Alexander M. Schenker (December 20, 1924 – August 21, 2019) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Slavist Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

of Polish descent, professor of Slavic linguistics at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

, and the recipient of the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Slavic Studies for his contributions to the field of Polish studies, as well for the general contributions to the development of the field of Slavic studies in the United States.

Biography

Schenker was born to a

Jewish 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""The ...

family in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

in 1924, the son of Oskar Szenker and Gizela née Szamińska. He was enrolled at the university in

Dushanbe Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (ru ...

(then ''Stalinabad'') in

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

during

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. Later he studied at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, receiving his Ph.D. from

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

in 1953, where he eventually settled as a professor of

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

Work

in the 1950s he participated in the creation of one of America's leading programs of Slavic languages and literatures, culminating in what was to become a classic textbook for teaching Polish in English: ''Beginning Polish'' (1966). His other notable works include: * Polish Declension (1964), monograph * Polish Conjugation (1954), article * Gender Categories in Polish (1955), article * Some Remarks on Polish Quantifiers (1971), article * The Slavic Literary Languages: Formation and Development, coedited with Edward Stankiewicz (1980), * The Dawn of Slavic: An Introduction to Slavic Philology (1996), his greatest book, receiving MLA'ss Scaglione Prize for Studies in Slavic Languages and Literatures. * The Bronze Horseman: Falconet's Monument to Peter the Great (2003)

References

Alexander M. Schenker, winner of the 2007 American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies

External links

The Dawn of Slavic
- The first chapter of ''The Dawn of Slavic: An Introduction to Slavic Philology'', in PDF {{DEFAULTSORT:Schenker, Alexander M. Slavists Writers from Kraków Polish emigrants to the United States University of Paris alumni Yale University alumni Yale University faculty American people of Polish-Jewish descent 1924 births 2019 deaths Polish expatriates in the Soviet Union Polish expatriates in France