American

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 was the founder of the

Columbia School of Linguistics The Columbia School of Linguistics is a group of linguists with a radically functional and empirical conception of language. According to their school of thought, the main function of language is communication, and it is this fact that guides the ...

, which is named after

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, where he received his Ph.D. in comparative Indo-European linguistics. Although his background lay mainly in the linguistics of ancient languages, his approach to linguistics was uniquely modern and scientific. His lectures were sprinkled with references to the history and the methodology of science. He believed that science is explanation, not description or prediction, and he compared the

explanatory power Explanatory power is the ability of a hypothesis or theory to explain the subject matter effectively to which it pertains. Its opposite is ''explanatory impotence''. In the past, various criteria or measures for explanatory power have been prop ...

of the Copernican astronomical system with the explanatory weakness of the epicycles of the Ptolemaic system, both of which had equal descriptive and predictive power. He also believed that the purpose of language was chiefly communication, and his linguistic analyses reflected that orientation, along with that of human psychology and physiology. In other words, those orientations helped him to explain why languages take the forms they do. During Diver’s career, most popular schools of linguistic thought tended towards pure formalism, based on traditional categories and entities, such as the parts of speech and the sentence. While this schools rejected prescriptivism and the idealization of the standard language, Diver stood almost alone in rejecting traditional entities that had no specific function, such as the

syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...

and the mechanistic interpretation of "

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

" or "

agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting o ...

." He analyzed language as a form of human behavior, rather than as an idealized expression of truth. The article on the

has more details and successful application of Diver's methodology.

Life

Born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Diver received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Lawrence College Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1847, its first classes were held on November 12, 1849. Lawrence was the second college in the U.S. to be founded as a coeducation ...

in 1942, his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in English literature from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in comparative Indo-European linguistics from

. He served in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and earned the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

. He taught linguistics from 1955 to 1989 at Columbia University. He died at 74 while he was on a sailing vacation in

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

Works

* Language, Communication and Human Behavior: The Linguistic Essays of William Diver. Huffman, A. & Davis, J. (eds). Leiden/Boston: Brill (2012). * "The system of relevance of the Homeric verb," Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 12, 45-68 (1969). * "Substance and value in linguistic analysis," in Semiotext(e) 1, 13-30 (1974). * "Phonology as human behavior," in D. Aaronson and R. Rieber (eds.) Psycholinguistic research: implications and applications. Hillsdale, N.Y.: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., pp. 161–182 (1979). * "Theory," in E. Contini-Morava and B. Goldberg (eds.) Meaning as explanation: Advances in sign-based linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter (1995).

External links

Obituary Columbia University Record—October 27, 1995

Columbia School Linguistic Society {{DEFAULTSORT:Diver, William 1921 births 1995 deaths Linguists from the United States Columbia University faculty Lawrence University alumni Columbia University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni 20th-century linguists United States Navy personnel of World War II