Herbert Penzl (September 2, 1910 in Neufelden,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

– September 1, 1995 in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

), was an Austrian-born American

philologist 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 th ...

and historical

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 studied English Philology 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 hist ...

under Karl Luick. In 1934 he completed his Ph.D. dissertation ''The Development of Middle English a in New England Speech''. He spent some time in the United States working on the ''Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada'' at Brown University, having been recommended for the exchange by

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

. While in the US, he published his first article, "New England Terms for Poached Eggs," which received media coverage by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

among others. After a brief return to Austria, he decided in 1936 to move to the United States permanently. He was appointed at

Rockford College Rockford or Rockfords may refer to: Places United States * Rockford, Illinois, a city, the largest municipality of this name *Rockford, Alabama, a town * Rockford, Idaho, a census-designated place * Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, a United S ...

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(1936-1938). In 1938, he received an appointment at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, where he worked until 1950. In 1944 he became a naturalized US citizen and from 1943 to 1945 he served in the United States Army, working on the development of military dictionaries. After the war, he worked on the publication of ''A Grammar of Pashto: A Descriptive Study of the Dialect of Kandahar, Afghanistan (1955). From 1950 to 1963, he taught at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. In 1963, he received an offer from the Linguistics Department at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where he spent the rest of his career. Penzl's research included a wide variety of topics, but his main interests were Germanic historical

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 ...

. He wrote over 250 research articles and published 11 books, many of which have become standard works for students of Germanic

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 th ...

. Penzl described himself as an "American-style Structuralist."

Books

* A Grammar of Pashto A Descriptive Study of the Dialect of Kandahar, Afghanistan * A Reader of Pashto

Honours

Honorary Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (1991)

Notable students

Irmengard Rauch (UC Berkeley) Laurel J. Brinton (UBC Vancouver)

External links

OBITUARY - Herbert Penzl
September 12, 1995, articles.sfgate.com

References

*David Krogh (ed.) ''University of California: In Memoriam, 1995''. University of California, 1995, pp. 145–48. {{DEFAULTSORT:Penzl, Herbert 1910 births 1995 deaths Austrian emigrants to the United States American philologists Austrian philologists Brown University people Rockford University faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty University of Michigan faculty University of Vienna People with acquired American citizenship People from Oakland, California Historical linguists Linguists from Austria Harvard University alumni 20th-century linguists 20th-century philologists